Malaysian Language Teachers' ICT Competencies

Language Teachers And Ict Skills

The importance of language teachers’ ICT skills is indisputable. For language teachers to optimise use of ICT, they need to acculturate ICT knowledge and skills. In this respect, it is imperative that teachers effectively select, evaluate and use appropriate technologies and resources to create experiences that advance student engagement and learning (Stevens & South, 2016). The use of ICT tools and multimedia can promote language use, encourage student collaboration and socialisation, enables active participation and facilitate the development of language awareness (Paliwoda-Pekosz & Stal, 2015; Tseng et al., 2020). Learning must be facilitated by teachers with the aim of developing higher order thinking skills. In addition, teachers need to develop technical skills and knowledge about classroom management, professional development, personal use and administration (Williams et al., 2000). To enhance language teachers’ capability, the computer to student ratio must be kept low, otherwise it may impede change and effective delivery of instruction. It may also result in barriers emerging from the utilisation of ICT. These include both intrinsic and extrinsic barriers. Intrinsic barriers include attitudes, beliefs, practices and resistance while extrinsic barriers include access, time, support, resources and training. Possessing relevant ICT skills today is a necessity and this allows teachers and learners to use digital resources for engagement in teaching and learning, both in the workplace and at home.

Language teachers' ICT competencies are an often-debated area of concern and not much research has been undertaken. The question one would like to ask is the level of language teachers' ICT competencies and whether these competencies are relevant to today’s needs and how teachers have utilised these skills for teaching and learning within and outside the classroom? There were two major teacher ICT competency standards - the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards and the UNESCO ICT Competency Standards for Teachers (ICT-CST). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers (2008) stipulated teachers should meet certain standards. With rapid advances in technology and growing access to the Internet in and outside of school, ISTE sought to redesign its standards to mirror these changes and shift from a focus on teaching with technology to using technology to learn, collaborate, lead, and empower students (Smith, 2017). These provided the standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge educators needed to teach, work, and learn in an increasingly connected global and digital society. These standards included the following competencies: i. technology operations and concepts, ii. planning and designing learning environments, iii. teaching, learning, and implementing curriculum, iv. assessment and evaluation, v. productivity and professional practice, and vi. social, ethical, legal, and human issues. These were co-opted into this study.