Ecuadorian private high school teachers perceptions on ICT use in their EFL classes

Abstract

Abstract:This research evaluates Ecuadorian private high school teachers’ perceptions in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their EFL classes. The purpose of this research is to collect and analyze data about the teachers’ characteristics of using ICT and the barriers to apply ICT in their English class. The sample is ten private high school English teachers, five male and five female. It was taken in the city of Quito, province of Pichincha. The approaches used are Qualitative and Quantitative; the instruments used for the analysis were a survey and an interview. The resources to analyze the information were taken from books, electronic books, and journals. The results show that female and male teachers’ biggest characteristic to use or not to use ICT in their classes is the age, when the teacher is younger, he/she implements ICT and when the teacher is older he/she avoids the use of these technologies because the teachers do not feel able to resolve technical problems. In one hand, male teachers tend to experiment more with ICT than female. On the other hand, female teachers manifest that ICT use have a positive impact in the class.