3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement …………………………………………………………………
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………
Table of contents ………………………………………………………………….…
List of tables and figures …………………………………………………………….
i
ii
iii
v Part I: Introduction ………………………………………………….…
01
1. Rationale …………………………………………………………… ….
01
2. Objectives of the study ………………………………………………………
02
3. Research Questions ……………………………………………………………
02
4. Research Methodology …………………………………………………….……
03
5. Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………
03
6. Organization of the study ……………………………………………………….
Part II: Development………………………………………………………
03
04
Chapter 1: Literature Review ……………………………………… ……
04


4
3.2 Teachers‟ opportunities for using IT in teaching English in the classroom ……
28
3.2.1. Teachers‟ confidence in using IT in teaching…………… ………………
28
3.2.2. Teachers‟ accessibility of using IT for teaching……………………… …
29
3.2.3. Using PowerPoint is the only opportunity for using IT in ELT in the
Classroom………………………………………………………………… ……

30
3.3. Teachers‟ challenges in using IT in ELT…………………………………
31
3.3.1.Taking a lot of time for preparation and implementation of technology ……
32
3.3.2. Deficiency of computer knowledge and skills in using IT in teaching……
32
3.3.3. Shortage of equipments and technology maintenance ……………………
33
3.3.4. Limitation of opportunities of using IT in teaching………………………
34
3.3.5. Lack of teachers‟ desire and passion for technology integration…………
35
3.3.6. Lack of teacher training IT workshops and software using………………
35
3.4. Teachers‟ suggested solutions to enhance the effectiveness of using IT in ELT
36
3.4.1. Teachers‟ suggested solutions for Headmaster and administrators…… …
36


I. Lists of tables

Table 1: Teachers’ perceptions of the term IT
Table 2: Teachers' attitude toward the importance of using IT in ELT
Table 3: Teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of applying IT in ELT
Table 4: Teachers’ uses of IT for English teaching
Table 5: Teachers using PowerPoint to teach English skills 23
23
24
30
31

II. Lists of figures

Figure 1: Experiential learning cycle
Figure 2: Teacher-student perceptions and the quality of learning outcomes

11

16

why teachers use IT and to explore the issues and barriers that teachers encounter when trying to
incorporate IT into their teaching.
To meet the demands and objectives of the country‟s modern education, beside other
subjects, foreign language, especial English language has become a very important subject taught
at Secondary Schools. English language teaching has received a great deal of considerations from
the central and local governments as well as educational authorities, regarding the demand of
Vietnamese young population for better means of communication with the world. According to
the Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTg on September 30
th
2008 by the Prime Minister Government, it is
approved that in the period from 2008 to 2010 in Vietnam, foreign languages have been teaching
and learning in the national education system. The main goal is “Comprehensive renovation of the
teaching and learning foreign languages is in the education system nationally. There are
implementing programs to teach and learn foreign languages in school at all levels, training levels.
…. Variable foreign language becomes the strength of the Vietnamese people, serving the
industrialization, modernization the country.” (Decision No. 1400/QĐ- TTg). The most important
issue in this field, which has presented various complicated problems for generations of foreign
language teachers in Vietnam as well as anywhere in the world, is the adaptation of IT in English
Language Teaching. On 6th, October, 2005, the Prime Minister Phan Van Khai made decision

7
No. 246/2005/QD-TTg approving the “Strategy for Development of Vietnam's Information and
Communication Technology toward 2010 and Orientations toward 2020” (ICT strategy for short
name). This important decision determined viewpoint, objectives, direction of Vietnam ICT
toward 2010 and beyond as well as major solutions for achieving the strategic objectives.
Especially, applying IT in education is the most important one to make the more effectiveness.
In order to build effective teaching and learning models, the headmaster of Quang Xuong
One High School gave a new encouraging policy of application of IT in teaching in the school
year 2007. This has been a great impact on English teaching methods and learning. However, in
fact, during the first year applying IT in teaching, the teachers of English had many difficulties,

a. What do teachers in Quang Xuong One High School think of the benefits of
applying IT in English language teaching?
b. What challenges do they encounter in using IT in teaching English language at Quang
Xuong One High School?
c. What are their suggested solutions to get more effectiveness in applying IT in teaching
English at Quang Xuong One High School?
4. Research Methodology
In order to seek answers to the above research questions, an interview survey was used in
this study. The context of the study is one rural high school where only just eight female English
language teachers including the researcher. Because of this small number of teachers participating
in the survey, qualitative interviews were most appropriate.
5. Scope of the study
The study is confined to the understanding of teachers‟ perception of using IT in teaching
English within one rural high school. It covers the following issues:
- Teachers‟ perceptions of the benefit of using IT in teaching English
- Teachers‟ perception of the challenges in using IT in teaching English
- Teachers‟ suggestions and recommendations for more effective use of IT in ELT
6. Organization of the study
This thesis is composed of the following three parts:
Part I : Introduction
Part II: Development
Part III: Recommendations and Conclusion
The first part provides all information about rationale, objectives, questions, methodology,
and scope of the study.
The second part consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature Review; Chapter 2:
Methodology; Chapter 3: Data Analysis and discussion
In the chapter 1, the understandings of Educational Technology, Information technology,
and computers in English language teaching, the roles and effectiveness of IT, and the teachers‟
perceptions of using educational innovation - IT in English language teaching, which has been
scientifically proved pioneer researchers, are presented.

term to refer to any means that teachers can use in teaching, such as media images, audio or
digital devices. Some other educators use this term to “refer to the application of computer or
electronic equipments in the teaching and learning” (Muffoletto, 1994). For the purposes of this
thesis, the definition of technology education by AECT‟s definition (Association or Educational
Communications and Technology), which states, “Educational technology is the study and ethical
practice of facilitating learning, and improving performance by creating, using, and managing
appropriate technological processes and resources.” (AECT, 2004) is adopted. According to this
definition of Educational Technology – also known variously as e-learning, instructional
technology or learning technology – is the use of technology to support the learning process.
Although the term can refer to all kinds of analogue technologies, e.g. photographs, images, films,

10
video, audio recordings CD- ROM or DVD-ROM, internet, televisions etc, it is usually used to
talk specifically about digital computer technology.
According to the Information Technology Association of America, Information
Technology (commonly called simply IT) can be defined as “the study, design, development,
implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly
software applications and computer hardware”. Encompassing the computer and information
systems industries, IT is the capability to electronically input, process, store, output, transmit, and
receive data and information, including text, graphics, sound, and video, as well as the ability to
control machines of all kinds electronically. In Vietnam, the concept of Information in the
Resolution 49/CP signed on April 8, 1993 on the development of information technology by the
Government of Vietnam, IT is understood and defined. “Information technology is collection of
scientific methods, the means, and tools of modern technology – mostly computer engineering and
telecommunications – to organize the exploitation and use effectively the resources are rich
information and potential in all areas of human activity and society.” (Resolution 49/CP, 1993)
The following section provides an overview of IT application in ELT:
The Early Days of IT in ELT – Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
CALL's origins can be traced back to the 1960s. In the late 1970s, the arrival of the
personal computer (PC) brought computing within the range of a wider audience, resulting in a

* does not judge and evaluate everything the students nor reward them with congratulatory
messages, lights, or bells;
* avoids telling students they are wrong and is flexible to a variety of student responses;
* uses the target language exclusively and creates an environment in which using the target
language feels natural, both on and off the screen; and
* will never try to do anything that a book can do just as well.
Although communicative CALL was viewed to be a breakthrough compared to behavioristic
CALL, it received several criticisms by the late 1980s and early 1990s for being used in “an ad
and disconnected fashion” and just concentrating on “marginal rather than central elements” of the
FL learning process ( Kenning & Kenning, 1990, cited by Warchauer, M. & Dehorah Healey,
1998). By this time, there was a trend of moving from the cognitive view to a more social-
cognitive one in FL teaching, which emphasized the use of language in authentic social contexts.
This helped lead to a new phase in technology and FL teaching and learning termed integrative
CALL.
Integrative CALL
Integrative approaches to CALL are based two important technological developments of the
last decade- multimedia computers and the Internet Multimedia technology allows a variety of
media (text, graphics, sound, animation, and video) to be accessible on a single machine. One
example of this technology is CD-ROM. When multimedia resources are all linked together, this

12
technology becomes more powerful and is called hypermedia. Learners can navigate their own
path by pointing and clicking a mouse. Hypermedia provides a number of advantages as followed:
* creating a more authentic learning environment;
* assisting the integrations of different skills;
* offering students greater control over their learning;
* facilitating a principle focus on the content, without sacrificing a secondary focus on
language form for learning strategies.
However, multimedia technology rarely involves the integration of meaningful and authentic
communication into all aspects of the language-learning curriculum. This problem is then solved

bulletin boards, chat rooms, web casts, and CD-ROM.” (ASTD, 2005) TBL also encompasses
related terms, such as online learning and web-based learning that only include learning that
occurs via the Internet, and computer-based learning that is restricted to learning with computers.
E-learning is synonymous with TBL and has largely replaced in scholarship and industry as the
term of choice. Therefore, the report uses these terms interchangeably.
“TBL is distinguished from distance learning or technology-delivered learning in that
TBL includes methodologies where instructors and learners are in the same room or instruction is
computer-based and there is no „distance‟ involved” (Kenning M.M. & Kenning M. J, 1990). On
the other hand, TBL is more narrowly defined in that it does not include text-based learning and
courses conducted via written correspondence that would be covered by either distance learning or
technology-delivered learning. Furthermore, technology-enhanced learning describes a
methodology in which technology plays a subordinate role and serves to enrich a traditional face-
to-face classroom.
Thus, IT as a tool for learning and teaching provides students and teachers with
opportunities to become competent, discriminating, creative, and productive users of IT.
Teachers‟ teaching can be enhanced through integration of IT across the curriculum, as they
develop knowledge, skills, and the capacity to select and use IT to inquire, develop new
understandings, create, and communicate with others. Through teaching with IT, teachers have
opportunities to understand the impact of IT on society and to use IT as a means of participating
not only in teaching but also in society. Specifically, English teachers can use IT for more
research, course production, and lesson design, presentation of ideas and so on….
1.2. The roles and effectiveness of IT in English language teaching
Information Technology in general and computers in particular, have had great effects on
the general picture of English Language Teaching. Psychologist B.F. Skinner, in the early 1960s
stated that “I was soon saying that, with the help of teaching machines and programmed
instruction, students could learn twice as much in the same time and with the same effort as in a
standard classroom” (As cited in Oppenheimer, 1997: 45). From IT‟s first appearances, the roles
of it has had been discussed. Along with the development of IT, the impacts of computers in ELT

14

and sophomore student in Taiwan taking the required college EFL course. The student expressed
significantly positive attitudes toward education technology use for EFL instruction. This reported

15
that overall, students were positively inclined to working with the web and found it useful, with
the majority preferring to use the web as a supplement to face-to-face teaching.
Factors that make language teaching more effective with the application of IT are:
Convenience; Experiential Teaching and learning; Motivation; Authentic Materials for Study;
Global Understanding. Following is a discussion of these factors.
Convenience
Despite the controversy, people are using computers in teaching and learning. One obvious
advantage role of using computers is convenience. Multimedia language learning programs
provide texts, sound, images and interactive drills. With the help of computer software and the
Internet, teachers can give their learners opportunities to study languages anywhere and anytime
in classrooms, labs, at home or even on the go. This is particularly true for web-enabled learning.
Gary Staunch, director of Education for North America at Compaq Computer Corporation, states
that web-enabled learning provides "anytime, anywhere access to best-of-breed curriculum”
(Morrison, 1999). It is particularly convenient for those learners who live in the areas where
language teachers, native speakers and learning materials are difficult to access. Furthermore,
three forty-five minutes periods per week for learning a foreign language at upper-secondary
schools in Vietnam is short period, and therefore learning outside classrooms is highly
encouraged. Computers also help instructors to update and create their teaching materials more
easily. They can also exchange their products, thoughts, and ideas with their colleagues using e-
mail, mailing lists, web sites and other tools through the Internet. Rankin (1997) notes that the
additional interaction in foreign language provides FL (Foreign Language) learners with more
input than they would be able to expect from class time, which typically amounts to “not more
than four hours per week in most high school or college setting”. Using the Internet to
communicate with native speakers or just to search for information all create language input. In
addition to be being a supplement to reading materials, especially current in formation when
teachers and students are exploring the Net, they are essentially exploring the real world.

search for specific information. Searching the Web requires logic skills. Once information has
been obtained, the results must be reviewed which requires scanning, discarding, and evaluative
judgment on the part of the learner. The information must be put together to make a complete and
coherent whole which entails the synthesis process. Such an endeavor permits students to practice
reading skills and strategies.
Motivation
Motivation is at the heart of language learning; is the key to all learning. Lack of
motivation is perhaps the biggest obstacle faced by teachers, counselors, school/college/university
administrators, and parents. Behavioral problems in the classroom often, or always, seem to be
linked to the lack of motivation. Intelligent students are often out-performed by the less bright
students with high motivation. So that language-teaching professionals need to keep that in mind
when designing courses or any language-teaching, professionals need to keep that in mind when

Experience
Critical
Reflection
Active
Experimentatio
n

Abstract

17
designing courses or any activity to promote languages. Using IT in designing makes them more
easier and more attractive. Computers are most popular among teachers and students either
because they are associated with fun and games as student motivation is therefore increased,
especially whenever a variety of activities are offered, which make students feel more
independent. With the use of projectors in the language classrooms, language teachers can use
slide presentation to make their performance more interesting. Students have reported to be highly
interested in the lesson and therefore they participated increasingly into the activities given by the

In a world where the use of the Internet becomes more and more widespread, an English
language teacher‟s duty is to facilitate student‟s access to the web and make them feel citizens of a
global classroom, practicing communication on a global level. In addition to this, the amount of
input a student can find is unlimited. It awakens the curiosity and learning inquiry. Learning
through the Internet is comprehensive. In addition, “the Internet give a boost to academics
because it promotes international research in disciplines of global interest” (Bollag, 1996).
Teachers must have a global understanding to facilitate and update the teaching, especially
English teachers.
In today's global environment, the knowledge of other languages and cultures is an
absolute necessity, not only for economic and political survival, for international cooperation in
dealing with the many problems facing the world today but also for education, especially in
teaching English language. Perhaps one of the most essential pedagogical principles of language
teaching is one that emphasizes the study of language in a cultural context. If you teach a foreign
language, you also need to teach its culture (in comparison to the local setting of the student), and
you need to convince students that both areas-language and life in a foreign country-are genuinely
relevant in today‟s world. Understanding the culture of the target language enhances
understanding of the language. To this end, the Internet is a valuable resource to both language
teachers and learners. Moreover, it is an unforgettable experience for beginners to enter museums
and to visit popular tourist sites in a foreign country. For example, students can read web versions
of daily newspapers and same-day news reports in Vietnamese or English versions. Such
experiences can allow learners to participate in the culture of the target language, which in turn
can enable them for further learn how cultural background influences one‟s view of the world.
Those are above effectiveness of IT in teaching foreign language. Gary Staunch (director
of Education for North America at Compaq Computer Corporation) states, "in order to educate
students to be life-long learners and successful contributors to the new global market, educators
must change the way they teach and the way students learn. We need to remember that if we want
to help students achieve a high level of competency and competitiveness, we have no choice but
to make technology an integrated tool in the learning process". ( Morrison James L. and Gary

19

in Malaysia to study their computer anxiety levels and attitudes towards computers. They
discovered that teachers‟ anxiety of using computers in teaching could be relieved by providing
training and increasing their exposures to using computer in work. The study of teachers‟

20
confidence and comfortability in using IT in teaching is important for promoting the use of IT in
teaching. As suggested by Dodge, Bogdan, Brogden & Lewis, the under-utilization of
instructional technology in teaching can be attributed to teachers‟ sense of discomfort. This is
caused by teachers‟ unfamiliarity with non-print learning resources, teaching style and their levels
of classroom management.
As remarked by Norum, Grabinger & Duffield, teachers‟ roles and teaching strategies have to
be adjusted with the application of IT in education when there is a paradigm shift from teachers-
centeredness to students- centeredness. In this new paradigm of teaching, teachers will no longer
act as knowledge providers but as facilitators in helping students to explore their own knowledge
on the Internet. However, teachers may find difficulty in transformation of their roles. In the book
“Blended Learning - using technology inside and beyond the language classroom” (Barrett, B and
Sharma, P, 2007), the authors discuss four key principles, which can help teachers implement,
incorporate IT in the teaching. These are:
 Separate the role of the teacher.
 Using technology for teach in a principled way.
 Use the technology to complement and enhance what the teacher does
 “It‟s not what it is, it‟s what you do with it.”
Therefore, it is not the interactive whiteboard purse, which could improve the learning experience,
but how it is used.
However, not only one of the teachers now uses technology without actually exploring the real
relevance of what they are teaching. Using technology just because it is a trend does not lead the
teacher to a successful and effective class. So, the first thing a teacher should think about when
using IT in the classroom is the relevance of what he/she is teaching and then choose the best
approach to do so, by using technology or not. Technology is supposed to add value to the class,
not distract the student from the real purpose of the class. Teachers should try to use the Figure 2: Teacher-student perceptions and the quality of learning outcomes
Teachers conceptualize and approach teaching in a limited number of qualitatively
different but related ways. Teachers who view learning as conceptual change are more likely to
view teaching as facilitating conceptual change. Such teachers are more likely to use a student
centered teaching approach where independence in learning is encouraged through discussion,
debate and questioning among students, and assessment which reveals conceptual change.
Park (2003) incorporated seven variables from three perspectives in his study. The results
showed that computer experience, subjective norm, self-efficacy, relative advantage, and
Teachers‟
perceptions
of learning
Teachers‟
perceptions
of teaching
Quality of
students‟
learning
out comes
Students‟
approaches to
teaching

Teachers‟
approaches to
teaching


School encounter, this study here wish to conduct a research to investigate teachers‟ perceptions
and attitudes towards ELT with the help of IT, a projector, computers to their perceptions of using
IT in teaching English; the challenges they encounter and find out some solutions.

23
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
In this chapter provides information about the research setting, the rationale for using a
survey method, the research instruments and the participants.
2.1. Survey Research
This study was conducted as a survey research because this methodology concentrates on
gaining in-depth understandings and attitudes of teachers to applying IT in English teaching
profession. A survey is a study which focuses on a group‟s attitudes, opinions, and/or
characteristics”. This small- scale survey involved eight teachers. The process, strategies, and data
analysis of this qualitative research are all inductive. The qualitative results can provide rich,
contextual understanding of certain findings and strengthen a detailed, in-depth understanding of a
certain problem. In this study, the particular phenomenon is the applying IT into teaching and the
current environment is teaching English at Quang Xuong One High School.
Qualitative data collection via interviews serves several purposes: These teachers‟
responses allow insights into different levels of IT and allow the researcher to understand their
attitude and perceptions and how these teachers have applied IT, and whether the results
corroborate the findings from previous studies. The purpose of this small-scale survey research is
to explore “what” do they think of benefit and challenges of using IT in teaching English; the
factors influence these teachers‟ use of modern technologies and to explain “how” and “why” in
deep understanding and perception they use these technologies. The researcher conducted
interviews to obtain information that is more complete and to gain an in-depth understanding of
the issues.
2.2. Context of the study
The survey is conducted in Quang Xuong I High School. It is the biggest school in Quang
Xuong District, Thanh Hoa Province with the updating modern technologies for 3 years, about 8
km from Thanh Hoa City. It is one of rural high schools in Vietnam but the general picture of

equipments helping in teaching and learning. The headmaster of Quang Xuong One High School
considered applying IT in teaching as a new policy and requirements for all the staff of teachers.
These technologies have changed the ways of English Language teaching and learning as well as
management of the inside the school: these are:
Two-internet connected rooms with 45 computers in each for teachers and students can
access to internet free of charge. Students are trained with essential computer skills and internet
skills to use these devices through the IT lessons.
Four-multimedia classrooms have different facilities for teachers and students to carry out
various classroom activities. In each room, there is a computer for the teacher, an overhead
projector, a PowerPoint screen, a TV set, a video player, headphones, and speakers.
Therefore, the uses of this technology have just been promoted for the last three years and
the headmaster paid attention to these much. English teachers seem to be the first ones to apply IT

25
in their classroom after IT teachers. English teachers here at first met many difficulties in the
thoughts as well as in the uses of IT in teaching.
2.3. Participants
Convenient selection of participants was applied in this study. Specifically, participants
were located in the researcher‟s Quang Xuong I Secondary School. Eight teachers were
participated in this study, and they were selected simply based on their willingness to participate.
Most of the interview questions were to elicit these teachers‟ perceptions and their actual use of
computer technologies as a teaching tool and the researcher knew them personally. All these eight
teachers are female teachers. They are from different parts of Thanh Hoa Province. They are all
married and have children. In those, only two teachers are more than 50 years old and the rest of
them are all from 27 to 33 years old. Teachers here extensively used traditional methods of
teaching with hand techniques rather than computer technology. In those, there are two teachers
changed their certificate from French into English teaching. From the application of the new series
of Textbooks, they are very enthusiastic and flexible to up date Information technology and
integrated them in teaching. They mostly use IT in English classroom teaching. These teachers
have no their own Web sites, they often post the requirements for students by delivery of papers

this new policy is a very new challenging job to all teachers at this school. Started observing about
how the teachers feel and do this policy of the Ministry of Education and Training. In order to
have a deep understanding and further data in the point of the teachers‟ common and particular
views, interview questions were prepared carefully, and before the interview, the researcher
informed to the participants the aims of the study. The interview questions followed the same
questions to each teacher and then used open questions to get the more detail information. All the
answers were collected and translated into English for data analysis (see Appendix ).
All teachers were interviewed in person. The places of the interviews were flexible: Two were in
the group meeting room at the school; the others were in their houses. The time of each interview
did not last the same. The interviews lasted about from a half of an hour to an hour.
As the study intends to discover and understand the teachers‟ perceptions of the use of IT
in English teaching has for the participants; data were gathered to build concepts and theories
instead of being tested in a positivist study. Therefore, the data were analyzed to identify whether
there are recurring patterns or common themes among these participants. An initial analysis was
done after each interview. By using a constant comparative method, data were coded and recoded
until themes emerged. 27
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter the analysis of data interviews are presented and discussed. The data was
analyzed and organized systematically in charts, and tables for discussion purposes. The raw data
of the results are available in the appendices of this study is analyzed and included in the
discussion. The study results will be organized and discussed in accordance with the research
questions and divided into four main parts:
- Teachers‟ perceptions of IT and using IT in ELT
- Teachers‟ perceptions of the opportunities for IT integrated teaching

Mrs. Hang
“all kinds of analogue technologies as photographs, images, films, video,
audio recordings CD- ROM or DVD-ROM, internet, televisions etc, all
digital devices and software that can be delivered through wire line or
wireless and use them in daily life.”
Mrs. Huong
“collection of scientific methods, the means, and tools of modern
technology devices such as computer, laptop, internet, software,
overhead projector, micro, and others to organize the exploitation and use
effectively the rich information resources and potentially in all areas of
human activity and society”