ICT IN EDUCATION

ICT IN EDUCATION

ICT is complex and quickly changing, and it is confusing for many people. It is so pervasive in the modern world that everyone has some understanding of it, but those understandings are often wildly divergent. According to Syed Noor-Ul-Amin “Many countries now regard understanding ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part of the core of education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy”. The research in the world has shown that ICTs can be able to lead in reparation of learning methods for students and produce better learning methods. Fisseha Mikre said in the journal “Information communication technologies (ICT) at present are influencing every aspect of human life. They are playing salient roles in work places, business, education, and entertainment. Moreover, many people recognize ICTs as catalysts for change; change in working conditions, handling and exchanging information, teaching methods, learning approaches, scientific research, and in accessing information (Fisseha Mikre:2011)”. A report that’s written by national institute of multimedia education in Japan proved that increasing of mind capacity from the students by using ICTs through curriculum integration significantly produce positive effects especially in knowledge, understanding, skill of practice, skill of achievement in any subjects.

But somehow, we can see that many solutions of educated technologies that exist in the world gives confused effects for the teachers concerning how to choose the precise solution of ICTs. So that way, teachers should know much about ICTs, moreover, in this modern era, teachers should master it. Research likewise suggests that the use of computers, the Internet, and related technologies, given adequate teacher training and support can indeed facilitate the transformation of the learning environment into a learner-centered one (Victoria L. Tinio).

On the other hand, there are many benefits of ICTs for education, namely:

1.      Through ICTs, the pictures are easier to be used in teaching learning process and repair mind capacity of the students.

2.      Through ICTs, the teachers can easily explain difficult interactions and ensure understanding of the students.

3.      Through ICTs, the teachers can make an interactive class and make teaching learning process become more interesting that can repair concentration of the students.

Despite the existence of many studies showing positive effects of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in general, the use of ICT in teaching writing skills in English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom is still not very encouraging. This study attempts to seek findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian secondary schools. This paper just reports one part of the findings obtained from a big project which was conducted in Malaysian secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia. This study focuses solely on the data collected from four English teachers in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur who were interviewed by the researcher. This study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing was very low. Advantages of using ICT were reported to be attracting students' attention, facilitating students' learning process, helping to improve students' vocabulary and promoting meaningful learning. Disadvantages found included the difficult class control, distraction and the students' tendency to use short forms in their writing. It was also revealed that teachers are generally weak in managing problems and planning activities involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing. The results of this study are hoped to provide insights to the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to improve the low use of ICT in teaching ESL writing skills.