This research project addresses how Korean language teachers shape and reshape their beliefs about technology and assess their actual uses of technology in classrooms while participating in a teacher research project.
This project addresses how language teachers shape and reshape their beliefs about technology and how they assess their use of technology in classrooms while participating in a teacher research project. Through the use of exploratory practice, the project focuses on developing teachers’ deep understandings of their beliefs about language teaching and on the role of technology in today’s classrooms. While the potential of technology for educational use has been widely discussed, and despite more classrooms being equipped with various high-tech devices, technology use in classrooms remains limited. In attempting to account for the limited adoption of technology, studies have addressed the issue from the perspective of external factors. However, given that teachers are the key decision-makers and facilitators of knowledge in the classroom (Borg, 2003; Liu&Kleinsasser, 2015), their understandings should be the focus when examining technology implementation. Thus, this study invites teachers to participate in an individual research project guided by exploratory practice. It seeks to understand how teachers have formed their existing beliefs on teaching and classroom technology integration from their earlier experiences, and how they explore their beliefs and practices within their specific instructional contexts. The primary research questions include: a) What are language teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about the role of technology in the classroom? and b) How are teacher’s beliefs about technology presented/reflected in their practices? The participants of this study are three Korean language teachers who teach in a four-week immersion program. Before the program begins, teacher-participants form their own questions related to technology use and then investigate these questions. The data are collected using various methods including in-depth interviews, classroom observations, video reflections, and group meetings. The results indicate that teachers’ understandings of their beliefs about teaching are highly interconnected to their practices, and these findings underscore the need for appropriate teacher education programs.
