In 1989, Herrmann reported that the lack of computer use in schools is not because the schools
are not purchasing computers, but because computers "...in classes, such as English, ... are not
being used as effectively as they might be" (p. 112). Thus, this current thesis is a relational study
that sought to understand how high school English teachers' attitudes towards, perceptions of,
and experiences with computers affected their reported implementation of word processors in the
teaching of written composition. The findings of this study were based on the results of 52
surveys completed by high school English teachers teaching in a large urban centre. The survey
was a combination of multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and open-ended questions and the data were
analysed to note relationships between and trends among variables.
Ninety percent of the respondents reported spending no time teaching written composition with a
word processor, and only 3% of the respondents said they felt confident in their ability to
integrate computers into the teaching of written composition. Further data analysis indicated that
these teachers exhibited varying and conflicting attitudes, perceptions, and experiences.
Teachers' "Readiness to Implement" (i.e., their willingness to receive word processors in the
classroom and some self-reports of present computer-related practices) produced the strongest
correlation with "Current Practice" (e.g., teaching the writing process and using the word
processor to teach pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing), while "Attitude," "Perception,"
and "Professional Development Experience" showed limited and localized effects (correlating
with some gender, age, or years of experience groups and not others). Consistent with the
findings of previous studies, only negligible differences were noted between male and female
respondents. However, the two respondents over the age of 60 scored higher (M =4.4) on the
"Attitude" scale than their junior colleagues, and the one respondent with 0-1 year of experience
scored lower (M = 2.0) than her colleagues with more English-Language Arts teaching
experience. Respondents in this study reported a limited amount of access to computer labs and
a weak infrastructure for supporting implementation. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/12438 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Crescenzi, Patrizia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 7921041 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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