The use of information and communication technologies in the foreign language classroom: students' attitudes, motivation and L2 selves

Abstract

The aim of the present mixed-methods study was to compare the motivational and attitudinal disposition of 165 high school students (16-17 years old) from Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain over one school year and a half.The novelty of the study stems from its intention to contribute to the field of L2 motivation with empirical data gathered at this particular educational level in the Basque multilingual context through the lens of the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei 2005, 2009). The main focus was to examine the possible influence of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on students¿ motivation in general and on their Ideal L2 Self in particular. In addition to analysing the influence of ICT classroom integration on students¿ motivation, this classroom-based study compared the impact of ICT with that of the native English-speaking teacher (NEST) in the EFL classroom, as the latter is often considered an added value in itself. Moreover, the possible influence of gender on students¿ motivation was analysed. All in all, this study¿s novelty is based not only on its particular focus on EFL classrooms but also on the fact that it combines three important areas of education nowadays, namely: students¿ motivation towards learning an L2, the use of ICT and the presence of native vs. non-native teachers in a foreign language classroom.