ICT use by pre-service foreign languages teachers according to gender, age and motivation

• Main Authors: Francisco D. Guillén-Gámez, Ana Lugones, M. José Mayorga-Fernández
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-01-01
• Series: Cogent Education
• Subjects: technology; literacy; teacher education; gender; age and language learning; motivation
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1574693

In the area of foreign languages, it is necessary to develop the digital competence of future teachers in order to improve the teaching-learning process that they will carry out with their students. However, different intrinsic variables of teachers can influence their use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The main objective of this study is to analyse the use of ICT by future primary education teachers. The secondary objective is to find out whether age, gender and motivation affect their use of ICT. Non-experimental research has been carried out with a sample of 134 future teachers, specifically those teaching foreign languages. The results show that the future teachers of foreign languages have a pedagogical digital competence in the use of medium-low ICT, their most used technological devices being laptops and projectors. Moreover, they do not use Web 2.0 tools when teaching languages. Regarding gender, it can be seen that there are no significant differences, while the age variable does influence the level of pedagogical digital competence. In addition, it has been confirmed that motivation constitutes an essential variable at the pedagogical digital competence level, both in terms of the use of technological devices, as well as the use of Web 2.0 tools and of Learning Management Systems.