EFL Teachers' Perceptions and Perspectives on Internet-Assisted Language Teaching

Abstract

Although the rapid increase of Internet availability has generated great interest in Internet- assisted language teaching (IALT) among English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, little is known at present about EFL teachers’ use of the Internet. This article addresses this issue and reports the results of a study that examined Korean secondary school EFL teachers’ perceptions and perspectives on the use of the Internet for teaching purposes. A total of 101 teachers participated in a survey and responded to the questions of how they think about IALT, how they use the Internet, and what types of resources they use on the Internet. The findings of the study suggest that three key factors are affecting the use of the Internet in the classroom: teachers’ personal interest in Internet use; teachers’ abilities to integrate Internet resources into classroom activities; and computer facilities and technical support in schools. In-service teacher training courses for IALT are strongly recommended to further develop and implement IALT.