Summary #1

A summary of

Implementing CALL in an EFL Context (1)

by  

Metin Timucin(2)

Introduction

The success of using technologies in any teaching/learning process depends on the active participation of the all parts. moving from traditional class to digital one needs some changes in management skills and sometimes to be accepted. CALL is a multi-aspects issue. These aspects are managing the change, knowing the use of computer for education aims and language teaching methodologies. Despite the plethora of theoretical studies in CALL, the practical studies still few. This case study aims to relate the findings to the implementation of relevant change processes.

Nature of the innovation

The setting is the English Preparatory School of a state university in Turkey. It offers 34-week intensive EFL teaching course to incoming students. The program evaluation results show that it is not successful as 31% failed in 99-2000 due to their lower rate of attendance. Teachers' survey in 2001 shows that this fail is a result of low level of attendance and concentration in the class. However, students complained about dull classes and 'follow the course book' attitude of teachers. Therefore, the administrative board of foreign languages decided to adopt CALL at the beginning of 2002. This decision was not based on consultation with the teachers or students.

The change process

The change started with purchasing course book attached with multimedia software. This aims to develop students' communicative competence and to encourage student-centeredness. Even though, the significant role of the teacher the only training they got was a seminar of 5 day to introduce the innovation. The researcher wants to find some new ways to active teachers' role in the circulation process, as they will be the real changing managers. Therefore, the date will be gathered before and after the CALL exposure.

Investigating the innovation

Data collection tools

The researcher used two sets of questionnaires. The first one before the implementation and has three phases: the teaching experience of the teachers, the teachers' perception of CALL and their expectations from the management. The second questionnaire was conducted a week before the end. It was designed to figure out the teachers' evaluation of actual practice in the research settings. In addition to the questionnaires, all teachers were interviewed at the end of the program.

Knowing the teachers

Fourteen teachers participated in the process. The results of the first questionnaire showed that 86 percentage of teachers thought that the chance of the program to be success was low. However, 14 percentage thought it might be successful but it needed A lot of work. In terms of teaching experience years, the most teachers who thought that computers would replace them were those with 22 years experience, followed by those of 11 years and then the two-year experienced teachers. The main reason behind the resistance of using computer was the lack of student-teacher interaction they thought CALL would impose. The teachers needed to be convinced and ensured that computers will not replace them.

 

Implementation process

 Some activities and approaches were decided, two times a week, to fully engage teachers with CALL such as interviewing the students and sessions for sharing and exchanging concerns with colleagues. The second questionnaire results showed that the teachers' views toward the CALL positively changed. The majority of the teachers, with 104 score out of 140, state that the role of the teacher in the CALL is fundamental. Ten teachers out of 14 said that CALL is worthwhile with the presence of the teachers. These responses show that the teachers felt more involved than before.

Results and discussions

The second questionnaire results show some factors that made the teachers actively involved. The first one is preparing materials. It made teachers feel much involved as 13 out of 14 teachers agreed. The researcher believes this is because it is their traditional job. The second factor is making discussions and meetings with colleagues and admin. This helped in sharing and exchanging problems. Admin reaction towards these problems made teachers views valuable. The third factor is evaluating students' feedback forms. Feedback show positive change in the interaction between the teachers and the students. The seminar that was given by the software provider at the beginning was rated low. This might be as it was given at the early beginning of the implementation or as it emphasis on the merits of the software. 

The role of the admin

Teachers look at the admin's role as an important factor in the successful of CALL program. However, only 3 out of 14 stated that the provision of computing facilities is important. This shows that teachers concentrated much more on their initial fears of change.

Conclusion

The aforementioned study shows that it is important to discover the needs of the involved staff. It was clear that what the involved staff need, in this study, is acknowledgment of their needs. The resistance the teachers show is not the main issue. We need to know how to deal with it instead. Creating opportunities for the teachers to use what they used to, made change easier as the teachers supported this changes.

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(1) ELT J (2006) 60 (3): 262-271. doi: 10.1093/elt/ccl006  

(2) e-mail of the author : mtimucin@sakarya.edu.tr