The Use of Emerging Technologies by EFL Teachers in Primary Schools

Although the use of emerging technologies in education is rapidly increasing, several studies have proved that teacher's personal and technology-related characteristics that most affects young language learners performance. This study investigates the level of emerging technologies use in teaching English as a foreign language for primary school settings. English language learning, especially as a foreign language, is not limited to any particular age group. However, the focus could be different for primary school students as they are in the critical period of language acquisition. Twenty full time-teachers participated in the study and filled out questionnaires provided and developed to measure the use of emerging technologies in supporting oral skill, developing young learner's literacy and digital game-based learning. The questionnaire was mainly focused on the frequency, quality and diversity of emerging technologies use in teaching English language. The results of data analysis revealed that teachers tend to use ICT for supporting students' oral skill instead of developing students' literacy. It was also found that teachers with better computer literacy seem to use ICT in the classroom than teacher's with low computer literacy.