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Barriers to the adoption of ICT in teaching Chinese as a foreign language in US universities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2014

Chun-Yu Lin ,
Chung-Kai Huang  and
Chang-Hua Chen
Chun-Yu Lin
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (email: [email protected])
Chung-Kai Huang
Affiliation:
National Taipei College of Business, Taiwan (email: [email protected])
Chang-Hua Chen
Affiliation:
National Academy for Educational Research, Taiwan (email: [email protected])
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Abstract

This study aims to investigate barriers to the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) for teachers of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in US universities. Although the development of ICT for teaching is growing, few published studies address ICT specifically regarding CFL teaching. Therefore, this study has reviewed the existing ICT literature's treatment of important ICT-related matters, including barrier factors, and has examined them in the context of CFL teaching. The current study features a mixed method, consisting of a survey and semi-structured interviews. Of the 47 CFL teachers who participated in the study, five volunteered for in-depth interviews. According to our findings, the most critical barriers to these CFL teachers’ adoption of ICT were insufficient support and insufficient time for developing technology-driven pedagogy and activities. These issues are reflected in CFL teachers’ unique subject expertise and workloads in existing universities’ curricula and approaches to instruction. In addition, age influences CFL teachers’ confidence in their use of ICT for the preparation of subject material and for teaching, whereas gender influences their willingness to spend time working on ICT.

Keywords

ICTtechnology-integration barriersCFL teachingteachers’ perspectives
Type
Research Article
Information
ReCALL , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 100 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2014 

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