A Study On Teachers’ Computer Self-efficacy When Integrating Information Technology Into College English Curriculum

Nowadays, human society is moving into the information age from the industrialage. Modern information technology has penetrated into people’ lives, study, workand other aspects. Information and knowledge has become the most basic resources insociety. The development of the information objectively entails the reform of theeducation so that our education can meet the requirements that information age,knowledge economy and learning society have on personnel training. Since themid-1990s, the vigorous development and wide application of IT has led to aworldwide wave of educational information change. In the context of educationalinformation reform, global education is facing new opportunities and challenges. So,every country in the world shows the great concern for and attaches importance to ITuse in education unanimously, and regards it as an important way for theimplementation of the educational reform in the21st century. Moreover, theintegration of information technology into curriculum marks a new stage of theapplication of information technology in education, a profound revolution in the fieldof education and teaching and the fundamental way to deepen the subject teachingreform.College English is an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum system，andcollege English teaching and learning is one of important ways to foster and upgradecollege students’cultural attainments．With social development and the needs offoreign exchange，the traditional teaching model has not met with the requirements ofsociety. So college English teaching and learning reform has become a must. It is wellacknowledged by the educational circle and even the whole society that the fullutilization of educational technology could play a significant role in promoting ourcurriculum and teaching reform. In recent years, a lot of researches on the integrationof IT into college English curriculum have been carried out and some achievementshave been made. However, in recent years, IT and college English curriculumintegration encountered a bottleneck. Despite the heavy investment in educationaltechnology, the improvements in learning outcomes that were expected have notoccurred. Some people gradually cast doubt on the role which the informationtechnology plays in education and reflect on it.So it is very necessary to explore thefactors that influence the integration between the information technology and thecollege English curriculum to further the integration degree and advance the collegeEnglish teaching reform.The integration of information technology and collegeEnglish curriculum is often regarded as an “eco-evolutionary” process in whichtechnology is seen as “alien species”. Technology breaks into the ecological system,which will change and influence the system evolution. Hence, the choice oftechnology, acceptance and fusion becomes important duties of college Englishteachers. So to speak, the effectiveness of teaching depends on whether or not thereare a large number of teachers with good teaching technology literacy and informationliteracy. That is because that teachers have the right to determine whether to usetechnology or not, how long to use technology, which kind of technology to choose and how to use technology. They are the key factor in the integration process ofinformation technology and college English curriculum, deciding the the change anddevelopment of classroom ecosystem. This process is affected by the teachers’personal factors, including computer self-efficacy and cognitive beliefs. However, thecurrent study often focuses on the integration model, instructional design, as well asautonomous learning of students. The study on teachers’ beliefs in the technolgyintegration into college English curriculum is not enough, especially the researches onthe teachers’ computer self-efficacy rarely involved. At present, the study perspectiveof foreign language teachers has been shifted from the analysis of teachers’ externalbehavior to the inner psychological mechanisms and cognitive processes and the focusof the study is more concentrated on the inner world of teachers.Computer self-efficacy is defined as “a judgment of one’s capability to use acomputer”(Compeau&Higgins,1995). Namely, it is the individual’s self-confidencelevel in using the computer and a concrete manifestation of self-efficacy’ applicationin the field of computer. College English teachers’ computer self-efficacy is adynamic concept and it refers to the teachers’ subjective judgment, perception,confidence and belief of their ability to use information technology to effectivelycomplete the English teaching tasks and achieve teaching objectives under thecircumstances of integration between information technology and college Englishcurriculum.The studies on the computer self-efficacy at home and abroad showed thatcomputer self-efficacy is a very important variable which has impact on the computerapplication and IT-based teaching. Computer self-efficacy has close relationship withvarious kinds of IT-based teaching and learning activities. Research suggests thatcomputer self-efficacy, professional development, and years of teaching experienceare critical factors that influence teachers’ integration of educational technology intheir classrooms. Results of a pilot study conducted by the researcher suggested astrong relationship between the degree of self-confidence of college English teachersdemonstrated toward technology and its use in their classrooms. This study buildsupon previous research to focus on the relationships among computer self-efficacyand the technology integration perceptions of college English teachers of LiaochengUniversity. This exploratory study selected this particular population to examinefactors that may inhibit or encourage technology integration among University collegeEnglish teachers. These factors were self-efficacy beliefs, professional development,and teaching experience. Data were collected from teachers who volunteered toparticipate in the study through surveys, semi-structured interviews, classroomobservations, and teaching materials. The data were analyzed quantitatively andqualitatively to determine whether relationships existed among the factors underconsideration, as well as to detect other patterns that emerged. The research resultsshowed that there existed a moderate, statistically significant relationship betweenperceptions of computer self-efficacy and technology integration among theparticipants, a finding that was supported by qualitative analysis. The results caninform future research, as well as professional development, continuing education,technology training, and teacher education programs. This study intends to provide a new pespective and reference to the problems occuring in the integration and makes alittle contribution to current college English teaching reform.The dissertation falls into six parts:The first part is introduction. It elaborates the background about the thesis topic，the achievements in the process of integration between information technology andcurriculum, the dilemma faced by the development of integration betweeninformation technology and curriculum and the shift of teachers’ research paradigm.Meanwhile, both the research purpose and significance are introduced.The second part introduces related literature. The author reviews researcheshome and abroad about integration between information and technology, comes upwith the opinion about the definition of what is integration between informaiotntechnology and college English curriculum, puts forward external and internalobstacles which affects integration between information and technology. Lastly itraises the theoretical basis-self-efficacy.The third part describes in detail the core concept of this study-computerself-efficacy, which includes the definition and measurement, resources, dimensions,application, funtion and futher development and direction of computer self-efficacy.This part will lay a solid theoretical foundation for this study.The fourth part brings forward research methods. It combines qualitativemethods and quantitative ones. The purpose of this study was to examine whether arelationship exists among the perceived computer self-efficacy of college Englishteachers and their integration of educational technology in their classrooms, as well asother variables such as professional development and years of teaching experience.This study adopts a series of questionnaires such as the teachers’ computerself-efficacy scale (CSE), teachers’ technology integration self-assessment scale(TISA), explores the relationship between computer self-efficacy of college Englishteachers in Liaocheng University and integration of information technology in theirclassroom. Teachers’ computer self-efficacy is essentially subjective feelings ofteachers, so the use of self-reported questionnaire easily leads to subjective tendencyand is inconsistent with actual classroom teaching behavior sometimes. So theresearcher conducted a qualitative research interviews, classroom observation as astrong complement to the quantitative research and can also find some newperspectives and issues.The fifth part introduces research results. It proves that there are medium andstatistically-related relations between college English teachers’ computer self-efficacyand actual integration of information technology into college English curriculum. Thisresult also is supported by qualitative analysis.The sixth part introduces research conclusion. It summarizes main researchresults and points out further questions.