SAMR model's modification - A case study of EFL teachers' perception about the learning usefulness of ICT intergration

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

SAMR MODEL’S MODIFICATION: A CASE STUDY OF EFL

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT THE LEARNING

USEFULNESS OF ICT INTEGRATION

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of

Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by NGUYEN XUAN MINH

Supervisor: LE HOANG DUNG, Ph.D.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN XUAN MINH

SAMR MODEL’S MODIFICATION: A CASE STUDY OF EFL

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT THE LEARNING

USEFULNESS OF ICT INTEGRATION

Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Major code : 60140111

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Dr. LE HOANG DUNG

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2019

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “SAMR Model’s Modification: A Case Study of

EFL Teachers’ Perception about Learning Usefulness of ICT Integration” is my own

work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains material

published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from publications of which I am the

only author.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institutions.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2019

NGUYEN XUAN MINH

ii

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Nguyen Xuan Minh, being a candidate for the degree of

Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of Ho Chi Minh City Open University

relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis

deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in

accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and

reproduction for theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, September, 2019

NGUYEN XUAN MINH

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The journey I have taken in my Master’s education for TESOL has consummated in

the completion of this thesis. I have come this far in the quest for knowledge and academic

achievements thanks to the immense support of people I am more than happy to be around.

I would love to send my deep gratitude to my mother who has always been with me

since the start of my learning at Ho Chi Minh City Open University. Also, I would like to

say big thanks to my friends who teaches for EFTIN project and enthusiastically helped

me complete the survey and interviews. Without their help, I would not have been able to

have the thesis done this well. Especially, it is my honor to express my gratefulness to my

supervisor, Dr. Le Hoang Dung, for being so supportive, patient, and encouraging to me

during the time I managed to find a proper approach to my thesis topic. He always had

useful leading questions in our meetings amid hectic working weeks, and his questions

definitely lit up many corners of my misunderstanding in research and helped me figure

out the appropriate approach to tackle my research problems.

In general, I am happy to consider this Master’s thesis as a puzzle I could solve

thanks to the pieces I was given from my beloved family, friends, and teacher.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP............................................................................................................i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS.............................................................................................ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..........................................................................................................................iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................vi

LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................................vii

LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................x

Abstract........................................................................................................................................................xi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1

1.1. Vietnamese context of ICT use in education...............................................................................1

1.2. The measurement of levels of ICT integration with different frameworks.................................3

1.3. Statement of the problem.............................................................................................................4

1.4. Aims of the study.........................................................................................................................6

1.5. Research questions ......................................................................................................................6

1.6. Significance of the study .............................................................................................................7

1.7. Definitions of key terms..............................................................................................................7

1.8. Organization of the study ............................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................10

2.1. SAMR model.............................................................................................................................10

2.2. The inconsistency in the interpretation of the levels in SAMR model......................................12

2.3. ICT integration for EFL learning support..................................................................................16

2.4. Hypothesis.................................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................................26

3.1. Research design.........................................................................................................................26

3.2. Participants................................................................................................................................26

3.3. Research tools............................................................................................................................27

3.3.1. The survey.............................................................................................................................28

3.3.2. The interview ........................................................................................................................30

3.4. Data collection and analysis procedure .....................................................................................31

3.5. Validity and reliability...............................................................................................................33

3.6. Ethical issues.............................................................................................................................35

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS OF THE STUDY..........................................................................................37

4.1. The priorities of EFL teachers for learning supporting effects of their ICT integration ...........37

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4.1.1. The survey results.....................................................................................................................37

4.1.2. Analysis of interview responses................................................................................................40

4.2. The learning usefulness of seven effects of ICT integration............................................................48

4.2.1. The correlation between the learning usefulness of each effect and of the situation having that

effect 49

4.2.2. Findings from the interviews about the perceived learning usefulness of effects of ICT

integration ...........................................................................................................................................59

4.2.3. The ranking of EFL teachers’ perceived learning usefulness of seven effects of ICT

integration ...........................................................................................................................................65

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS ................................................................................69

5.1. EFL teachers’ prioritized learning supporting effects of ICT integration .................................69

5.1.1. Prioritity for effects 6, 5, 3 and 4 ..........................................................................................69

5.1.2. Priority for effects 1, 7, and 2................................................................................................70

5.2. The correlation between EFL teachers’ perceived learning usefulness of ICT effects and that of

the situation having the effects................................................................................................................72

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................77

6.1. The summary of key findings of the study ................................................................................77

6.2. Implications of the study ...........................................................................................................78

6.3. Limitations of the study.............................................................................................................79

6.4. Recommendations for further studies........................................................................................80

6.5. Conclusions ...............................................................................................................................80

References..................................................................................................................................................82

APPENDICES...........................................................................................................................................88

APPENDIX 1: THE SURVEY.................................................................................................................89

APPENDIX 2: THE INTERVIEW .......................................................................................................106

APPENDIX 3: DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS ........................................................110

APPENDIX 4: RESULTS OF RELIABILITY TESTS OF THE SURVEY .....................................112

APPENDIX 5: LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS AND CONSENT FORM........................................117

CONSENT FORM..................................................................................................................................119

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BECTA British Educational Communications and Technology Agency

EFL English as a Foreign Language

EFTIN English for those in need (name of an online teaching group)

ICT Information Communication Technology

NFLP 2020 National Foreign Language 2020 Project

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2. 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Table 3. 1 ICT tools used in the survey questions........................................................................ 29

Table 3. 2 Details of invalid items in the survey.......................................................................... 33

Table 3. 3 Cronbach’s Alpha scores of the 7 effects after the removal of invalid items. ............. 34

Table 3. 4 The summary of the survey before the removal of invalid items................................ 34

Table 3. 5 The summary of the survey after the removal of invalid items................................... 35

Table 4.1 Percentages of teachers’ priority for ICT integration ................................................... 38

Table 4. 2 Comparison of Mean values of prioritized effects of ICT integration that support

learning ......................................................................................................................................... 39

Table 4. 3 EFL teachers’ priority for learning supporting effects of ICT integration................... 40

Table 4. 4 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 1 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 49

Table 4. 5 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 1 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 50

Table 4. 6 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 2 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 51

Table 4. 7 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 1 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 51

Table 4. 8 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 3 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 52

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Table 4. 9 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 3 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 53

Table 4. 10 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 4 and that of

the situations having the effect ..................................................................................................... 54

Table 4. 11 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 4 and that of the

situations having the effect. .......................................................................................................... 54

Table 4. 12 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 5 and that for

the situations having the effect ..................................................................................................... 55

Table 4. 13 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 5 and that of the

situations having the effect. .......................................................................................................... 55

Table 4. 14 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 6 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 56

Table 4. 15 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 6 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 56

Table 4. 16 The comparison between the perceived learning usefulness of effect 7 and that for

the situations having the effect ..................................................................................................... 57

Table 4. 17 The correlation between perceived learning usefulness of effect 7 and that of the

situations having the effect ........................................................................................................... 58

Table 4. 18 Correlation between EFL teachers’ perceived learning usefulness of each effect and

of situations having that effect...................................................................................................... 59

Table 4. 19 Mean values of perceived usefulness of effects from largest to smallest and those of

situations having the effects.......................................................................................................... 65

Table 5. 1 The use of the modified SAMR model in solving the inconsistency of the old model73

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: SAMR model (Puentedura, 2006)...............................................................................11

Figure 3. 1 A summary of the research instruments 28

Figure 3. 2 Data collection and analysis 31

Figure 4. 1 The suggested modification of two Transformation levels of SAMR model 67

x

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: THE SURVEY................................................................................................... 89

APPENDIX 2: THE INTERVIEW ......................................................................................... 106

APPENDIX 3: DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS............................................110

APPENDIX 4: RESULTS OF RELIABILITY TESTS OF THE SURVEY .........................112

APPENDIX 5: LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS AND CONSENT FORM ...........................117

xi

Abstract

The use of information communication technology (ICT) at high levels to enhance

learning is intriguing to many teachers in this modern age of education. A case study was

conducted with 18 out of 25 EFL teachers involved in a project of online teaching called

English For Those In Need (EFTIN). The study used online surveys and in-depth

interviews to find out (1) the belief of these EFL teachers in terms of their prioritized

effects of ICT integration for improving learning, and (2) their perceived learning

usefulness of ICT integration in alignment with the transformation degree including

Modification and Redefinition levels of SAMR model (Puentedura, 2006). The study

found that for EFL teachers, their ICT integration is prioritized the most for 4 effects: (1)

creating motivation, (2) stimulating collaborative learning, (3) creating conditions for

learning with authentic language, and (4) integrating different language skills, while such

effects as (5) providing convenience of space and time for learning, and (6) creating

games for lessons together ranked fifth, and (7) facilitating student’s learning by the

creation of artifacts ranked seventh on the scale of priority. However, the results of EFL

teachers’ perceived learning usefulness of those seven effects in specific situations of

technology use showed very different ranking. The study results suggested a detailed

description for the two levels of ICT integration of SAMR model: Modification and

Redefinition with four effects sorted to the Redefinition level and the other three effects

to Modification level.

Keywords: ICT integration levels, teacher’s priority in ICT integration, learning

usefulness of ICT integration, SAMR model