Beyond Motivation: ESL/EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of the Role of Computers

There have been many promises about the benefits of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in classrooms. The assumption underlying those benefits is that computers would be used in a student-centered and a constructivist learning approach, departing from a teacher-centered teaching approach. The uses of computers in the classroom, however, vary depending on the teachers’ perceptions and expectations of computers. There is little known about the ESL/EFL teachers’ teaching beliefs and perceptions about the role of computers in their classrooms. This study examined 10 ESL/EFL teachers who enrolled in both a teacher education program and an advanced certificate of educational technology program. The grounded theory method was employed to understand these teachers’ perceptions of computers in their classrooms. For data collection, each participant was interviewed for 50 minutes. The findings suggested that these teachers’ perceptions and expectations of computers favored their use as instructional tools. In spite of the recommendations in the literature of CALL, ESL/EFL teachers’ perceptions of the role of computers are limited to a supplemental and instructional tool in their language classrooms. Furthermore, teachers’ perceptions of CALL were still based on a teacher-centered teaching paradigm.