A thesis in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in

Challenges in the Use of ICT in Teaching English

It was difficult to identify the challenges faced by teachers in the use of ICT in teaching English as a foreign language. To accomplish the objective associated with this effort a set of twelve items were used as described in section 5 in the questionnaire. But what makes it difficult to find out the most powerful challenges

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which are faced by the Libyan teachers in using the ICT is that the majority of the responses were almost equal in proportions. However, the classifications of the challenges were done on the basis of the percentages for every response. Findings demonstrated that the top ranked challenges to the use of ICT were the lack of computer knowledge and skills, the lack of technical support, and the lack of training. It can be concluded that the various challenges faced in the use of ICT may contribute to the lack of frequency in the technology as well as the lack of awareness of the usefulness and importance of various components of the technology for different purposes in teaching. Only a small percentage of the respondents perceived the lack of financial support and the lack of support from the school administration as two of the prominent challenges.

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CHAPTER V RECOMMENDATIONS

0. Introduction

Based on the results and discussion from chapter four, the following recommendations can be made about the teachers‟ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of ICT in the teaching of English language.

0. Recommendations

The teachers have to be given ample opportunities to attend courses related to the use of computer technology in teaching English. They themselves need to be aware of the importance, usefulness and benefits of the technology in order to foster a positive attitude towards its use, which in turns encourages and motivates the teachers to experiment with and utilize the technology in the teaching process. Both the Ministry of Education and the Teacher Training sectors should play an active part in collaboratively conducting relevant courses. Partnership can be fostered between the schools and the community and even between the schools to conduct relevant seminars, workshops and other related activities. The content of the computer training should be systematically planned and implemented. Some social issues needed to be addressed before the implementation of the computers in education especially those related to gender, therefore it is better to conduct the courses in the schools and during holidays as the respondents suggested so none of the parents or husbands of the students and female teachers will refuse or stand against that to be done. Also various factors related to the students‟ needs and

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level, teachers‟ interests, curricular specification and syllabus content must be taken into account. A coordinating board can perhaps ensure the standardization of the objectives and the content of the courses conducted by various parties.

While there are limited opportunities available for the teachers to attend hands-on computer training courses in reality, they can still gain similar benefits from the teachers who have the privilege to attend the courses, efforts must be made to share the knowledge and skills gained by conducting in-house training courses for the other interested teachers. The issues of social factors which related to the gender for training the teachers can therefore be avoided.
Nevertheless, teachers should be made aware that no matter how good the training is, it is only when the teachers actually try to use the knowledge and skills that they encounter problems and doubts in the use of technology. Therefore, the teachers who have undergone the training must put the new ideas into practice in order to experiment and develop their expertise in the new methods.
Apart from increasing the opportunities for attending training courses, concerted effort needs to be put into overcoming the problems of financial constraints, which is considered as one of the leading challenges in the use of ICT in teaching. The parties involved in allocating the budget and providing the necessary funds should be made aware of the numerous benefits of the technology in teaching English. Financial commitment is greatly needed from these parties in order to make sure that the budget allocation and funding for facilities and training courses related to the technology are regarded as one of the top priorities.
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Various means and ways have to be undertaken by the schools, the ministry and the community at large to cater to the technology needs of the teachers and students.
Another common challenge faced by the teachers is the problem of time constraint. Many of them failed to allocate enough time to utilize the computer technology as much as they would want to. One of the ways to overcome this challenge is by working in groups. Teacher can not only save their time by putting their ideas together in coming out with suggestions to effectively use the technology in teaching, but they can also share the materials and strategies among themselves. Such co-operation can be carried out not only among the teachers but also between the schools.
Ironically, another effective way to overcome the problem of not having enough time to use the computer technology is actually to make it a point to utilize the computer as a tool to save the teachers‟ time. Computer has the capabilities of efficiently managing the tasks which most teachers find time- consuming. Data-entry, calculation of grades, and reviewing of students‟ work are just some of the examples. Teachers should therefore realize that efficient use of the computers will only relieve their burdens in the long term. Once the teachers learn to utilize the computer to lessen their work load, they can have more time allocated for the use of the technology for instructional purposes.
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0.