Lecturers’ Perception toward the Barriers of the ICT Use in English

Teaching

Sari Puspita Dewi

, Nidia Sofa

and Abdul Azis Abdillah

Printing and Publishing Technology, Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia

Business Administration Department, Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia

Mechanical Engineering Department, Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Barriers, ICT use, English teaching

Abstract: This study aims at describing the lecturers’ perception toward the barriers of the use of information &

communication technology (ICT) in teaching English language at Politeknik Negeri Jakarta (PNJ).

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied. Questionnaires and interviews were the

instruments to collect the data. The scope of the research was the lecturers’ perception toward the barriers of

the ICT use in teaching English language. The result of this study showed that there are two categories of

barriers faced by the lecturers; lecturer-level and institutional-level. At lecturers’ level, the barrier was the

lack of lecturers’ competency which eventually led to having negative experiences in teaching English using

ICT. At institutional level, the barriers were the lack of effective ICT training and the speed on Internet

access. Mostly, this research contributes to give the information and recommendations to stakeholders in the

integration of new technology into language education.

1 INTRODUCTION

The use of ICT in the schools is exceptionally

critical for giving educating learning materials as

alluring, open and satisfactory materials in big data

age. Through curriculum, the latest technologies

provide the prospective to support education and

offer chances for effective interactions between

students and teachers (Dawes, 2001). By identifying

the possible problems to the assimilation of ICT

technologies in schools, the quality of teaching and

learning could be improved. This will be an essential

step since ICT is important in future education.

Many scholars argue that the ICT use in schools

is important for providing opportunities for students

to learn to function in an information era. ICT in

education is very potential in influencing ways of

teaching. But, this potential is probably hard to

comprehend in the beginning. This happens because

old-fashioned educational environments do not

stimulate learners to function or be advantageous in

the workplaces of nowadays’ community (Yelland,

2001). Yelland added that any institutions which do

not integrate the use of new technologies in schools

may not seriously declare that their students are

prepared for their work life in the twenty-first

century.

The act of incorporating ICT into teaching and

learning is a complicated process and anyone might

experience a number of difficulties which are

commonly known as “barriers” (Schoepp, 2005). “A

barrier is described as any situation that one faces

becomes difficult to make progress or to achieve a

goal” (Bingimlas, 2009). However, if teachers and

educators could identify the fundamental barriers in

advance, it may help them to conquer these

difficulties and turn to successful technology users

(Dawes, 2001). Several researchers break down the

barriers into two divisions; extrinsic and intrinsic

barriers. Extrinsic barriers relate to organisations,

while the intrinsic ones relate to teachers, school

administrators and individuals. Another categories

found in the literature are teacher-level barriers and

school-level barriers. However, since the objective

of this paper is to describe lecturers’ perception

toward the barriers of ICT use in language teaching

learning, this investigation addresses the level of

barriers on lecturers and institutions.

Dewi, S., Sofa, N. and Abdillah, A.

Lecturers’ Perception toward the Barriers of the ICT Use in English Teaching.

DOI: 10.5220/0009869800002905

In Proceedings of the 8th Annual Southeast Asian International Seminar (ASAIS 2019), pages 18-21

ISBN: 978-989-758-468-8

2 METHODOLOGY

This study used qualitative and quantitative

methods. Questionnaires and the informal interview

were the instruments to collect the data. The scope

of the research was the lecturers’ perception toward

the barriers of the ICT use in teaching English

language. There were several steps taken in this

study. First, conducting the questionnaire, then

validating the questionnaire through a judgmental

expert process. Second, distributing it to

respondents. After that, analysing the results. The

last but not least, classifying the data result by

interviewing the respondents.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Since this study divided the barriers of ICT use in

teaching English into two categories, the result will

be shown within those categories.

3.1 The Barriers at Lecturer’s Level

Figure 1 shows the barrier occurs in the level of

lecturers. From the first statement of ICT facilitates

students’ violation of copyrights, it can be seen that

64% of the lecturers agree that ICT facilitates

students’ violation of copyrights, while 36%

lecturers disagree. The violation of copyrights

includes copying any work of someone or

mimicking the internet product especially video and

papers. Those who agree mentioned that they have

experienced at least one of those cases during the

course.

Regarding the statement of the lecturers who

cannot undertake technical problems when they

happen, it can be seen that 55% lecturers agree and

45% disagree. This statement proves that the lack of

capability in handling technical problems becomes a

barrier for them. From the chart above, it can also be

seen that 82% lecturers agree that they have Limited

access to computers, while 18% lecturers disagree.

This barrier appears because not all lecturers own a

portable computer.

Next, the chapter also shows that 36% of

lecturers were Having negative experiences with

ICT in the classroom before, while another 64%

disagree. The experiences include the failure in

adapting software in teaching materials, students’

reaction toward the ICT materials like violation of

copyrights and lesson time loss due to technical

problems.

Figure 1: Lecturer-level barriers

From the statement of Difficult in classroom

management when using ICT, 9% lecturers agree,

while 91% disagree. This shows the positive attitude

of the lecturers towards the use of ICT. They believe

ICT can help them manage the classroom. The

diagram shows that 9% of the lecturers agree that

ICT increases workload for lecturers while 91%

disagree. It can be concluded that ICT actually

makes work easier for lecturers..

3.2 The Barriers at Institutional Level

Toward the statement of Not strong support for ICT

use from leaders of departments/ centres, 27%

lecturers agree, while 73% disagree. This statement

proves that leaders of departments/ centres of PNJ

fully support the use of ICT in teaching English.

This positive attitude is also shown by the next

statement of Not strong support for ICT use from

institutional authorities, where 37% lecturers agree

and 64% disagree. Based on some informal

interviews done, the support given by the PNJ

authorities is mostly done in a form of ICT training.

Whether the training meets the needs of lecturers,

that is another matter. The result of the statement of

ICT training content does not meet the needs of

lecturers shows that 64% agree while 36% others

don’t. It continues with the result of statement

number 4 where ICT training is not customised to

levels of PNJ lecturers. Towards this statement, 64%

agree while 36% lecturers disagree.

In addition to that, statement number 5 in Figure

2 tells us whether the Frequency of ICT training is

inadequate. About this, 55% lectures agree while

45% disagree. When this question was further

investigated, some lecturers confessed that they are

not sure if the ICT training was done quite often

50%

100%

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Thebarrieratlecturer’s

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Lecturers’ Perception toward the Barriers of the ICT Use in English Teaching

because they cannot attend all ICT training as their

teaching schedule is sometimes very tight.

Figure 2: lecturer-level barriers

Talking about the speed of the internet at PNJ,

82% lecturers agree toward the statement of

Discouraging speed of the internet at PNJ, while

18% lecturers disagree. This fact tells us despite the

ICT training held by PNJ authorities, they also have

to enhance the speed of the internet at PNJ to

support the lecturers in using the ICT in the

classroom.

Last statement on Lesson time loss due to

technical problems shows that 91% agree and 9%

disagree. This technical problem includes the

internet speed, the application that cannot be

installed due to the difference of computer software

and the electronic devices provided in the classroom

like in-focus, speakers and etc.

4 DISCUSSION

As mentioned earlier, the barrier in adopting ICT in

the classroom is classified into two sections,

intrinsic and extrinsic barriers. Hendren (Al-Alwani,

2005) defined intrinsic barriers as relating to

teachers, administrators, and persons and extrinsic

barriers as concerning organisations rather than

personals. Based on the findings in PNJ, it can be

said that the lecturers actually have a positive

attitude on the ICT use in the classroom. They do

not take using ICT as a burden and a workload for

them. They also like to take part in any ICT training

held by the institution though they cannot participate

in almost all of them. However, having negative

experiences in teaching English using ICT has

terrified them to adapt this teaching method.

The negative experiences include the failure in

adapting software in teaching materials, students’

reaction toward the ICT materials like violation to

copy rights and lesson time loss due to technical

problems. Some older lecturers have also confessed

that the use of the computer itself has feared them,

because they are not capable of operating computers.

This fact eventually decreases the lecturers’

confidence in applying this teaching method. As

Beggs (Beggs, 2000) said that lecturers’ “fear of

failure” made them less confident and Balanskat et

al. (Balanskat, Blamire, & Kefala, 2006)added that

the restraints in lecturers’ knowledge about ICT

creates the anxiety in using ICT in their class and

therefore it makes them less confident to use the ICT

in their teaching.

Newhouse (Newhouse, 2002) stated that those

teachers who lack the skills and knowledge on the

use of computers are not enthusiastic about the

innovations of additional learning related with

carrying the ICT use into their teaching learning

process. The incompetence of the lecturers was

caused by the limited access they have to computers,

like some of them do not have portable computers

and others do not have adequate access to any

computers in PNJ especially in teaching English.

At extrinsic or institutional level, the findings

show that there are two major issues in PNJ. The

first one is the lack of effective ICT training and the

second one is the speed of Internet access.

According to some experts, the lack of effective

training is the barrier that most commonly discussed

in the literature is (Beggs, 2000; Balanskat, Blamire,

& Kefala, 2006).

Looking at the PNJ case, the authorities of PNJ

have actually held some ICT training. However, to

some lecturers’ perception, the ICT training held did

not meet the needs of lecturers and was not

customised to levels of PNJ English lecturers. Some

of them complained that the level was quite high and

sophisticated, while the computer competence of the

lecturers is still very limited. So, to adapt the ICT

training to the classroom is almost impossible. In

addition to that, not all ICT training can be

implemented in the classroom, some of them are

very effective if they are implemented in a language

laboratory, which not all departments have one.

The speed of the internet is actually another

matter. If lack of effective training in PNJ becomes

an issue for lecturers with limited capability in

operating computers, the speed of the internet is

actually the issue of those who can operate

computers well. Lesson time loss due to technical

problems is one of the impacts of the internet speed.

This eventually makes the lecturers rethink of

maximizing the ICT use in their class.

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ASAIS 2019 - Annual Southeast Asian International Seminar

5 CONCLUSION

PNJ authorities have suggested and supported the

use of ICTs in English Language Classroom in PNJ.

However, there are a few barriers found at intrinsic

and extrinsic level. At the lecturers’ level, teacher,

administrator, and individual are some examples of

intrinsic barriers, while at the institutional level,

organization is one that becomes extrinsic barriers.

The barriers faced by the lecturers at lectures’ level

are the lack of lecturers’ competency which

eventually led to having negative experiences in

teaching English using ICT. Meanwhile, the barriers

faced by the lecturers at the institutional level are

lack of effective ICT training and the speed of

Internet access. These barriers have made the

lecturers rethink of maximizing the ICT use in their

own class.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank PNJ Research and

Community Service Center (P3M) for funding

support and valuable guidance to researchers as

researchers completed this paper. We also want to

show our gratitude to Dr. Gumawang Jati for his

suggestions to our research instruments.

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Beggs, T. A. (2000). Influences and barriers to the

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Bingimlas, K. A. (2009). Barriers to the Successful

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Dawes, L. (2001). What stops teachers using new

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Newhouse, P. (2002). Literature review: The Impact of

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Lecturers’ Perception toward the Barriers of the ICT Use in English Teaching