Primary issues concerned with CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) teacher education are twofold: Integration of CALL technology into foreign and second language (L2) teacher education programs and L2 teachers’ integration of CALL technology into their classroom. While increased attention has been paid to the former, only a small body of research investigates the latter. In particular, L2 researchers and teacher educators remain confronted by a penumbra in the sphere of L2 teachers’ integration of technology into the classroom, coupled with teachers’ prior technology education. The current study addresses this gap in the literature, pursuing three research questions of (1) whether secondary school L2 teachers’ use of computer technology in the classroom is related to their prior experience of technology education; (2) how much technology education should be provided to enable L2 teachers to become more frequent technology users in the classroom; and (3) whether school climate of computer technology among L2 teachers influences individual teachers’ use of computer technology in the classroom.
Reviewing the relevant literature, this study proposes the spherical model of L2 teachers’ integration of technology into the classroom as a means of summarizing multi-dimensional aspects of teachers’ use of computer technology in the classroom. Drawing on this synthesized finding, two empirical studies are reported in chapters 2 and 3. For data collection, survey questionnaires were distributed to 454 secondary public school L2 teachers in 91 schools across 16 school districts in Franklin County, Ohio. A total of 200 teachers participated in the present study. Using logistic regression and multiple regression analysis, this study examined the relationship between individual teachers’ prior technology education experience and their use of computer technology in the classroom in Chapter 2. Multilevel modeling was used in Chapter 3 as an analytical tool to examine the influence of school climate (overall teachers’ technology education in a school) on individual teachers’ use of computer technology in the classroom.
The findings show that L2 teachers’ technology education contributes to fostering their use of computer technology in the classroom. L2 teachers with more technology education during pre- and in-service periods were likely to use computer technology more frequently for the purpose of delivering instruction. For the purpose of using computer technology to engage students in creating products and in using computers during class time, teachers who devoted more time to technology education tended to use computer technology more frequently. Additionally, it appears that teachers need at least 150 hours of technology education to become a frequent technology user in the classroom. This would be the equivalent of taking a 3 credit-hour course of 5 academic quarters. Furthermore, L2 teachers working in schools with high overall teachers’ technology education tended to use computer technology more frequently to engage their students in technology-using activities. More importantly, school climate of computer technology among L2 teachers moderated the magnitude of the relationship between L2 teacher-directed student use of technology during class time and the teachers’ prior technology education experience.