Article Review EDU 454 2013

Introduction The article entitled Knowledge, Attitude and Use of ICT Among ESL Teachers was written by Moganashwari Kandasamy and Prof. Madya Dr Parilah bt Haji Mohd Shah from Education Faculty, National University of Malaysia (UKM).

The article was a research to obtain findings related to the aim of the study which is to explore the knowledge level, attitude and the use of ICT possessed by ESL teachers. It was also to investigate obstacles faced by ESL teachers in using ICT.

From my reading, I found it interesting as the authors mentioned the findings from other researchers who carried out similar studies. Moganashwari and Prof. Parilah then compared their findings to the previous ones to support their findings. It is obvious to further the research due to the development of curriculum such as KSSR ( Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah) which demonstrates the importance of ICT in education.

In KSSR, ICT is one of the domain that has to be given consider in teaching. Teachers now are the main ingredient in fostering the changes in curriculum. So, in that case, teachers and pupils need to be ICT savvy and further explore in depth via education.

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Article Review EDU 454 2013

Summary In the article, the authors pointed out most of the previous findings in detail as to engage them in the study that they had carried out. Most of the findings were similar, for example Samuel & Zaitun (2007) and Pramela & Noraza (2007) concluded that the confidence level and attitude towards ICT among the teachers were positive. It was also mentioned in the study by Abdul Rahim & Shamsiah (2008) and Melor (2007), the vocational teachers had more confident in integrating ICT in teaching as they had knowledge and experience in handling technical subjects. It seems the authors had done quite a lot of researches and reading when they were able to insert the previous findings from others to make the content of the article significant and interesting.

The authors also mentioned about the SMART SCHOOL program, the program which its main content is all the classrooms will have internet facilities and well equipped with computers. Until now only a few schools have this infrastructure due to several obstacles such as financial aid, man power, trainers and on-going technical support and experts. However, the government with various agencies carried out the on-going training in ICT for teachers and the MySchoolNet website built by MOE are some of the initiatives in terms of the transformation of educational system which ICT had become the central concept in it. This information is relevant to the articles and to show that ICT development is one of the government policies in order to prepare citizens for the challenging future.
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Article Review EDU 454 2013

From the content of the article by Moganashwari Kandasamy and Prof. Madya Dr Parilah bt Haji Mohd Shah, they used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), (Davis, 1989) as framework to investigate the knowledge level, attitude and use of ICT skills among teachers. The output of the result was then used to analyse whether there were a difference in their teaching and how it enhanced the process of teaching and learning. The study involved a descriptive research design which used the survey method of data collection. It was a quantitative method to get the results in the search area. In order to obtain research statistic, the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) program was used to analyse the data.

The questionnaire, adapted version of Charoula Angeli (2008), Department of Education, University of Cyprus which consists five parts; demographic information, knowledge of ICT, attitude towards ICT, use of ICT and obstacle and challenges using ICT was distributed to 100 primary school English teachers in respective schools in Port Dickson. As the population of the study was quite big, the random stratified sampling is used to select respondent. It is a method for obtaining a greater degree of the representativeness to decrease the probable sampling error. (Babbie, 1995).

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Article Review EDU 454 2013

The authors prepared four research questions that found suitable for the study. The questions were stated as below: 1. What is the knowledge level possessed by ESL teachers in using ICT? 2. What are the attitudes among ESL teachers towards the use of ICT? 3. What is the level of ICT use for educational purpose by teachers? 4. What are the obstacles or challenges faced by the teachers in using ICT?

Based on the questions, the authors summarized their findings under four headings. The data can be easily understood because the authors used tables to show the results after the data collection had been analysed. For the first research question, it revealed that the teachers level of knowledge on ICT was moderate as they were only good at the applications which were commonly and often used in the teaching professions such as word processing. It was similar to the research done by Rosnaini & Mohd Arif (2010) and Endrogen (2011)

Attitudes among the ESL teachers towards the use of ICT were also seemed positive showed by the data analyzing which answered the third research question. It was as same as the findings in the research by Lau & Yeoh (2008), Melor (2007) and Samuel and Zaitun (2007).
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Article Review EDU 454 2013

For the third research question, most of the teachers used ICT to teach computer skills, doing presentation, keeping track of students performance, preparing report and communicating with other teachers. In compared, it was parallel to Samuel and Zaitun (2007) and Endrogen (2007) studies.

No doubt, in using ICT, there are some obstacles the teachers will faces in using ICT. The research by Moganashwari Kandasamy and Prof. Madya Dr Parilah bt Haji Mohd Shah, showed that the teachers often lack of time in school to use ICT as they were burdened with other responsibilities. They seldom faced with the problem on how to integrate ICT in their teaching and sometimes lack of software that could support their teaching and learning. There was no previous finding stated by the authors that similar to this fourth finding.

Reflection The content of the article should be take consider by all teachers although the author only chose the ESL teachers as their respondents in the study. Teachers attitude towards ICT is a very important factor which stake-holders ought to consider in implementing ICT in education. With the introduction of the new ICT initiatives it becomes crucial particularly for all qualified teachers to be confident in using ICT effectively in their teaching.
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Article Review EDU 454 2013

In recent years, the use of computers as a tool for pupil learning has become a necessity. The integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in classrooms has been a challenge for the educational systems of all countries including Malaysia which aim to be ready to cope with the needs and the demands of the 21st century. As ICT technology is evolving rapidly, teachers have no longer giving excuses for upgrading their knowledge in ICT especially due to their profession.

We shouldnt think that we are going to be good teachers with the tools we have acquired since we were kids. We, as professionals, have to evolve with the new systems, methods and services we can provide our students to be more effective when teaching. What was discussed in the article should be the guideline for teachers to monitor their abilities in using the ICT effectively. As for policy makers, they can set up a special team or program for continuing of exchanging of ideas on ICT skills which would be helpful to teachers.

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Article Review EDU 454 2013

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