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THE APPLICATION OF ICT IN ENGLISH LITERATURE CLASSROOMS Siti Hawa Muhamad & Effendi Abdullah Faculty of Management and Muamalah International Islamic University College Selangor (KUIS)
[email protected] Maryam Hamzah Pusat Pengajian Bahasa, Literasi dan Terjemahan Universiti Sains Malaysia ABSTRACT The penetration of ICT in the Malaysian society today might influence teaching and learning across various disciplines at higher learning institutions, including English literature courses. This paper reports on a study which investigated the use of ICT in English literature classrooms at an Islamic tertiary institution. Selected English literature instructors were interviewed on the use of ICT in their English literature classes. This paper will discuss the findings of the study and recommend suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of English literature through the use of ICT application. Field of Research:
English literature, English Studies, tertiary education; ICT
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1. Introduction Information and Communication Technology (ICT) permeates every aspect of a modern society from fields as diverse as health to agriculture. ICT has also played a significant role in the local educational field for the past few years. During his speech in the Digital Education Show Asia, the Malaysian Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin stressed that education should be flexible in incorporating ICT at schools as the technology is changing at a faster rate than change at the school level (Fernandez, 2013). This flexibility of incorporating ICT should not only take place at schools but in tertiary institutions as well because the latter’s nature of independent learning would be further enhanced through a well-used ICT application in its teaching and learning sessions. ICT application should be used especially in English Literature courses. English Literature courses are offered in most higher learning institutions in Malaysia. In the target area of study, X University College, an Islamic tertiary institution, the courses are offered as part of the academic structure for Diploma in English Language Studies. English Literature, a content subject, is not easy as students who learn it have to deal with both the language and the content (Melor & Ashairi, 2014). It is a challenge for the English literature instructors as well as the students to understand and appreciate the literary texts especially if the students lack in terms of the language repertoire (Melor & Ashairi, 2014). Cited from Ghazali et al. in Melor & Ashairi (2014), past researches have proven that teachers spent a lot of time employing conventional methods such as discussing the plot, characters and themes of literary texts in class and such methods were considered as boring by students. To overcome this problem, there is a need for the use of ICT in English Literature classrooms to create a fun and interesting learning environment and ease the process of learning Literature. Initial observation shows that the
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English literature instructors did use ICT applications in their English Literature classes. The researchers intended to find out what the ICT applications used were and whether they used the ICT application to administer their coursework assessment. The study also tried to get an overview of the instructors’ attitude towards the use of ICT applications in English Literature classrooms. Besides, the study aimed to explore possible suggestions to improve the teaching of English Literature through the use of ICT.
2. Teachers / Instructors and ICT The term Information-Communication Technology (ICT) refers to a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information” (Blurton, 2002) that include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. The use of ICT in classrooms is very important as it provides opportunities for students to learn to operate in an information age (Khalid, 2009). Citing Bransford et al. in Khalid (2009), several studies have reviewed the literature on learning and ICT and came to a conclusion that it has great potential to enhance student achievement and teacher learning. Bakar et al. stressed that teachers must master the basic ICT skills (as cited in Melor & Ashairi, 2014). Innovation and changes should play a part in the teaching process and instead of only focusing on the traditional method of teaching, teachers and their way of teaching should evolve (Melor & Ashairi, 2014). A few studies have been conducted regarding the teachers and ICT. One of them, a study regarding Tanzanian teachers’ perceptions about ICT by (Mwalongo, 2011) concluded that teachers did not use ICT to radically change their pedagogical practices but rather to sustain their traditional (chalk and talk) practices. ICT was used to prepare notes, examination que stions as well as teaching and learning resources. Another study by Melor & Ashairi (2014) revealed that ICT was used on the satisfactory level by both teachers and students in Kapit, Sarawak. The students and teachers possessed high positive attitudes towards ICT tools usage in Literature lesson yet the implementation and usage of ICT do not demonstrate the attitude. These studies imply that teachers have the ICT skills but due to certain hindrances, do not fully integrate them in their teaching. A gap could also be established that most studies focus on ICT application in teaching, even English Literature subject, at school level only. Therefore this study was meant to discover the application of ICT in English Literature classrooms at tertiary education level.
3. ICTs versus Metre-thick Textbook Teaching and learning literature is not easy as it is an open-ended subject which provides you with no ideal answers and “is far more often taken for granted than explicitly justified” (Peer, 1992). It requires both explicit and implicit levels of comprehension. Thus, the use of ICTs such as images, audios and interactive games will not only to effectively convey the messages but also to seize students’ interest. Often, active learning is best achieved via images, animated objects, sound an d flash. All these are believed to help students to better understand a literary text or discussion. When the lessons are interactive and practical, students tend to be more cooperative and focus. This idea is also applicable to value a literary text. Experiencing a literary text engages higher level of comprehension as human’s understanding
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reaches its highest when it involves relevant pictures and sounds which are used effectively. These pictures and sounds are “generally understood well and remembered easily” since “they are closely related to the way people see things in everyday life ” (Saunders, 1974). Students seemed to be interested at teacher’s notes which are presented in the form of PowerPoint slides (relevant audiovisual elements) than those without it. This has to do with the impact images give to the text. As agreed by Carter, analysing images in the form of photographs, paintings and drawings is clearly a large area in its own right *…+ since images form an important part of the way we read the world (Carter, 2001). The following diagram which explains how human mind encrypt data is adapted from Denys J. Saunders’ ‘Visual Communication Handbook: Technology and Using Simple Visual Materials’.
Symbols
Visuals
Experience Figure 1: Stages of human mental perception Humans make meanings via signs and symbols as introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure in his Semiology studies. Words are associated with the meanings that they represent. A student’s comprehension started from the level of understanding the symbols (i.e. both written and spoken words). Then the visualizing process takes place, and later leads to reader’s experiencing the meaning of the symbols. Thus, when a literature student is asked to read a literary text, he will definitely read the words in the text and then visualizing the e vents, settings or the characters’ attributes as described in the text. The outcome of the first two stages creates tones of mental images which helps the students to experience the artistic values of the text. Images and the text’s artistic values are attributes to the ICTs itself. Henceforth, while ICTs improve students to communicate effectively as well as complete their tasks, it also provides rooms to enhance teachers’ pedagogical practice. These new technologies also have the potential to support education across curriculum and provide opportunities for effective communication between teachers and students in ways that have not been possible before (Dawes, 2001).
4. Methodology 4.1 Qualitative Research Methodology (Standardized Open-Ended Interview) This research utilized qualitative research methodology. To assess and evaluate the application of ICT in English literature classrooms, 3 lecturers who were teaching or had taught English literature were selected. The instrument used to collect data was standardized open-ended interview. A set of 7 interview questions was prepared and divided into three sections, each covering the objectives of this paper. The sections of the questionnaire were ‘Application: The usage of ICT in literature classes’ and ‘Suggestions: Ways to improve the current state of using ICT in teaching literature’. Standardized open-ended interview method was chosen because “of the nature of the open-ended questions, allowing the participants to fully express their viewpoints and experiences” (Turner, 2010). The
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wordings of the questions were structured whereby the respondents were asked identical questions but the questions were worded so that responses would be open-ended (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003: Turner, 2010).
5. Findings & Discussion 5.1 ICT application used in teaching and coursework assessment The respondents were asked whether they use these 7 ICT applications: LMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, Cloud, Dropbox, Webinar and Google Form in their teaching and coursework assessment. The reason these applications were chosen is because their usage cover aspects such as e-learning (LMS), social media (WhatsApp and Facebook), online storage system (Cloud and Dropbox), online conferencing (Webinar) and online survey form (Google Form). These aspects can be utilized for the teaching and learning purpose. The respondents responded that they had used only 2 of the ICT applications listed in their teaching. The applications that are used were Learning Management System (LMS) and WhatsApp. LMS had been used mainly to upload teaching materials like notes (notes can be in the form of PowerPoint slides handouts) and course outlines to the students. Students can access LMS easily as the link to the system is embedded on KUIS’ website. WhatsApp meanwhile, was used by the instructors to give instructions to the students regarding their assignments. One of the respondents informed that she had also shared notes created using Evernote (an application for note-taking and archiving information) and YouTube video links through WhatsApp application. As for the coursework assessment, the instructors still used the conventional method such as answering quizzes and examination questions on paper instead of online.
5.2 Overview of English Literature instructors’ attitude in using ICT application Generally, the instructors had positive attitude towards the use of ICT in English Literature classrooms. One respondent thought that ICT was capable of enhancing the process of teaching and learning English Literature subjects, whereby students were able to appreciate literary works when the instructors could relate the relevance of studying literature in the modern world with the assistance of modern technology. Another respondent stated that ICT is a must in teaching English Literature where the instructors could share information online regarding the subjects, while the last respondent thought that ICT application in class is a great idea since students can get better access of information as well as a medium for the students to express their creativity in literary appreciation.
5.3 Suggestions to improve the teaching of English Literature through ICT The respondents suggested several improvements to improve the teaching of English Literature through ICT: 1. Using more PowerPoint slides in class and videos of plays or recitals that can be downloaded from YouTube. 2. Bringing in clips from movies, while students themselves can search from the Internet simplified versions or notes that could be used to help them to further understand literature
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components such as drama in class. 3. The university administrators who are keen to encourage the effective use of technology in literature classes should help the lecturers by providing adequate and reliable facilities needed in each classroom such as free Wi-Fi. 4. The lecturers should be provided with training on how they can fully utilize the technology and be given more information on how to search for the sources in the Internet and what kind of sources available to help them in providing the lesson. 7. Conclusion and Future Recommendation The findings from the study show that the English Literature instructors interviewed had utilised ICT applications in their English Literature classrooms yet the usage was limited as they had only used WhatsApp and LMS for uploading and sharing teaching materials. The ICT application had not been fully utilised in coursework assessment as the instructors still used conventional method (on paper) when testing the students in quizzes and examinations. The instructors had positive attitude towards ICT application in English Literature classrooms. The instructors also recommended several suggestions to improve the teaching of English Literature through ICT. Future research might research ICT application in English literature classrooms involving a larger sampling so that the findings could be more accurate and representative.
Acknowledgement The authors would like to acknowledge the management of the related university college for permission to collect the data and present the findings to the public.
References
Blurton, C. (2002). Directions of ICT Use in Education. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/dl/edict.pdf Carter, R. (2001). Working with Text: A Core Introduction to Language Analysis. Great Britain: Routeledge. Dawes, L. (2001). What stops teachers using new technology? In M. Leask, Issues in Teaching Using ICT (pp. 61-79). London: Routledge. Fernandez, E. (2013, May 28). ICT Vital for Education. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from New Straits Times Online. Khalid, A. (2009). Barriers to the Successful Integration of ICT in Teaching and Learning Environments: A Review of Literature. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and
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Technology Education, 5(3), 235-245. Melor, M. Y., & Ashairi, S. (2014). Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Tools in Teaching and Learning Literature Component in Malaysian Secondary Schools. Asian Social Science, 10(7), 136-152. Mwalongo, A. (2011). Teachers’ perceptions about ICT for teaching, professional development, administration and personal use. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 7(3), 36-49. Peer, W. V. (1992). Literary theory and reader response. In E. F. Nardocchio, Reader Response to Literature - The Empirical Dimension. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co. Saunders, D. J. (1974). Visual Communication Handbook: Teaching and Learning Using Simple Visual Materials. London: United Society for Christian Literature. Turner, I. D. (2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 754-760.
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