Regarding the results of the study, using educational technology for teaching grammar

institution is supportive and provides adequate support to implement its policies in the use of educational technology. Results showed that not only were the principals willing to support the use of educational technology in their schools but that they were also willing to improve teachers’ knowledge, abilities and skills to facilitate the integration of the educational technology into the curriculum.

The results also showed that the problems such as: not enough equipment to support desired applications, being inadequately prepared for the use of educational technology, not enough time to develop lessons that use the available educational technology and insufficient recognition of skills in the use of educational technology are not barriers for the effective use of information technology in language teaching. On the other hand, cost of software or courseware is a barrier for the teachers. The findings show that it exceeds budget and supplying the desired material is hard for the teachers.

5.1.2 Using Educational Technology to Help EFL Students Develop Language Skills The results of the study suggest that using educational technology helps students develop the four language skills. Primary school English language teachers believe that using educational technology is effective for teaching writing and reading skills. In addition to the results, using chat rooms and blogs are beneficial to develop writing and reading skills of students in the language classroom and it is also concluded that using educational technology is the best way of teaching listening and speaking skills. For example, using online-video chatting with native speakers of English is very beneficial.

Regarding the results of the study, using educational technology for teaching grammar

and vocabulary is almost effective. For example, using e-mail and playing interactive word

games with native speakers of English is beneficial for these in the second language. E-

mailing promotes written fluency and gives students a real chance to communicate; also, by

the help of the written texts, students’ grammar and vocabulary knowledge develops in a very motivated way.

Teaching pronunciation through educational technology was also found to be the best way. Computerized flash cards can aid in vocabulary building, and pronunciation assessment technology can provide feedback on the quality of the student’s oral productions.

5.1.3 An Effective Way of Motivating Young Language Learners through Educational Technology

The third research question was designed to find out whether using educational technology motivates students or not. English language teachers believe that the use of educational technology has a great importance in the motivation of young learners. In addition, it was found that the use of educational technology improves motivation, attitude, and interest when students use technological applications to produce, demonstrate, and share their work with peers, teachers, and parents. Educational technology is one of the best ways to accommodate students’ personal learning styles, and it has a major role in motivating the shy students, also educational technology get students more involved in learning activities. The results indicated that teachers viewed educational technology as an enhancement to the classroom that motivates students to learn in an interesting environment. Educational technology contributes to the improvement of students' achievements and increases their participation.

5.1.4 Educational Technology Materials used in English Language Teaching

English language teachers use technological materials to make teaching easier and

more effective in the classroom setting. It was concluded that the teachers use the internet in

their daily teaching process. Web as an educational material provides unlimited sources for all

language skills and makes teaching process away from traditional teaching methods. On the

other hand, TV is sometimes used by language teachers. With the latest developments on the

computer technologies, TV has been replaced in language classrooms. By the invention of CD and DVD, the video cassette has disappeared so the use of TV has completed its own mission in English language classrooms. CD and DVD are now used more by language teachers, because they provide authentic audio and visual aids for different learning styles. OHP is another visual aid for students. Today, nearly all language classrooms have an OHP and it is ready to make language lessons more attractive for students. Teachers feel comfortable using the educational technology and aware of its possible applications in language education and that they help to facilitate its incorporation into the curriculum. A positive attitude starting from the school leadership can spread to the English department in the school and hence to the classroom and the students.

Educational technology makes language learning animated, interactive, attractive and entertaining for young language learners therefore it differs from a course book in many ways.

The results showed that course books and worksheets are mostly used by language teachers in their daily teaching process. For language teachers, it is easy to reach course books and worksheets. In order to motivate young learners, educational technology should be used to keep their attention alive. Using course books and workbooks are getting traditional. Last innovative developments in publishing companies show that course books are coming with active books, so this shows that course books are disappearing and a new brand of active books are being used by students.

Finally, despite the promotion of the use of IWB and computer software in latest

trends in language teaching methodology, results of this study showed that teachers do not use

these materials in their teaching process. The cost of such materials really exceeds the budget

of institutions. Both of these innovative applications make teaching process really easy for

teachers and learning process really extraordinary for students. These applications help to

create non-traditional and digital-natives.

5.1.5 Native English Language Teachers’ Attitude towards the use of Educational Technology for Practicing the Four Language Skills

The results show considerable differences based on the teachers’ native language to the statement ‘Using interactive applications such as: chat rooms / blogs would be beneficial to develop writing and reading skills of my students in language classrooms.’ and ‘Sending and receiving e-mail from native speakers would be beneficial for my students’ grammar and vocabulary in the second language.’ The statistical facts indicate that native English language teachers’ attitudes are more positive when compared to native speakers of Turkish teachers’

attitudes towards the use of educational technology for teaching the four language skills. We can conclude that native speakers of English teachers believe teaching and learning English is hard and educational technology makes these processes very easy while teaching the four language skills.

5.1.6 Native English Language Teachers’ Attitude towards the use of Educational Technology for the Main use/s of the Educational Technology Resources

When the data was analysed to find out the significant differences among teachers who were grouped according to their native languages, it can be concluded that the teachers whose native language is English use educational technology in order to teach grammar. On the other hand, the teachers whose native language is Turkish do not use educational technology in order to teach grammar. It may be because the teachers whose native language is English believe that the use of educational technology makes students more motivated and also they may believe that it is easy to access any kind of extra grammar drills for teachers by using educational applications.

5.2 Suggestions

From the general conclusion of the research, it is stated that the attitudes of most of the

English language teachers of the Near East Junior College are very positive towards the use of

educational technology in language classrooms. Based on the conclusions of the study the following suggestions can be made:

 It is suggested that educational technology should be used as a tool to make language teaching more challenging, effective and attractive.

 It is suggested that institutions need to supply software or courseware for the teachers, and also, publishers or voluntary foundations should supply material free of charge.

 It is suggested that head of English department should arrange such online meetings with native speakers of English, so that teachers can integrate the online-video chatting into their lesson plans.

 It is suggested that teachers should help their students to find an e-mail friend in order to improve their level of competency.

 It is suggested that, teachers should use more pronunciation applications such as: e- flashcards, CDs and web-based speaking activities in order to improve students’ level in pronunciation.

 It is suggested that instutions should supply more up-dated educational technology into classroom environment in order to keep students’ attantion.

 It is suggested that teachers should facilitate educational technology adoption as a complementing part in the curriculum.

 It is suggested that institutions should arrange workshops based on new trends in ELT, also publishers should keep institutions up-dated by supporting free of charge learning solutions.

5.3 Suggestions for Further Research

As far as the limitation is concerned, it is not possible to make any generalizations

based on the data gathered in this study. If the survey could have been conducted in all public

and private schools in Northern Cyprus, different results would have been obtained and a

wider perspective of English language teachers’ attitudes could have been reached. Therefore,

it is suggested for the researchers that they can conduct a similar study to identify and

compare whether there is a different attitudes towards the use of educational technology based

on teachers’ native language both in private and state schools. Another research suggestion

for the researchers is that they can conduct a qualitative in-depth investigation into if students

prefer to use active teaching applications instead of course book and work book.

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APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire was designed to collect information about the attitude of English language teachers towards the use of educational technology. Your honest personal opinions are highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Background Information

Year of Teaching Experience:

Native language:

Gender:

1- ) Have you ever used any kind of educational technology throughout your teaching experience? (Please tick a box to indicate your response)

Yes ( ) No ( )

2- ) Do you believe your institution provides adequate support to implement its policies in the use of educational technology in teaching and learning? (Please rate the level of support by circling a number)

Unsupportive 1 2 3 4 5 Very supportive

3- ) Do you expect educational technology resources to make language teaching more effective in the coming years? (Please tick a box to indicate your response)

Yes ( ) No ( )

For the following section of this questionnaire please circle your answer 5-Strongly Agree

4-Agree 3-Neutral 2-Disagree

1-Strongly Disagree

4- ) Using online sources is important and beneficial for web-based language learning because it provides unlimited sources for all language skills and creates non-traditional students.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree

5- ) Educational technology improves motivation, attitude, and interest when students use technology applications to produce, demonstrate, and share their work with peers, teachers, and parents.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree

6- ) Using interactive applications such as: chat rooms / blogs would be beneficial to develop writing and reading skills of my students in the EFL classrooms.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree

7- ) Using online-video chatting with native speakers of English would be beneficial for my students’ listening and speaking skills in the foreign language.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree

8- ) Sending and receiving e-mail from native speakers would be beneficial for my students’

grammar and vocabulary in the foreign language.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree

9- ) Playing interactive word games with native English speakers would be beneficial both for my students’ vocabulary and writing skill in foreign language.

Strongly agree 5 4 3 2 1 strongly disagree For the following question just put a tick in the appropriate box.

1 (never), 2 (almost never), 3 (sometimes), 4 (always) 10- ) Which one do you use for language teaching?

Materials

1 2 3 4

T.V

Coursebook

The Internet

Written

materials by

the teacher,

such as

handouts.

11- ) How often do you have access to up-to-date equipments such as:

For how long each week?

The Internet _____________________

An interactive whiteboard _____________________

CD-ROM / DVD _____________________

Computer software _____________________

Worksheets _____________________

OHP _____________________

12- ) Please indicate the main use/s of the educational technology resources which you employ in your teaching.

1 (never), 2 (almost never), 3 (sometimes), 4 (always)

For vocabulary exercises ...

For grammatical exercises ...

For reading comprehension ...

For writing tasks ...

For listening tasks ...

For speaking tasks ...

For pronunciation ...

13- ) Have any of the following problems impacted on your use or not enough use of educational technology resources? Using the scale below (1 to 5), please rate the following items in terms of the degree to which they present barriers to increased effective use of information technology in language teaching and learning.

Not a barrier 1 2 3 4 5 A major barrier Hardware/equipment Rating

Not enough computers/equipment available ( )

Equipment too limited to support desired applications ( )

Cost of software/courseware exceeds budget ( )

Teachers inadequately prepared for the use of technology in education ( )

Not enough time to develop lessons that use the available technology ( )

Insufficient recognition of skills in the use of technology in education ( )

Please use the scale below to indicate the importance of the following statements 5- Strongly Agree

4- Agree 3- Neutral 2- Disagree

1-Strongly Disagree

14- ) Students are easily motivated when educational technology such as: online games, CD players, TV etc. is used in the English as a foreign language classroom.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

15- ) Educational technology has a major role in motivating the shy students in the English as a foreign language classroom.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

16- ) Using educational technology in the EFL classroom motivates students to get them more involved in learning activities.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree

17- ) Educational Technology helps to accommodate students’ personal learning styles.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree