〈articles〉an investigation of university english
TRANSCRIPT
An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes
toward Computers and E-learning
Setsuko Mori Yoshihiro Omura
Information and Internet technology increasingly serves a significant role in
education. In the information system industry, Pollack (2003) (cited in Yuen & Ma,
2008) argues electronic learning (e-learning) is one of the most important developments
in recent years. Yuen and Ma (2008) mentioned that nearly 95% of higher education
institutions use some kind of electronic learning.
However, in Japan, according to the report referred to as Shiritsudaigakukyouin no
jugyou kaizen hakusho ("L t -q--*nor) Et It( " ) (2008) published by Japan
Universities Association for Computer Education, only 30 percent of the university
teachers (18,418 of 65,903) and 40 percent of junior college teachers (1,521 of 3,731)
said that they use information technology (IT) for teaching. However, their use of IT is
mostly limited to searching information on the Internet, creating class materials, and
posting syllabus. Only 10 percent use cell phones to check students' understanding of
the class materials, and only five percent encourage their students to study with
e-learning programs. On the other hand, 60 percent admitted that using IT for classes is
effective. 20-30% said that teaching using IT helps improve students' willingness to
learn, motivation to learn and presentation skills.
There are various reasons why computer assisted teaching and e-learning are not
as pervasive as desired. Logistics is an obvious reason. Without an appropriate
environment and technology, it is difficult to successfully introduce any e-learning
programs. Gobel (2011) also reported on students' computer literacy, use, and attitudes
towards CALL noting that the university students in the study preferred mobile phone
technology to the computer and CALL technology offered in the university. Greenhalgh
(cited in Masiello, Ramberge, & Kirsti, 2005) contends that many institutions just follow
a trend and implement information and communication technology (ICT) without
considering how, what and why ICT should be implemented.
All of those reasons are clearly important; however, Lawton and Gerschner (1982)
argue that teachers' attitudes towards computers can be a determining factor for the
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successful use of computers in classrooms as well. Previous research (Koohang, 1989;
Violato, Mariniz & Hunter, 1989) suggested that teachers' attitudes affect their initial
acceptance and future use of computer technology as much as their knowledge and
skills in using computers. However, Reffell and Whitworth (2002) found that teachers
are still reluctant to use information technology in education in an active or sustained
manner.
In investigating teacher attitudes towards IT, the Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) has been the most widely adopted framework. TAM was introduced by Davis
(1989, 1993) who adapted it on the principles proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1977,
1980). Ajzen and Fishbein specified how external stimulus including the objective
features of an attitude object are related to beliefs, attitudes and behavior. Based on this,
Davis proposed that actual use of a given system can be determined by a user's overall
attitude towards that system. Attitudes toward using the system, in turn, depend on
their perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which is directly affected by the
system design features (See Figure 1).
Perceived 70 usefulness
System Attitude design 4 toward 4 System
features usinguse
Perceived ease of use
External Cognitive Affective Behavioral stimulus response response response
Figure 1. Technology Acceptance Model adopted from Davis (1993).
Davis administered a survey with 112 users of an electronic mail system to test
this model. His statistical analyses showed that TAM accounted for 36 percent of
variance in usage, and perceived usefulness was twice as influential as ease of usage in
determining usage. Since then, TAM has been widely used for predicting the use of IT
(e.g., Davis, 1993; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warsaw, 1989; Gressard & Loyd, 1985; Selim, 2003;
Vankatesh, 1999; Vankatesh & Davis, 1996; Yuen & Ma, 2002, 2008).
Gressard and Loyd (1985) found that perceived usefulness of computers can affect
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
attitudes toward computers whereas the amount of confidence with computers a
teacher has may influence the actual use in classroom. Yuen and Ma (2002) also found
that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use directly influenced the intention to
use computers.
Based on TAM, Liaw, Huang, and Chen (2006) proposed the 3-TUM (three-tier
technology use model). According to this model, attitudes toward IT form three
different tiers: "the tier of individual experience and system quality, the affective and
cognitive tier, and the behavioral intention tier" (p. 3). Using 3-TUM as a theoretical
framework, they administered a questionnaire with 30 instructors and found perceived
usefulness and self-efficacy influenced behavioral intentions to use e-learning.
Yuen and Ma (2008) also attempted to expand TAM and came up with their own
model which include five constructs: intention to use, perceived usefulness, perceived
ease of use, subjective norm and computer self-efficacy. They ran this model with 152
instructors and found that the subjective norm, computer self-efficacy and perceived
ease of use accounted for 68 percent of variance in intention to use the e-learning
system. Contrary to previous research, however, their statistical analyses indicated that
perceived usefulness did not predict instructors' intention to use.
Motivation for the Present Study
Kinki University, where this study took place, offers ALC NetAcademy, an on-line
comprehensive e-learning program for both on and off campus use to all the students in
Kansai area. The program has four self-learning modules: vocabulary, listening, reading,
and technical English.
While 36,631 users are currently registered for the 2011 school year, it seems that
the number of students who actually work on the program is quite limited. For example,
in October, the month for which the most up-to-date data are available, a total of 6,291
gross users got on line, but it turned out that the same learners used the programs
multiple times. In fact, only 649 users actually worked on ALC NetAcademy. Actual
number of users for each month are as follows: 981 in April, 1035 in May, 957 in June,
957 in July, 64 in August, 407 in September, and 649 in October. In other words, it is
found that less than one thousand students actually utilize ALC NetAcademy every
month.
It is also clear that the frequency of ALC NetAcademy use is drastically different
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from faculty to faculty. Kinki University used to offer a unified English language
program until several years ago, but now each faculty tries to implement its own
program to suit the students' field of study. Thus, English language curricula are quite
different from faculty to faculty. It is seen that students at the faculty of Biology-
Oriented Science and Technology (Biology hereafter) worked on ALC the most. In the
faculty of Biology, an average of 373, out of the total of 1985, students worked on ALC
while the semester was in session (excluding the month of August), which is roughly
18.7 % of all the students. Considering the fact that only freshmen and sophomores take
the core English classes, 37.4% of all the students in the faculty of Biology use ALC.
Applying the same calculation, Table 1 shows the percentage of students who use ALC
in each faculty.
Table 1. ALC use among freshmen and sophomores (2011)
Faculty Biology Business Engineering Economics Literature Law
ALCuse (%)
37.4 6.2 5.3 2.2 4.7 2.0
Other faculties that are not listed here have even lower percentages of ALC use. Thus,
it is clear that only students in the faculty of Biology make good use of ALC
NetAcademy, while students in other faculties hardly utilize it.
Next, let us take a look at which components of ALC students used more
frequently. Kinki University offers four components of ALC: Power Words, Standard,
Pre-Intermediate, and Technical English. Power Words is designed to promote
vocabulary learning up to 12,000 words. Standard course is the most comprehensible
course, offering both listening and reading practices. Pre-Intermediate also offers
listening and reading, but it is designed for TOEIC preparation. Technical English offers
practices in vocabulary and writing in technical English.
The level tests both in Vocabulary and Standard are used most frequently because
they are the starting points to Vocabulary and Standard courses in this program. Other
than the level tests, the most popular components are Vocabulary levels 1, 2, and 3, Pre-
Intermediate Listening, Reading and TOEIC preparation, and Standard Listening.
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
Table 2. Average number of students who worked on each component
Vocabulary Standard Pre-Intermediate Technical
Component Test 1 2 3 4 Test Listen Read Listen Read TOEIC Basic
# of students 208 187 161 93 24 118 60 34 77 77 78 11
Table 2 shows the average number of students who worked on popular components per
month. It indicates that students are concerned with their vocabulary learning as well as
TOEIC preparation, and they work on all components, but Technical English does not
seem very popular. Table 3 shows the percentage of students who revisited the program.
It is clear that more than 70 % of the students worked on the program less than 10 times.
Table 3. Number of students who worked on ALC
Frequency <3 4-10 11-20 21-30 31-50 51-70 71-100 100<
Number of
studednts216 247 117 33 25 8 1 2
% 33.3 38.1 18.0 5.1 3.9 1.2 0.2 0.4
Base on the data mentioned above, it is obvious that ALC NetAcademy is not used
as much as desired. Although there are various reasons why the self-access e-learning
program, which is available both on campus and at home, is extremely underused, it is
assumed that teachers play an important role in implementing e-learning in class, and
encouraging students to use it outside of class. Therefore, this study attempted to
investigate instructors' familiarity with and attitudes toward computers and e-learning.
Research Questions
For the purpose of this study, the following research questions were proposed for
a group of instructors teaching English at a university:
1. What computer-assisted activities do teachers often use?
2. What usefulness do teachers perceive of the computer-assisted activities?
3. Is there any relationship between teachers' use and perceived usefulness of the
computer-assisted activities?
4. Which sub-constructs of teacher attitudes influence teachers' use of a specific
e-learning program?
5. What other factors influence teachers' use of a specific e-learning program?
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Methods
Participants
In December 2011, the questionnaire was administered on line with 129 English
instructors in two departments, business and law, at Kinki University, and usable
responses were received from 81 indicating approximately a 63 percent response rate.
The response rate for full-timers was 100 percent whereas the response rate for part-
timers was 57.5 percent, and the response rate for the native Japanese speakers was
65.9 while the response rate for the native English speakers was 57.4 percent. Of those
who actually completed the questionnaire, 67 percent were native speakers of Japanese
while 33 were native speakers of English, and 57 percent were male and 43 were female
(Table 4). The classes that the Japanese teachers are currently teaching are required
and elective English classes focusing more on reading and the TOEIC. On the other
hand, native English speaking teachers are teaching mostly oral English classes. In other
word, in investigating their use of technology and attitude towards technology, a type of
class they were teaching was not taken into consideration. After removing those who
missed some questions, the total number of responses analyzed was 73.
Table 4. Demographic data of respondents (n=81)
Status Nationality Sex Age
Full-time Part-time NJS NES Male Female 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-
16 65 54 27 46 35 2 15 32 23 9
Instruments
The data for this study was gathered by a means of a questionnaire formulated
based on previous research (Davis, 1983, 1993; Liaw, Huang & Chen, 2006; Mandizadeh,
Biemans & Mulder, 2007; Yuen & Ma, 2008). The questionnaire is mainly comprised of
four parts: demographic information, computer and Internet experience, attitudes
toward IT, and experience with and attitudes toward a particular e-learning program
(See the Appendix). The demographic component included teaching status, nationality,
sex, age and classes the participants were currently teaching. In the part concerned
with computer and Internet experience, they were asked how often they used such
computer activities as Powerpoint presentation and the course management system
with their students. In order to investigate teachers' attitudes towards IT, in the third
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
part of the questionnaire, the participants were first asked to rate to what extent those
listed computer activities they think were useful on a 5-point Likert scale. Then they
were instructed to identify to what degree they agree with the statements regarding
self-efficacy (e.g., "I am good with computers"), perceived enjoyment of using
computers (e.g., "I enjoy working with computers in general"), perceived usefulness
(e.g., "Quality of students' learning in my course is improved by using computers"), and
perceived ease of use (e.g., "Using computers as a teaching assisted tool is easy for
me") again on a 5-point Likert scale. Lastly, the participants were asked whether they
know about ALC NetAcademy 2 (i.e., "Do you know that Kinki University offers a self-
access e-learning program called "ALC NetAcademy 2?" ), and instructed to provide
information regarding how they learned about ALC NetAcademy 2. Then the
participants were asked whether they actually use this program (i.e., "Do you use ALC
NetAcademy 2 for your class?") and instructed to provide reasons why or why not they
use this e-learning program. Although the survey questions were all in English, the
Japanese instructors were instructed to provide written comments in Japanese simply
for the sake of convenience in subsequent analyses. The reliability of the questionnaire
assessed using Cronbach alpha was .95
Procedure
The questionnaire was created using an Internet site referred to as Survey
Monkey (www. surveymonkey.com). This site allowed the researchers to create and
publish the survey on line. All participants received the same e-mail request both in
English and Japanese either directly from one of the researchers, or other teachers in
their department, and were asked to complete and submit the survey on line. They
were given 10 days to complete the survey. Since the response rate was as low as 39
percent by the first dead line, the deadline was extended for six days. Their responses
were then viewed on line and converted to Excel format. The data was further
converted to SPSS format, and analyzed using SPSS Statistics Base, and Text Analytics
for Survey.
Results
Research Question One: Computer-assisted Activities Teachers Use
The teachers were asked to specify to what extent they used the features that
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appeared in Table 5 on a five-point Likert scale (1: Never; 5: All the time). Table 5
shows that the majority of the teachers never use any of the functions. Comparisons of
the means and percentages of those who either chose "sometimes," "often" or "all the
time" indicate that "E-mail and mailing list (M=1.8, 24.6%)" and "Powerpoint
presentation (M=1.7, 22%)" were used most frequently. On the other hand, least
frequently used features were "Online discussion (M=1.2, 5.5%)" and "Course
management system (e.g., Moodie)" (M=1.2, 4.1%). MANOVA was run in order to see
if there were any significant differences in computer use among different groups. The
results of MANOVA imply that there was no significant difference depending on
nationality, sex and age.
Table 5. Descriptive statistics (percentages, M, SD) of teachers' use of selected features
of e-learning environments (n=73)
Features 1 2 3 4 5 M SD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Presenting course material and literature on line 68.5
Powerpoint presentation 68.5
E-mail and mailing list 61.6
Course calendar and schedule on line 82.2
Course announcement and news on line 74.0
Online collaboration 84.9
Online discussion 87.7
Online test/quiz 83.6
Course management system (e.g.,Moodle) 89.0
Self-access e-learning program (e.g., ALC) 72.6
12.3
9.6
13.7
6.8
15.1
4.1
6.8
9.6
6.8
8.2
11.0
11.0
13.7
2.7
1.4
8.2
4.1
5.5
0.0
11.0
5.5
5.5
6.8
4.1
6.8
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.7
6.8
2.7
5.5
4.1
4.1
2.7
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.4
1.5
1.3
1.2
1.3
1.2
1.6
1.1
1.2
1.2
1.0
1.0
0.7
0.6
0.7
0.7
1.0
1=Never; 2=Seldom; 3 =Sometimes; 4=Often; 5=A11 the time
Research Question Two: Teachers' Perceived Usefulness of Computer Assisted Activities
The same procedure was followed to determine teachers' perceived usefulness of
the selected features of e-learning environments. The teachers were asked to specify
how useful they perceive those activities to be on a five-point Likert scale (1: Not at all;
5: Very useful). As shown in Table 6, the mean scores for all but two items (Online
collaboration and Online discussion) were above three, which may imply that the
majority of the teachers recognize the value of these activities for teaching and learning.
Comparisons of the means and percentages of those who either chose "somewhat
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
useful," "useful" or "very useful" indicate that self-access e-learning program (e.g.,
ALC) (M=3.40, 84.9%), Powerpoint presentation (M=3.32, 83.6%), and E-mail and
mailing list (M=3.32, 79.5%) were believed to be most useful. On the other hand, as
mentioned above, online discussion (M=2.72, 57.4%) and online collaboration (M=2.76,
58.9%) had the least added value. Again, MANOVA was run in order to see if there
were any significant differences in perceived usefulness among different groups. The
results of MANOVA imply that there was no significant difference depending on
nationality, sex and age.
Table 6. Descriptive statistics (percentages, M, SD) of teachers' perceived usefulness of
selected features of e-learning environments (n=73)
Features 1 2 3 4 5 M SD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Presenting course material and literature on line 12.3 9.6 38.4 27.4 11.0 3.15
Powerpoint presentation 8.2 8.2 38.4 31.5 12.3 3.32
E-mail and mailing list 8.2 12.3 28.8 38.4 11.0 3.32
Course calendar and schedule on line 11.0 15.1 32.9 34.2 5.5 3.08
Course announcement and news on line 16.4 11.0 30.1 30.1 11.0 3.08
Online collaboration 15.1 23.3 34.2 19.2 5.5 2.76
Online discussion 16.4 24.7 34.2 16.4 6.8 2.72
Online test/quiz 13.7 13.7 34.2 27.4 9.6 3.06
Course management system (e.g.,Moodle) 13.7 11.0 39.7 26.0 8.2 3.04
Self-access e-learning program (e.g., ALC) 9.6 5.5 32.9 37.0 13.7 3.40
1.15
1.07
1.10
1.08
1.24
1.11
1.14
1.17
1.13
1.11
1=Not at all; 2=Not very useful; 3=Somewhat useful; 4=Useful; 5=Very useful
Research Question Three: Relationships between Teachers' Use and Perceived
Usefulness
Correlation coefficients were computed between teachers' actual use of selected
features of e-learning environments and their perceived usefulness of those features.
The result of the correlational analysis presented in Table 7 shows that the correlation
between those two variables was significant. This result suggests that there is a
significant relationship between how often teachers use those features and how useful
they perceive those features are.
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Table 7. Correlation between actual use and perceived usefulness of selected features of
e-learning environments
Actual use Usefulness
Actual use
Usefulness
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
1
73
.366**
0.001
73
.366**
0.001
73
1
73** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Research Question Four: Influence of Teacher Attitudes on their Use of E-learning
Program
As table 8 shows, although almost 80 percent of the teachers have at least heard
about the ALC e-learning program, 85 percent mentioned that they seldom or never use
the program.
Table 8. Descriptive statistics of teachers' familiarity with ALC and actual use of ALC
1 2 3 4 5 M SD
ALC familiarity
ACL use
19.1
72.6
45.2
12.3
35.6
10.9
NA
2.7
NA
1.3
2.16
1.48
0.73
0.90
ALC familiarity: 1=I don't know; 2=I've heard about it; 3=1 know the details of the program
ACL use: 1=Never; 2=Seldom; 3=Sometimes; 4=Often; 5=All the time
A linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the prediction of actual use
of the ALC e-learning program from teacher attitudes toward computers and e-learning
in general. Teacher attitudes were operationalized as means of four attitudinal
categories, namely self-efficacy (e.g., "I am good with computers"), perceived enjoyment
of using computers (e.g., "I enjoy working with computers in general" ), perceived
usefulness (e.g., "Quality of students' learning in my course is improved by using
computers"), and perceived ease of use (e.g., "Using computers as a teaching assisted
tool is easy for me" ). As Table 9 suggests, information regarding differences in self-
efficacy, perceived enjoyment of using computers, perceived usefulness, and perceived
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
ease of use cannot be used to predict whether the teachers actually used a specific
e-learning program.
Table 9. Sequential regression of attitude toward computers and e-learning on the actual use
ModelUnstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients
95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
BStd.
ErrorBeta t Sig.
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
1 (Constant)
Self-efficacy
Enjoyment
Usefulness
Ease
0.693
-0.259
0.116
0.265
0.126
0.488
0.212
0.199
0.171
0.187
-0 .268
0.142
0.255
0.114
1.422
-1.221
0.583
1.547
0.673
0.16
0.226
0.562
0.127
0.503
-0.28
-0.682
-0.282
-0.077
-0.248
1.666
0.164
0.514
0.607
0.5
Dependent Variable: ALC use
Research Question Five: Other Factors Influencing Teachers' Use of E-learning Program
A linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the prediction of actual use
of ALC e-learning program from nationality (Japanese speakers/English speakers), sex
and age (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60 or above). As Table 10 suggests, information
regarding differences in nationality can be used to predict whether the teachers actually
used a specific e-learning program. A close examination indicates that more Japanese
teachers use ALC e-learning program than native English speaking teachers.
Table 10. Sequential regression of nationality, sex and age on the actual use
ModelUnstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients
95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
BStd.
ErrorBeta t Sig.
Lower Upper
Bound Bound
1 (Constant)
nationality
sex
age
1.354
-0 .615
0.354
0.117
0.528
0.253
0.234
0.108
-0 .316
0.198
0.129
2.564
-2.436
1.509
1.087
0.013
0.017
0.136
0.281
0.301
-1.12
-0 .114
-0.098
2.408
-0 .111
0.822
0.332
This section tries to describe
survey, the open-ended question
and interpret the results "R
easons why you use or
of the last question of the
do not use ALC." While
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ft* • :/ 37—CV
native teachers all responded in English, most Japanese teachers responded in Japanese
and some in English. Due to the nature of text mining software, which utilizes a
language specific dictionary, the data in English and those in Japanese were analyzed
separately.
Of the 23 responses in English, 22 replied that they "Never" use ALC and all their
responses were replies to "why they do not use ALC." On the other hand, of the 23
responses in Japanese, four responses were replies to "why they use ALC and 19
responses were replies to "why they do not use ALC." Thus, the four replies to "why
they use ALC" were excluded from the analysis at this time. Therefore, this section
tries to analyze the reason why the teachers do not use ALC. Because categorization of
keywords was not very accurate due to the small number of responses, this paper limits
the use of text mining to listing the frequent terms and showing category webs.
Keywords extracted from the Japanese responses are as follows: -*`' (8), (7),
— 37 (4) , V: (3), RR (3), 7 (3), TE (3), 066 (2), 8 t.:z (2), '(t .=) (2), 41-
(2), S) z (2), S)I (2), n'i33`(2), itffl (2),V:,1*(2), /VI (2), ^ (2), til—fT (2),
(2). These keywords are then categorized into eight categories (Graph 1), and mapped in
Figure 2. From the category web, it can be said that teachers do not use ALC because
they are not very familiar with the program and are concerned with students'
accessibility to the program from home. In addition, they feel such self-learning programs
should be treated as self-learning tools and thus do not use them in class.
Graph 1. Category of Japanese responses BP
E It
ct,')
-L
ij-1 0 13 26 39
# of Respondents
Rid—37•
t 71, Md-C • E 74 •
Figure 2. Category web of Japanese responses
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
Keywords extracted from the English responses are as follows: ALC (11) , students
(6), don't know (5), no (4), class (4), computers (4), classrooms (3), problem (2),
appropriate (2), applicable (2), nothing (2). These keywords are categorized into eight
categories (Graph 2), and mapped in Figure 3. From the category web, it can be said
that teachers do not use ALC because they do not have enough information about it
and they do not have time for it in class. Also, teachers are concerned that students do
not have access to the program and students are not motivated enough to work on it.
Graph 2. Category of English responses
BP
alc
don't know
students
t; '6" computer access i2;
Uenglish
not motivated
class
no time
0 15 30 :15 60 # of Respondents
computeraceesse'--------notime • not motivated
Figure 3. Category web of English responses
Both the Japanese responses and English responses revealed that teachers do not
use ALC in class because 1) they are not very familiar with the program, 2) they are
concerned with students' accessibility to the program from home, 3) they do not have
time for it in class, and 4) they feel students should work on it outside the class as a
self-learning activity.
Discussion and Conclusion
The findings of this study revealed that despite the fact that the majority of the
instructors recognized some usefulness of computer-assisted activities, approximately 90
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percent said they never or almost never use most of the activities listed. Even
Powerpoint and E-mail are used only by slightly over 20 percent of the respondents. In
other words, the use of computer assisted activities in this institution is much more
infrequent than the figure cited in fLIT_'4-4ftrl0)454AE *El, (2008) where 30 percent
of the university teachers said that they use IT for teaching.
The result of the correlational analysis shows that there is a significant relationship
between how often teachers use those features and how useful they perceive those
features to be. However, when we analyzed a relationship between teachers' attitudes
operationalized as self-efficacy, perceived enjoyment of using computers, perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use, and actual use of ALC, the result indicated that
any of these sub-constructs of teachers' attitudes cannot predict whether the teachers
actually used ALC. In other words, it seems that teachers' lack of confidence in
computers, how little they enjoy using computers and the e-learning environment, or
whether they perceive computers and e-learning as useless or hard to use may not be
reasons why they do not use ALC.
In order to further investigate why the majority of the instructors do not use
ALC, their written comments were analyzed using a text-mining software. Although we
did not specify in-class use of ALC, the reasons given both by Japanese and native
English speaking instructors can be summarized as follows:
1. They are not very familiar with the program.
2. They are concerned with students' accessibility to the program from home.
3. They do not have time for it in class.
4. They feel students should work on it outside the class as a self-learning activity.
In sum, the written comments also revealed that teachers' familiarity with the program
but not their attitudes such as their perceived usefulness influenced their use.
Although a brief description of ALC is provided to all the teachers in both
departments, workshops on ALC are given to only those who are interested in the
beginning of a school year. To encourage more teachers to use the program, it is
obvious that we need to make more effort to promote the program including frequent
workshops throughout the semester. Furthermore, there had been a technical problem
which prevented some students and teachers from accessing ALC at home. Although
this specific problem has been solved, it is easy to see how the failure at their initial
attempts discouraged some teachers to try persistently. In addition, reasons three and
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An Investigation of University English Instructors' Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
four mentioned above have something to do with teachers' misunderstanding that ALC
should be used in class. Like other self-access e-learning programs, ALC is intended to
be used mainly outside the class. Again a better advertisement and explanation on the
current status and how to use the program is clearly needed to increase the use.
Although the reported teachers' concerns are valid, there are a number of
solutions that could be implemented. One possible scenario would involve minimal
teacher training in the ALC system, and requiring students to complete ALC modules
for homework. The teachers could then track student progress via the ALC tracking
system, encouraging students in-class. This encouragement may be seen as both
motivating to the students, and provide possible utility for the ALC software in the
students' eyes. Since the teachers would not be directly involved in the ALC modules,
background of the ALC system and training in how to track their students' progress
could take place in one session. A scenario such as this would have three positive
outcomes: encouraging the students to study English outside of class using ALC;
familiarizing teachers with ALC and encouraging them to explore the possibilities that
ALC has to offer; and create tangible support for the universities decision to make ALC
available to all students.
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An Investigation of University English Instructors'
Appendix
Questionnaire
Attitudes toward Computers and E-learning
1 Part-time/full time
2 Japanese/NSE
3 Gender
4 Age
5 Classes you teach
6 How often do you do the following computer activities with your students? (1=never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5= all the time)
Presenting course material and literature on linePowerpoint presentationE-mail and mailing listCourse calendar and schedule on lineCouse announcement and news on lineOnline collaborationOnline discussionOnline test/quizCourse management system (e.g., Moodle)Self-access e-learning program (e.g., ALC)
7 How useful do you think the following for teaching/learning?(1=not useful at all, 2=somewhat useful, 3=1 don't know, 4. useful, 5=veryuseful)Presenting course material and literature on linePowerpoint presentationE-mail and mailing listCourse calendar and schedule on lineCouse announcement and news on lineOnline collaborationOnline discussionOnline test/quizCourse management system (e.g., Moodle)Self-access e-learning program (e.g., ALC)
8 How strongly do you agree with the following statements?(1=not agree at all, 2=somewhat disagree, 3=neutral, 4=somewhat agree,5=strongly agree)I am good with computers.Generally, I would feel OK about trying a new problem on the computer.I feel confident using computers as a teaching assisted toolI feel confident using e-learning environmentsI enjoy working with computers in general.Figuring out computer problems is difficult for me.I enjoy using computers as a teaching assisted toolI enjoy using e-learning environment for teaching purposeI believe using e-learning environments is helpful for learningI believe using e-learning environments is helpful for teachingQuality of students' learning in my course is improved by using computers.
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9
10
Quality of students' learning in my course is improved by using e-learning environments. Learning to teach using e-learning programs is easy for me. I find teaching using e-learning programs cumbersome to use.
Using computers as a teaching assisted tool is easy for me. I find it takes a lot of effort to become skillful at using computers as a teaching assisted tool.
Do you know that Kinki University offers a self-access e-learning program called "ALC NetAcademy 2"?
(1=I don't know, 2=I've heard about it, 3=1 know the details of the program) How you learned about ALC.
Do you use ALC NetAcademy 2 for your class? (1=never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5= all the time) Reasons why you use or do not use ALC
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