Educational Technology in Iranian High Schools: EFL Teachers’ Attitudes, Perceived Competence, and Actual Use

Abstract

It goes without saying that technology has influenced virtually all spheres of our lives, and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) is not an exception to this rule. Also, teachers’ undeniable and decisive role in the integration of technology into teaching is not to be taken a blind eye on. With this in mind, this study explored Iranian high school EFL teachers’ attitudes toward, their perceived competency in, and their actual use of instructional technology in their classrooms. 120 randomly selected junior and senior high school Iranian EFL teachers filled out The Survey of High School EFL Teachers’ Attitudes toward Computer Technology. Over 600 junior and senior high school students filled out Students’ Questionnaire Surveying the Use of Educational Technology by English Teachers in Classrooms. The results indicated that even though Iranian teachers have an overall positive attitude toward (computer) technology, they are not sufficiently competent to use it in their classes, and this lack of competence may be one of the main barriers to the full use of technology in their classes.