The Use of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching ESL Writing Skills
by Yunus, Melor Md;
Nordin, Norazah; Salehi, Hadi; Embi, Mohamed Amin; Salehi, Zeinab
Publication title: English Language Teaching
Volume: 6
Issue: 7
Pages: 1-8
Number of pages: 8
Publication year: 2013
Publication date: Jul 2013
Year: 2013
The authors of this article are Dr.
Melor binti Yunus, the Associate Professor of TESL at Faculty of Education,
Education Methodology and Practice Department of The National University of
Malaysia; Dr. Norazah binti Mohd Nordin, the Associate Professor of Educational
Technology at Faculty of Education, Educational Foundation Department of The
National University of Malaysia; Dr. Hadi Salehi, the Associate Professor at
Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Najafabad Branch of Islamic Azad
University; Dr. Mohamed Amin bin Embi, the Professor of Technology-Enhanced
Learning of The National University of Malaysia; and Dr. Zainab Salehi, the
PhD-holder counsellor of Guidance and Counselling Department at The National
University of Malaysia.
The aim of the research is to seek
findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian
secondary schools. Apart from that, this research is a section of findings from
a bigger report done in Malaysia secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia.
It focuses solely on the data collected from an interview with English teachers
at a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur.
The research was conducted by interviewing
33 English teachers. The teachers were selected from secondary schools of five
different areas of Malaysia namely Alor Setar, Tawau, Tuanku Jaafar, Johor
Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. This research is a qualitative research in nature and
the researcher used a semi-structured interview. All the participants were
pragmatically and purposely selected. Not just that, the interview lasted for
about 30 to 45 minutes and the teachers were audio-recorded for the researching
purposes.
The findings of the research are
divided into two part; participants’ demographic information and the main
findings-advantages and disadvantages of using ICT and managing problems and
planning activities involving ICT. The participants’ demographic information
concludes the following results:
- · Four out of six English teachers participated and the names had been changed for privacy and anonymity,
- · All four teachers were female teachers and they are from above the age of 30 with minimum 5 years of teaching experience.
The teachers highlighted many
advantages and disadvantages during the interview and later, related to the
purpose of the research. The results are as following:
- ICT tools can be useful and effective in conducting writing activities. This is because conventional methods of teaching ESL writing often make the students bored during the class time.
- ICT can motivate students to be creative and learn in more enjoyable environment. This is because they can do the research themselves and find the information they may need for writing
- ICT as a teaching tool could help make the lesson more interesting. The students can focus more in class and lesson will be carried out smoothly
- ICT nurtures the students’ creativity and self-discovery skills. They are able to do many things on their own and become independent learner
However, the ICT does pose a few disadvantages
too. The disadvantages of using ICT in class are as follow:
· The students use of abbreviation in writing tasks has ruin the students writing ability.
· The insufficient time of learning session. This is because using ICT as tool consumes a lot of time, as the students have to move from their class to multimedia room. Even two period class could not able to make the lesson finishes in time.
· The issue of plagiarizing materials on the net. These students often make excuses and copy another’s work just to complete the task given.
· The competencies of the teachers in using the ICT as the teaching tools. They need to be good enough in order to teach smoothly.
Moreover, the research also produces
the findings of managing problems and planning activities involving ICT. The
findings are as following:
- Teacher could be more creative in thinking and be more active in class in order to raise students’’ interest in learning.
- Teachers should do the work of researching or consulting the technicians or experts in order to guide them more in using IC in class.
- There are so many activities that could be carried out by using ICT but the teachers seldom used ICT in teaching writing to the students.
- Computer technologies have distinct advantages not to language learning alone but also preparing them for today’s information society.
- Teachers can go to TESL website or any other related website in order to prepare suitable materials to teach the students about writing. They can find references or evidences for the students too.
- Teacher should always make sure that the websites chosen are tested to cater to their level and easy to be comprehended.
Personally, I think this research
interest me somehow because since I had been to practicum before, I think I can
relate well with this issue. First, the use of ICT in classroom is very low
because the teachers could not bother teaching the students by using new
methods or let say, “unconventional method” like blended learning and all.
These teachers prefer to stick to the conventional chalk-and-talk method as
they think it is the easiest and comprehensible enough for the students to
learn. However, I quite understand that because time consumption is always the
main problem as many schools still not equipped with multimedia tools in class
so they have to move around in order to use ICT in teaching. I also think that
this research is well-conducted. Although it did not cover the entire
population of related parties (students and teachers in Malaysia, generally)
but it somehow shows that there is such problems in schools nowadays. Hence,
the next research can be improved by taking larger sample and from different
regions in Malaysia. The implication of the research in teaching and learning
of ESL is that this research is useful in helping the teacher to understand
what is the problem about using ICT in class. Thus, help them to overcome the
situation by utilizing ICT more during class time. However, this research can
still be improved in order to really help solving bigger problems of
ICT-related teaching and learning issues.
Link: http://search.proquest.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/docview/1437615254?accountid=42518
