Digital Native/Digital Immigrant Divide: EFL Teachers’ Mobile Device Experiences and Practice

Year 2018, Volume: 9 Issue: 4, 374 - 389, 16.10.2018

Graham Howlett Zainee Waemusa

https://doi.org/10.30935/cet.471007

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine
how Thai EFL high-school teachers view and use mobile devices (such as smart
phones) in educational settings, and if the age-based digital native/digital immigrant
divide would highlight any differences in responses. The participants were 55
Thai EFL teachers in 8 schools of different sizes in Southern Thailand, who
were split into digital-native and digital-immigrant subgroups during data
analysis. Participants completed a 35-item Likert-type scale covering a range of
topics related to mobile devices in the EFL setting including their ability,
experience, school/personal policy, instructional utilization, and whether they
supported mobile devices as a learning aid. The results showed that while
digital native teachers consistently responded more positively towards the
benefits/uses of mobile devices in EFL teaching/learning than the older digital
immigrant teachers often at a significant level, all teachers -regardless of
age- agreed on the benefits and promotion of mobile devices as EFL learning
aids. Results of this study expand the knowledge base of EFL teachers’ mobile
device experiences and practice while raising awareness of significant differences
between digital natives and digital immigrants, and recommendations are made
for policymakers, schools, and teachers.

Keywords

Mobile devices in EFL context, Mobile assisted language learning, Digital native, Digital immigrant, Bring your own device, Mobile learning

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