Future of ICT as a Pedagogical Tool in ESL Teaching and Learning

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education has provided more variation in the process of teaching and learning. The function of ICT in systematic teaching and learning in English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom is to achieve the objectives of language teaching and learning. The aim of this study is twofold: (i) to investigate how secondary school English teachers perceive the future of ICT as a pedagogical tool and (ii) to discover what they think the impact of ICT will be on the future of the teachers. This study is a qualitative research in nature because a semi-structured interview was used to examine the teachers’ perceptions of the future of ICT as a pedagogical tool and the impact of ICT on the future of the teachers. Overall, a total of 25 secondary school English teachers were interviewed. The teachers were pragmatically and purposively selected from four different areas of Malaysia, 8 teachers from Tawau, 7 teachers from Alor Setar, 6 teachers from Tuanku Jaafar and 4 teachers from Kuala Lumpur, respectively. The interviewees were selected based on three criteria which are the willingness to participate and cooperate, capability of giving effective responses to the interview questions and lastly having teaching experience of at least 1 year. The findings of the study showed that ICT has the potential to give great impact on the future of teachers in terms of the role of the teacher, the methods of instruction and the methods of assessment. It was also concluded that, in the future, the role of the teacher will be changed from the sole knowledge provider to a facilitator or moderator; the methods of instruction will be changed from conventional discussions in the classroom to the use of online forums with the students; and the medium of assessment will be changed from printed ones to e-assessment.