The factors affecting teachers’ applications of Information Technology in teaching and learning foreign languages in Vietnam

Based on the perspective of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the analyzed result of a case study at Hanoi University showed that the application of Information Technology (IT) of foreign language can be influenced by four main factors: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and advantaged conditions. This article both presents more deeply about these factors and proposes training using IT. It is also emphasized in this article that the support of leaders is considered to be the key leading to successful IT integration in foreign languages teaching and learning in the future.

1. Problem

Probably it is not necessary  to convince foreign language teachers in Vietnam about the value of IT such as: providing teachers with a huge source of documents on the Internet; supporting learner-centered and self-study methods (TT Dang, 2010); enhancing collaboration with other teachers; making lessons more interesting, etc (Ng & Nicholas, 2013). With so many potentials listed above, many people may think that all teachers use IT immediately in their teaching. Although the percentage of teachers applying IT in their teaching is high, there are still many teachers never integrate IT into teaching (XT Dang, Nicholas, & Lewis, 2012; Ng & Nicholas, 2013). This shows that there is the gap between awareness of the benefits of IT and practical IT applications in teaching in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the key factors affecting teachers’ IT application in foreign languages teaching in Vietnam.

2. Content

This article uses the Unified theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Morris, & Davis, 2003) as the basis for a systematic analysis of the main factors affecting IT applications of teachers of foreign languages in Vietnam. Through a combination of theory and models related to the adoption and application of IT, UTAUT theory (see Figure 1 below) is said to be able to explain "about 70% intention of using technology (Venkatesh et al., 2003, p. 471)

Four major factors in this framework are analyzed and illustrated by the results of some recent studies on the application of IT in Vietnam as well as other studies worldwide.

2.1. Performance expectancy

Benefits when applying IT can lead to teachers’ belief of the benefits that can be brought by IT. Teachers tend to use IT when they believe that IT brings significant value for both teachers and students (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Sadik, Sendurur, & Sendurur, 2012; Ng & Nicholas, 2013). But the problem here is teachers’ perspective in the benefits of IT. Teachers gives priority to applying IT in case they see the positive benefits of IT; in contrast, it is very rare for those who see only the negative impacts of IT to apply IT (Carr, 2011; Hill, 2012; Ng & Nicholas, 2013). It seems that the majority of teachers in Vietnam have a positive attitude towards the use of ICT (Hue & Ab Jalil, 2013; Ng & Nicholas, 2013; J. Peeraer, 2013).

2.2. Effort expectancy

Effort expectancy generally refers to the awareness of teachers to the use of IT. Applications which are considered to be easy to use will be used more often. In a recent study, the author Xuan Thu Dang (2013) reported a portfolio of IT applications considered to be easy to use and are frequently used such as: email, word processing, searching information on the Internet (eg: Google), downloading from the Internet (eg: Internet Download Manager program), doing presentations with Powerpoint, and Web browser (eg: Internet Explorer, Firefox).

The awareness of teachers about effort expectancy of IT is associated with their confidence and IT capacity, which are related to IT training workshop (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012). Research shows that those who are trained to use IT are less anxious when using computers and IT; and they generally consider IT as a useful tool which is easy to use (Becta, 2004; Ng & Nicholas, 2013; Teo, 2011; Trucano, 2005). The contrary inference may be acceptable.

2.3. The social influence

Teachers have their own rights to decide to use IT or not, but their decisions can be affected by the surrounding environment (Grainger & Tolhurst, 2005). There are three main pressures on IT application of teachers of foreign languages in Vietnam (ranked in order of importance): i) the pressure from the current generation of students who grew up with IT (Dang , 2013); ii) pressure from thinking to keep up with colleagues (Dang, 2013); and iii) the request of the Ministry of Education and Training for teachers about the use of IT in the classroom (MOET, 2008a, 2008b). The influence of society apparently creates a positive motivation for teachers to make use of IT in teaching process.

2.4. Facilitating conditions

Teachers’ IT application is also based on the favorable conditions including their beliefs and attitudes, IT training and leaders’ support. The research shows that teachers who have belief and positive attitude integrate IT into teaching more often; in contrast, teachers lacking belief and having negative attitudes often avoid IT applications (Drent & Meelissen, 2008; Ertmer et al., 2012; Fu, 2013; Mama-Timotheou & Hennessy, 2013; Ng & Nicholas, 2013; Sánchez, Marcos González, & Guanlin, 2012).

Author Xuan Thu Dang (2013) argues that the support of leaders is an important condition for the integration of IT in Vietnam where there is high power distance due to the influence of Confucianism (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010).

The support of leaders is often expressed through several forms such as: i) policies, vision and guiding teachers to apply IT, helping teachers recognize purposes of using IT (Ng & Nicholas, 2013; Jef Peeraer Van Petegem & 2011); ii) a system of recognition, encouragement and reward for the application of IT in teaching (Ng & Nicholas, 2013; Wastiau et al., 2013); iii) adequate investment in IT equipments to ensure that teachers have enough IT equipments to use (Ng & Nicholas, 2013; Son, Robb, & Charismiadji, 2011).

The shortage of favorable conditions (such as the lack of positive attitude, leaders’ support, equipments and incentives) may be the factor leading to teachers’ not applying IT (Ng & Nicholas, 2013).

2.5. Regulatory factors (age, gender, experience and voluntariness to use)

Age, gender and teaching experience have important influence on teachers’ participation in using IT (Buabeng-Andoh, 2012; Scrimshaw, 2004). When age, gender and experience are analyzed separately in relation to the use of IT, the result shows that young male teachers with less experience use IT more often than older female teachers who have more experience.

However, when age, gender and experience of teaching are considered at the same time in relation to factors such as IT capacity, training teachers to use IT and teachers’ belief, there exists a more complicated difference than the direct relation as mentioned above. In Vietnam, IT application remains itself voluntariness; therefore, the application of IT depends on the decisions of teachers (Ng & Nicholas, 2013).

That teachers do not apply IT is caused by many factors such as the lack of favorable conditions (lack of necessary equipments and incentives) and the effort expectancy (poor IT skills). However, perhaps the biggest challenge is teachers’ not believing in the benefits of IT (eg the Internet makes students analyze information superficially) (Carr, 2011; Hill, 2012).

3. Conclusion

The article focuses on analyzing the key factors affecting IT application of foreign language teachers in Vietnam. It can be seen from the above analysis, besides teachers’ awareness of the benefits of IT as well as the influence of society, to successfully apply IT in teaching foreign languages in Vietnam, two following factors should probably be focused:

• IT training, focusing on how to effectively use some appropriate IT tools with the direction of concentrating on learners.
• The support of leaders focusing on disseminating IT policies, rewarding adequately for those who apply IT successfully, and equipping IT equipments in the classroom.

Understanding thoroughly  all the factors mentioned above is significant for two main subjects: i) the IT policy makers, to invest suitably and effectively; and ii) foreign language teachers, to help them maximize using IT equipments to improve teaching quality.

We also propose that it is necessary to have further study with the participation of a greater number of teachers throughout the country to draw a general picture of the factors affecting IT application of foreign language teachers in Vietnam. Moreover, the effective methods to train IT application for foreign language teachers in Vietnam should also be studied more comprehensively so that teachers can access to training materials at anytime and anywhere (materials of video, audio and paper) to review and revise.

Translated by Huong Hoang

This article is translated from the source: http://dean2020.edu.vn/news/Hoc-lieu/Nhung-nhan-to-tac-dong-toi-viec-giao-vien-ung-dung-cntt-vao-day-hoc-ngoai-ngu-o-viet-nam-229/