Instructor use on online language learning resources: A survey of socio-institutional and motivational factors

Abstract

In response to the need for research on the contextualized use of CALL resources, the authors conducted a survey on instructor use of a popular online Spanish language learning resource to provide insight into how foreign language instructors’ use of online resources are influenced by socio-institutional factors and instructor motivational factors such as personal background and teaching philosophy. From the 118 survey participants, the authors used quantitative techniques to choose three case studies that represented the diversity of respondents who use the resource in their teaching. They present overall trends and qualitative profiles of the three instructors with the intent to gain an overall understanding of the nature of how the resource is used, not only to provide direction for future quantitative research, but also to illustrate the utility of qualitative research in providing such understanding. Upon analysis of the case studies, the authors conclude that the actual use of a CALL resource may be far from the ideal use the designer intended, and that the use of CALL resources is highly contingent on the sociocultural context of the implementation of the resource. Instructor comments seem to point not towards the physical CALL infrastructure of an instructor’s workplace as a determining factor of resource use, but towards the CALL culture and collegiality of the environment. Most revealing of the nature of an instructor’s use of a resource seems to be the congruence of site features with the instructor’s teaching philosophy, itself the product of a variety of factors.