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Iranian EFL teachers’ perceptions of the difficulties of implementing CALL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Hora (Fatemeh) Hedayati  and
S. Susan Marandi
Hora (Fatemeh) Hedayati
Affiliation:
Alzahra University, Iran (email: [email protected])
S. Susan Marandi
Affiliation:
Alzahra University, Iran (email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Despite the spread of reliable technological tools and the availability of computers in Iranian universities, as well as the mounting evidence of the effectiveness of blended learning, many Iranian language teachers are still reluctant to incorporate such tools in their English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. This study inspected the status quo of technology integration in Iranian EFL classes and investigated the obstacles, as perceived by the Iranian EFL teachers, toward implementing CALL in Iran. First, 100 EFL teachers completed the Teacher Technology Integration Survey developed by Vannatta and Banister (2009), to help estimate technology use in EFL classes. Then the researchers interviewed twelve teachers, comprising two EFL teacher educators with no CALL experience, four teachers with the experience of integrating technology in their EFL classes, four EFL teachers who had recently finished an online CALL teacher education program, and two EFL teachers with no CALL experience. The semi-structured interview questions were designed by the researchers, one of whom has extensive experience with CALL, and were revised based on the suggestions of a colleague with expertise in teacher education. One of the researchers conducted the interviews, each of which lasted for 30–50 minutes. The researchers used structural content analysis of the interview transcripts to find themes relevant to the research question. The results suggest that on the whole, Iranian EFL teachers do not usually integrate digital technology into their classes; and the obstacles in implementing CALL in language classrooms could be classified into three categories: teacher, facility, and learner constraints. Each of the categories is discussed in detail and suggestions are provided for promoting CALL in the Iranian context.

Keywords

CALL obstaclesEFLtechnology integration
Type
Regular papers
Information
ReCALL , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 298 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 

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