Teachers' perception towards computer assisted language learning and student performance among primary school students / Wennedy Danny

The purpose of this study is to look into the teachers' perception towards computer assisted language learning and student reading performance among primary school students. Our government has embarked on an intensive effort to introduce the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and has spent millions on equipping schools with computers in the hope that Malaysian students will have early exposure and will be computer savvy as we move into the era of information technology. Schools play important roles in ascertaining that our young citizens are computer literates. Since reading is one of the language skills which face major problem, the Education Ministry and the public sectors are creating reading courseware to be used by the teachers and students in acquiring reading at the earlier stage. A total of 40 primary school teachers teaching English from around Kuching area were involved in this study. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. The questionnaires were distributed personally by the researcher to the respondents. The questionnaires contain three important sets of data; demographic data of the respondents, the measure of CALL literacy levels, and the measure of students' performance levels. The data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) which were converted into tables. The findings of this study showed no significant relationship between CALL literacy and students' performance in the perceptions among primary school teachers. Efforts to increase CALL literacy level may not produce corresponding effect on students' performance. Primary school management should be aware that to increase students' performance, there might be a need to improve other factors such as student's attitude, school culture, and learning environment as well.