BUKIDNON STATE

UNIVERSITY
Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, 8700
Tel (088) 221 2237; Telefax (088) 812-17
www.bsu.edu.ph

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
EL 303

A Phenomenological Study on Teacher Live Experiences on the use of ICT in

Teaching English

Zorhaida Ricablanca-Reyes
Kevin Lloyd V. Hijastro

A Phenomenological Study on Teacher Live Experiences on the use of ICT in

Teaching English

Introduction

The use of ICT plays a major role in teaching learning process nowadays. The

Internet plays a major role in the lives of young people today. Children and youngsters

engage in online activities both inside and outside the classroom (Sefton-Green 2004).

Formally, that is in the school, young people use the Internet for instance, when searching

for information and when completing tests. Informally, that is in their spare time, they chat

with friends, play online computer games and are involved in fan fiction, i.e. using

published material to create pictures and films etc. (Olin-Scheller&Wikström 2010).

Rogers (2003) claimed that if an innovation is perceived to be advantageous; is

compatible with existing norms, beliefs, and past experiences; has a relatively low level

of complexity; can be experimented with; and use of the innovation has observable

results, including being able to see others using the innovation, then there will be an

increased likelihood of adoption.

 In short, both English and ICT, especially to nonnative speakers of English, have

become the essential literacy skills of our time needed to satisfy the constant human

desire to communicate with others, to improve the conditions of work, and to promote full

participation in the globalized society (Murray, 2001; Warschauer, 2000; Wenger,

1998).Therefore, it is timely – and even urgent – for the language-learning field tolook

directly at those issues discussed in relation to use of ICT. The study describedbelow

investigated the overall picture of ICT use and skills among Chinese universitystudents

learning EIL in an inland city. The study-included technology not just forlanguage learning

but also for general purposes, since the degree and type of use arelikely to differ for

various purposes. Also, the current study attempted to unveil whatacquiring fluency in

English and technology meant to the students, and how thesociocultural contexts in which

they find themselves influenced the process oflanguage learning through technology.

Methodology

Research Design

A phenomenological research design was used in this study. It used a semi-

structured interview wherein one session was done to only one member. Prior to the

conduct of the research, an ethical clearance was asked from the ethics committee.

Participants

The participant should be an English teacher who handled ICT related subjects or

any experiences using internet in instruction from the Department of Education that

served as the criterion. The participant of the study included a teacher who was chosen
through purposive sampling through announcement from the Division Office to Secondary

Schools of the Division of Sultan Kudarat. The participant consisted of only one member.

Validity and Reliability

A consensual approach during the intercoding was done to build validity and reliability of

the research.

Data Collection Methods

Prior to the conduct of the study, a letter of consent was sent to the Office of

Regional Director in Region XII and channeled through the Schools Division

Superintendent of the Division of Sultan Kudarat to the Secondary Principal informing the

teacher participant for the confirmation to be part of the study. In addition, a letter was

sent to Regional Director, Schools Division Superintendent, Chief of Curriculum and

Instruction, Education Program Supervisorsof English and T.L.E, and to the Secondary

Principal of the school. Only one male participant with an average age of 25 years old

participated in the study. A summative diary was utilized to gather the live experiences of

the respondent on the use of ICT in teaching English. The respondent was given one

week to write a summative diary. The respondent was informed about the purpose of the

study and the benefits of the research. Moreover, it was emphasized that a participant

can withdraw anytime and his identity and answers was held confidential. He was briefed

on how to write a summative diary using the diary prompts which were explained to him

in detail. He was oriented that he can use Cebuano, Ilonggo, English or Tagalog in writing

a diary. The diary was collected and kept in a research room. Then, the data underwent

coding wherein an intercoder was asked to code the data.

Data Analysis

The participant’s answers were coded to find the themes. The transcripts of the

interviews was organized, synthesized, and searched for common and significant

patterns of behavior and ways of thinking. The data was sorted according to categories

and themes. Categories were evaluated on the basis of their homogeneity and the extent

to which the information belongs to a category and the extent the categories differ and/or

are unique. Code was given as a substitute of the participant’s name for confidentiality.

The participant’s feelings, attitudes, and behaviors were categorized based on similarities

and differences. This was done by going back and forth between the data and the

classification domains to verify the meaningfulness, salience, uniqueness, and accuracy

of the categories and the information in them.

Then, research experts served as inter-coders for the purpose of cross verification

of the themes. Intercoding was needed to compare the occurring themes. Code

books/coders’ guide were utilized during the coding process. The participant was

informed of the results by returning the results to the participant after conducting the

research for dissemination. The beneficiaries were favorable of the results based on the

experiences on how ICT may be useful in teaching English to teachers.

Discussion

The following three recurrent themes were discovered in the teacher’s responses:

general opinions on and experience of the Internet, Internet as a teaching resource,

benefits of the Use of ICT in teaching English. Each theme will be discussed separately.

The inserted quotes, which exclusively represent the three recurrent themes, are not
necessarily reproduced verbatim but might be slightly reformulated for the purpose of

readability.

General opinions on and experience of the Internet

The teacher has a positive attitude to the Internet. He finds the Internet helpful for

both the students and himself. He says that the Internet has changed the way he teaches.

At the same time, the teacher emphasizes the need to be careful/critical when using the

Internet, especially in the school. He thinks that students know a great deal about the

Internet, however, they might have lack of knowledge about how to use it properly in the

formal learning context. According to him, the use of the Internet must be controlled. He

highlights the fact that as the Internet is generally quite easy to use, students might use

it in the wrong way.

The teacher finds that the Internet sometimes is too vast. “It's difficult to choose

what to choose from what you find”. He further elaborates that students might find it

difficult to choose what is important among the huge amount of online information. He

cautions that students must be careful when they the Internet since many people spend

a great deal of time socializing on the Internet rather than meeting in person like they

used to do before. He is regularly engaged in Facebook activities. He elaborates that he

is knowledgeable in using internet in classroom context. On the other hand, there are

times that his students are more knowledgeable in using online applications in his

classes. Also, he added that majority of his colleagues don’t know how to use internet in

their classes. In Madden et al's study (2005) less experienced teachers were more likely

to feel that students are more knowledgeable in the use of ICT than they are.
 In Gray et al's (2007) and Madden et al's (2005) studies a majority of the teachers

had gained their knowledge informally (e.g. through collegial sharing and trial-and-error).

The teacher mentions that he has been given some formal training in the use of the

Internet on some seminars and have developed his skills over the years by surfing the

Internet.

A. Teacher’s Role

Entry 1

“As a teacher, I really find internet as helpful for myself and to my students. Internet
has really changed my ways on how to impart knowledge to my learners.”

Entry 2

Gis-a (Sometimes) It's difficult to choose what to choose from what you find.

Entry 3

Also, I should be careful sometimes when using internet in school since students
are really good nowadays. One thing that I observed is that, a lot students used internet
access in other ways. Instead of using it in an academic context, they were misguided
especially in social medias.”

Internet as a teaching resource

The teacher in the present study uses the Internet in teaching English, which is in

line with the vision of Ålands Landskapsregering (2008) that Internet-assisted instruction

should be an integral part of all education. He finds that the Internet is applicable in

planning/teaching in different ways. He thinks that the Internet adds variety of strategies

in teaching English that allows him to see things from different perspectives. Also, he

uses internet as his teaching resource since it is his avenue on his group activities like

vocabulary games, online grammar games, online paragraph writing analysis, and etc.
He says that if one wants accurate or the latest news, then the Internet is a very good

source. He describes that he let his students search on the internet for their researches.

On the other hand, he states that students must be taught how to choose information

from the internet. In the same vein, Cunningham & Andersson (1997) point out that one

can get recent updates on different issues on the Internet.

This statement is in line with Harmer (2007) that teachers must teach their students

how to do successful searches on the Internet. He says that students might not know how

to find the correct/best information on the Internet. A similar concern voiced by teachers

in previous studies is that students are not able to differentiate between reliable and

unreliable sources (Madden et al 2005; Tuvér & Blomqvist 2009).

A. Teacher’s Perspective

Entry 1

“In my perspective, Internet really adds variety of strategies in teaching English.

Internet also is an avenue to my prepared group activities, vocabulary games, online
grammar games, online paragraph writing, writing analysis and others . Sometimes,
accurate or the latest news, then the Internet is a very good source. I also let my students
search on the internet for their researches. Students must be taught on how to choose
information from the internet.”

Benefits of the Use of ICT in teaching English

The effectiveness of the lessons largely depended on teachers’ knowledge on how

to use ICT in ways that could benefit learners, and not just for the sake of convenience.

Equally vital is to acknowledge learning that takes place inside the classroom with ICT. A

number of researchers point to the benefits of using the Internet in formal education.
Mahmoud Mohammad Sayed Abdallah (2007) argues that the Internet is used in

education because it facilitates learning, teaching and communication. It is possible to

find a great deal of (course/subject) information online and to do so any time. Specifically

commenting on advantages of the Internet for English Language Teaching, he mentions

that students can study any topic in English independently online, and they can find many

activities on the Internet to use in order to improve their proficiency.

A. Teacher’s Perception

Entry 1

“As a teacher using Internet in teaching English to my students, it is really

beneficial to my learners because they find the lesson very effective through the
integration of the technology.”

Conclusion

The use of ICT in teaching English is helpful that plays a great changes in

teaching styles and methodologies of teachers. Using internet as resource material is a

good opportunity to develop group activities like vocabulary games, online grammar

games, online paragraph writing analysis, and other to be used in teaching English. Using

ICT is really beneficial especially that our students in the 21st century is now technology-

oriented especially in learning. On the other hand, the internet must be observed in terms

of its usability especially to the student-user in using to academic context.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cunningham, Una & Andersson, Staffan (1997). Läraren – eleven - Internet. Stockholm:
Liber AB.

Harmer, Jeremy (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Pearson
Education Ltd. Integrating ICTs into the Curriculum: Analytical Cathalogue of Key
Publications. Haddad, Caroline and Rennie, Luisa. Eds. 2005. UNESCO Asia
and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. 2
Jul. 2010. http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=2490

Gray, Carol et al. “Integrating ICT into Classroom Practice in Modern Foreign Language
Teaching in England: Making Room for Teachers' Voices”. European Journal of
Teacher Education 30 (2007): 407-429. EBSCO Host. 15 Sep. 2010.
http://web.ebscohost.com.webproxy.student.hig.se:2048/ehost/search/advanced

Madden, Andrew et al. “Using the Internet in Teaching: the Views of Practitioners”.
British Journal of Educational Technology 36 (2005): 255-280. Wiley Online
Library. 9 Sep. 2010.
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.webproxy.student.hig.se:2048/doi/10.1111/j.1467-
8535.2005.00456.x/abstract>

Olin-Scheller, Christina & Wikström, Patrik.“Literary Prosumers: Young People's

Reading and Writing in a New Media Landscape”. Education Inquiry 1 (2010):
41-56. 3 May 2010.
<http://www.use.umu.se/digitalAssets/40/40554_inquiry_olin.pdf>

Sefton-Green, Julian. “Literature Review in Informal Learning with Technology Outside

School”. Future Lab Series 7 (2004). Future Lab Archive. 5 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.futurelab.org.uk/ resources/publications-reports-articles/literature-
reviews/Literature-Review379>
 Appendix A

Diary

“As a teacher, I really find internet as helpful for myself and to my students. Internet
has really changed my ways on how to impart knowledge to my learners.” Gis-a
(Sometimes) It's difficult to choose what to choose from what you find. Also, I should be
careful sometimes when using internet in school since students are really good nowadays.
One thing that I observed is that, a lot students used internet access in other ways. Instead
of using it in an academic context, they were misguided especially in social medias.”

“In my perspective, Internet really adds variety of strategies in teaching English.

Internet also is an avenue to my prepared group activities, vocabulary games, online
grammar games, online paragraph writing, writing analysis and others . Sometimes,
accurate or the latest news, then the Internet is a very good source. I also let my students
search on the internet for their researches. Students must be taught on how to choose
information from the internet.” “As a teacher using Internet in teaching English to my
students, it is really beneficial to my learners because they find the lesson very effective
through the integration of the technology.”