Advantages And Disadvantages Of ICT In ESL Classrooms

This paper will discuss the ESL students and the programming that must be implemented in order to have an effective contributing outcome. ESL students are defined as people whose first born language is not English. However, not all ESL students are immigrants, according to Alberta Education (2007) there are two main groups of ESL learners; Canadian – born and the second is termed as Foreign –born.

Technology of the past 20 years has become a focal point of teaching and learning. As a teacher, it is my job to facilitate the learning for an individual by creating an environment that not only conducive for learning, but also places the child in a position to discover and learn them for themselves. Technology has given teachers to opportunity to take learning beyond the classroom, and has begun to reshape their role in the learning process.

Society is becoming more reliant upon technology every day. Technology is found in hospitals, banks, grocery stores, homes, and schools across the nation. As technology becomes more prevalent in the classroom, teachers need to learn how to use it effectively. Differentiating instruction, facilitating learning, enhancing communication, and facilitating instruction are all appropriate ways to use technology in the classroom (Standards for Teachers). Once these types of technology are mastered, student performance, creativity, and thirst for knowledge should begin to increase.

The leaders in education need to be informed to ICT possible benefits with the leader’s dangers and be active in lecturing them, from now ICT literacy development provides an appropriate venue for this. The development of an ICT addition model in schools is valuable for stakeholders in education to evaluate technology training for school leaders and create opportunities for principals to acquire ICT integration skills. (Selwood, 2003) said that when school leaders allow technology integration through vision and knowledge, schools can improve in instructional technology, which can lead to greater student achievement and better preparation for a technological society. (Bonifaz & Zucker, 2004) said that teaching students with laptops establishes a different environment than traditional classrooms and requires the teacher to have ICT knowledge and skills, effective ICT teaching strategies, effective classroom management as well as technical support. In a school setting, likewide (Cuban, 2001) said that ICT requires additional time and effort to utilize, and consequently may be used less frequently. (Abuzaid & Singh, 2008, Al-Jarf, 2007, Bauer & Kenton, 2005) said that this part introduces the conceptualized of ICT in education. (Fitzallen, 2004) said that attention is increasingly directed at the border of the questions merging

In Lavin, Korte, Davies). The result of the study further pushes the notion of how important it is for school staff to understand the given technology so they can distribute the information effectively to their students. All the technology in the world will be ineffective if the teachers themselves are not passionate of their work. “Technology has the potential to transform the learning environment from passive to active and more subject to the control of the learner.” (qtd. In Lavin, Korte, Davies).

Through surveys and interviews data related to various technology tools and ways of integrating technology in classrooms will be collected. The data will be validated by the intern through some classroom observations. The collected and observed data will then be analyzed and the summary will be presented to the staff during a faculty meeting. Staff will also be trained on what it means of integrating technology into every day teaching.

Chapter four talks about upgrading technology. The books talk about educators adding technology into the classroom. Technology is being used to transform classrooms. Even though the use of technology is suggested or required from teachers some fail to reiterate it into their curriculum (Johnson,2012, pg.83). This is due to confusion or some being scared to try something new. Instead some stick to the familiar such as using technology for communicating with parents, recording grades and attendance. The lack of usage in technology sometimes has to do with lack of resources (Johnson,2012, pg.83).

The questionnaire addresses the difficulty faced by teachers in classroom when using technology based on participant’s response; some teachers feel intimidated in using technology and would rather opt for a low tech than a higher tech to teach pupils. This can be said to be due to lack of training or knowledge can make teachers less confident to make technology a priority to teach. However, with 8% of respondents stating that technology is “Not at all significant”, it can only be assumed that the technologies are either incompatible with the pupil’s profile, or have been incorrectly

Good and clear introduction “Research states that although there is a positive correlation between technology utilization and student achievement (Shapley, Sheehan, Maloney, & Caranikas-Walker, 2010)” and training opportunities in the use of technology have become increasingly available, educators still do not effectively incorporate technology into instruction (Chickasanda, Otrel-Cass, Williams, & Jones, 2013; Li & Choi, 2014). According to studies conducted by Petko (2012) and Mama and Hennessy (2013), teachers’ personal values and beliefs play a part in effective technology integration. The statement “Teachers are the stakeholders primarily responsible for the integration of technology into the curriculum…” addressed the relationship

Technology is an ever changing feature in education. In order for technology to be effective there are many things that need to coordinate together. I will discuss some the major topics of integrating technology into classrooms. I will also have some insight into how schools have changed over the years and what I see now in the classroom.

Also by the year 1999 it is found that an unexpectedly a larger percentage (96.95%) of kindergarten students can access computers either home or school. Based on some statistics, even poor students who might not access the technology at home are utilizing it by either using the available resources in the library of their school, or in a classmate’s house. These statistics prove that technology has a vital role in the lives of students. It has helped to verify why an educator presume the change is essential in teaching and learning methods. If students are so engaged in using the technology outside the classroom, they value it. Then it would be logical to assume that if technology were merged into the classroom learning environment has to be more purposeful to the students. Considering the fact that all parts of society are changed significantly in an unseen way by information technology and has been continuing the change so that the future will not be neglected. Schools have to adopt these changes and research must advance with the belief that technology is and will exist to be an expanding component in the educational system. This is the actuality why the students are so involved when it comes to the usage of technology. It is a herculean task to progress in a world which is run by technology and not be affected by it.

Teachers’ preconceived attitudes about the use of technology in the classroom are another barrier for not implementing technology. Many teachers are resisting integrating technology because they do not feel that the benefits outweigh the cost. The benefits of implementing technology would be student achievement and increased technology literacy and the cost is the time required to learn to integrate technology meaningfully (Hicks, 2011). These teachers do not want to change their traditional teaching methods that consist of lecturing students and pen and paper assessments. Students in this generation no longer need to be lectured to for every lesson about information that can easily be accessed using the Internet through problem-based learning (Martinez & Schilling, 2010).

Schools today are trying their best to stay up to date with the latest and greatest technology, from Smart Boards to lending each student their own laptop or iPad. In the classroom teachers use the technology within their lesson plans, but when planning they should make sure that the programs that they include will engage students, and will also involve interaction between the students and program (Stošić, L). Incorporating technology in the classroom is a great educational tool for teachers to use as part of their teaching methods. While including educational technology methods in the classroom it will enhance students learning skills and their cognitive characteristic (Stošić, L). With the right teaching methods and reliable educational interactive learning programs, students are more excited and motivated about learning, because of the involvement of today’s modern technology.

Teachers, in general, are “creatures” of habit per say. As an educator, they deal with things in regards to the classroom in a practical manner. They are not refusing technology combined with principle, yet they want the necessary room to acquire those skills and have enough room to put those into practiced without being pressured. Teachers are territorial by nature and they like to have the creative freedom to create quality learning modules. As a facilitator of learning, they feel entitled to make the decision on what methods as well as supporting devices they will use to make them come alive for the student. Technology integration is a complex phenomenon that involves understanding teachers' motivations, perceptions, and beliefs about learning and technology (Bernauer, 1995).

For this purpose it is necessary to create in the teacher an awareness of the possibilities of ICT which will lead to their willingness to learn it and resulting in the commitment and confidence to use it. Thus, teacher education institutions in the country must rise to the occasion to turn out ICT competent through in –service and pre-service courses.