Iranian Teachers’ Perceptions of Technology Integration in Teaching Englishas a Foreign Language

Abstract

Globalisation has led to the rapid development and integration of technology in all sectors of society. Higher education is no exception. Technology has changed language education and the teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL). The COVID-19 pandemic generated a global push from traditional classroom-based language teaching to online and mobile-assisted language learning, which accelerated practice and forced significant changes in the dynamics of the language learning classroom. Teachers had to rapidly develop knowledge and understanding of new technology and master its integration into teaching. Thus, this study explores teachers’ perceptions of technology integration in TEFL in Iran during the pandemic. It unravels the influence of online and mobile-assisted language learning on students’ learning and teachers' professional knowledge and effectiveness. A small-scale qualitative research approach was adopted, using volunteer sampling and face-to-face interviews. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted, gathering the voices of in-service TEFL teachers. Interview data were analysed using conventional thematic analysis, revealing six themes: online teaching quality, challenges of online teaching, the influence of teacher characteristics, quality of applied technological knowledge, the affordance of technology integration and online teaching components. The findings suggest variability, at the individual level, in teachers’ integration of technology in practice, the quality of online language teaching and language teachers’ technological knowledge, indicating a need for targeted mentoring and coaching to improve technology-mediated practice. Further, variability in individual teacher capacity did not appear related to the length of teaching experience, revealing a need for teachers’ professional development throughout their careers.