The Digital Impact: Investigating the Use of ICTs in the Teaching of English Language in Some Secondary Schools in Cameroon

Abstract

This study seeks to find out if secondary school teachers in Cameroon incorporate ICTs in English Language teaching, and how they do it, if it is done. The study also seeks to identify the contribution of ICTs to the teaching and learning of English Language, determine the major impediments to the development of English teaching and learning programmes through ICTs, and search for solutions to the problems regarding the application of ICTs in English Language teaching and learning in secondary schools in Cameroon. The theoretical framework of analysis for this study is the TPACK propounded by Mishra and Koehler (2006). TPACK stands for the technological pedagogical content knowledge which has implications for the types of professional development which could be provided for teachers integrating ICTs into their teaching. According to this theory, teachers need to combine three different types of knowledge in order to use technology effectively for teaching: technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK). Teachers need to be able to combine TK and PK into TPK. They also need to be helped to develop TCK. Equipping teachers with these types of knowledge would
allow the intersection of all three to form TPACK, which will allow teachers to use appropriate technologies and combine these with appropriate pedagogical strategies to effectively teach the English language. To carry out this investigation, the researcher administered questionnaires to 45 principals, 219 teachers and 571 students in some randomly selected secondary schools in Cameroon. Formal interviews with principals, teachers, students, textbook writers and software developers were also conducted. Classroom observation was equally used to complement the interviews. Data analysis was done by simply converting the responses obtained from our target population into percentages. The findings obtained demonstrate that teachers attain over 90% of their set objectives for each lesson when they incorporate new technology into their teaching, given the interactive potentials of these ICT tools. In addition, more than 70% of the 832 respondents were found to be aware of the use of ICTs in English language teaching, and they have positive attitudes towards the integration of e-devices in classroom teaching and learning. However, the lack of available resources, lack of power supply, lack of internet facilities, economic problems and lack of sound theoretical and practical knowledge in e-learning were found to be some of the challenges in the use of ICTs in secondary schools in Cameroon.