Table of Contents

Argument ............................................................................................................................................. 3

1. Using ICT in the Socio-Educational context............................................................................ 5

1.1. ICT and Educational Frames ....................................................................................... 5

1.2. ICT and the Teacher’s Role ........................................................................................ 9

1.3. Learning Theories and ICT ....................................................................................... 11

Constructivism .................................................................................................................. 13

Connectivism .................................................................................................................... 14

1.4. Digital literacy ........................................................................................................... 14

2. ICT RESOURCES IN ELT ....................................................................................................... 16

2.1. The computer ................................................................................................................ 16

2.1.1. The word processor ............................................................................................... 16

2.1.2. Social media .......................................................................................................... 18

2.1.3. Online reference tools ............................................................................................ 26

2.1.4. Online teaching tools ............................................................................................. 54

2.2. Other ICT resources ...................................................................................................... 69

3. Teaching Language Systems and Skills through ICT ......................................................... 70

3.1. Teaching grammar........................................................................................................ 70

3.2. Teaching vocabulary ..................................................................................................... 86

3.3. Teaching reading skills.................................................................................................. 90

3.4. Teaching writing skills .................................................................................................. 93

3.5. Teaching listening skills ................................................................................................ 95

3.6 Teaching speaking skills ................................................................................................ 98

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4. Pedagogical Research on using ICT tools in ELT .............................................................. 101

4.1. Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 101

4.2. Objectives .................................................................................................................... 102

4.3. Hypothesis ................................................................................................................... 102

4.4. Methods used in the research ...................................................................................... 102

4.5. Description of the research .......................................................................................... 103

4.6. Analysis and interpretation of the results .................................................................... 104

4.7. E-twinning projects ..................................................................................................... 122

4.8. Opinion survey ............................................................................................................ 127

4.9. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 132

Final Remarks ................................................................................................................................. 133

Bibliography .................................................................................................................................... 134

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 ARGUMENT

As teachers, we have come to realize how much time our students spend on the
computer, becoming more and more skilled in this area, whereas we – most of the 21st
century teachers- are frightened by this “modern monster”, named ICT.

Indeed, I sometimes feel like fighting with little monsters when trying to teach by
using a simple and “antique” blackboard and a white piece of chalk, whereas the Internet can
offer my students any type of information they need or they are curious about.

Let’s face it! We are no longer the main source of information, even if we like it or
not- the Internet is, and we, the teachers must become friends with this ” 21st century giant”.

How do we teach students to handle these resources?

With all this information available should our curriculum be focused on facts and
content or better on skills?

These tools are no longer about pure entertainment because students do not need to be
entertained they need to be engaged. Entertainment is passive whereas engagement is active.

We are living an educational revolution: people are creating 2000 websites every
hour and are watching two billion Youtube videos every day and our children of this
globalised world need to become more qualified than ever.

Teachers seem to lose battle in this war so why not fight back? It would be smart to
take advantage of students’ interest in ICT, because smart use of it improves learning.

This present paper presents different ways of using ICT in order to make English
classes relevant, challenging and engaging.

Chapter 1 presents the aspects of using ICT in the socio-educational context whereas
Chapter 2 introduces ICT resources in ELT in order to enhance the learning of English as a
second language. Chapter 3 deals with teaching language systems and skills through ICT.
Chapter 4 presents some research conducted on two parallel classes, applying traditional
teaching methods in contrast to the Intel Teach program.

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 The main question to answer in this chapter is: How can ICT be used most efficiently
in order to assess and support student learning?

The ultimate aim of my research is to prove that the internet makes learning a foreign
language easier and more attractive to students and facilitates student – centered learning,
which, in its turn, encourages higher order thinking and self-direction.

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Chapter One

USING ICT IN THE SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

We all know about the importance of technology in our modern world but can we
admit that it is hard to keep pace with it? As teachers we have the moral obligation of keeping
up with the rapid changes of technology because otherwise it would be really hard to practise
our job. But more than that, our students need classes in which the technology is used so that
the process of learning becomes easier, more enjoyable and up to date.

The so complex educational process becomes the stage of three actors: the teacher, the
student and the computer. The teacher is no longer the main actor but he becomes a
consultant, a coordinator and a verifier of the didactic process. And not just the teacher loses
his main role but also the manual which is no longer the basic informational source.

The aim of my research is to convince the teachers that the use of ICT during English
classes is beneficial for both the students and the teacher.

1.1. ICT and Educational Frames

There is a widespread tendency among various groups to equate education with schooling.
But schools and institutions such as colleges and universities are only one of a range of
providers of education, because education is an activity that “can take place anywhere,
anytime when someone wants to learn how to solve some kind of problem” (Kenning 2007:
103). Nevertheless, what differentiates education from the incidental learning that is part and
parcel of everyone’s daily experience is the notion of a systematic process which is implicit
in the term ‘education.’ As Margaret Kenning notices: “Within this broad area, it is usual to
differentiate between formal and non-formal (or informal) education. ‘Formal’ takes us back
to schooling and official, prescribed and recognized systems of education, whereas ‘non-

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formal’ and ‘informal’ evoke a less top-down, less rigid approach” (2007: 104). There are
three main characteristics which distinguish between the two area:

a) while formal education expects all learners to reach a given goal within a single
timescale, irrespective of their educational and social background, non-formal
education is flexible enough to allow the learner to move at their own pace, and is
able to cater for the specialized needs of particular groups.
b) if formal education works on the basis of a prescribed syllabus and textbooks aimed at
the mass of average students, the syllabus and materials in non-formal education are
fluid and needs based.
c) formal education works towards the achievement of qualifications, whereas
qualifications are incidental to non-formal education.
With these in view, one can state that formal and non-formal education may be contrasted
along two dimensions: the first relates to learner centredness and autonomy, while the second
connects to the purpose of education and the relative importance of preparation for work
versus personal development. As Kenning considers, these two primary dimensions have also
framed the introduction and use of educational technology (Kenning 2007:105), from modest
beginnings in the last decades of the 20th century (when the use of computers for educational
purposes began to attract attention) to an unprecedented boom during the 21st century, when
“individualization and greater learner control have repeatedly been put forward as major
advantages of ICT, and have been presented as features that opened the way to individual
education provision and self-managed learning on a scale that had been unimaginable in the
past” (Kenning 2007:105).

Nowadays it is a truism that computer resources are part of our culture, and our
everyday life (at home or at work). Yet, when talking about new information technologies,
we refer to the computer and the Internet, as well as to any other offline and online
communication methods, to various eLearning programs created or to various possibilities
that our computer gives us and which we can use as a means of gaining or imparting
information (for example, the Messenger, Skype, MS Office, Apple products, tables, video
and audio, etc.)

The use of the Internet in education, along with other tools, fosters real-time access to
information, internal and international exchanges and offers new learning opportunities for
both formal and informal education, with different categories of people (students, teachers, IT
specialists) each having a well-defined role.

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 As Alexandra Surlea makes the case in a recent article published online
(http://www.elearning.ro/invatarea-limbilor-straine-prin-utilizarea-noilor-tehnologii-pentru-
formare), applying the Internet-based education could be classified into several types of
teaching-learning activities:

• Interpersonal communication, done by electronic mail (email) and direct

communication (chat): this brings together those pedagogical applications which
foster interpersonal exchanges among young people and leads them to know and
respect the cultural, political, linguistic, and cultural differences in the outermost
regions. It is possible to organize meetings with personalities, or to form virtual
classes, where students will have the opportunity to check their communication skills
in a foreign language. Teachers will teach young students in a friendly manner and
official correspondence techniques specific foreign language studied, which would
improve written expression, using correct and relevant information, structuring ideas.
Also, electronic mail can be considered for writing.
• Collection of authentic texts in foreign languages: function of the specifics of the
lesson, the teacher will clearly define a topic that attracts students’ interest and
exposes several types of documents (PDFs, press articles, essays, etc.). Students
(individually or in groups) would be responsible for collecting documents, analyze
and interpret the collected documents, request the opinion of specialist teachers in the
field and writing a dissertation (synopsis, summary, comment, etc.) in the foreign
language.
• Documentary research, validation and use of foreign language resources in order to
produce a bibliography on a given topic, respecting the rules of citing electronic
documents.
• Publishing documents in foreign languages on the Internet implies not only a good
knowledge of the computer, the programs specific to such an activity, but also a good
knowledge of a foreign language. It may be worthwhile to draw up a personal page in
which the student presents himself, to describe his achievements in the intellectual
and professional sphere, the areas of interest, the projects. The role of the teacher is to
teach the student the techniques of structuring, writing and presenting in a foreign
language. Students will be able to improve their knowledge of foreign language
(respecting the journalistic style specific to a specialized journal, convincing
presentation of information, etc.) by writing an article.

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 • Auto-training by connecting to specialized sites in virtual manuals or language test.

Among the advantages related to using new training technologies, one could list:

• actuality (quality, authentic and topical materials),

• flexibility,
• autonomy of students (they have the opportunity to organize their own learning
processes themselves),
• a differentiated approach, facilitating a type of contextual learning.

Nevertheless, there are also technical aspects which one should take into account when
integrating ICT in the learning process. Among them, one should be aware of the fact that:

• Complexity is positively marked: multimedia language programs integrate images,

video sequences, graphics, animations, audio recordings, and more. which normally
appear isolated in other learning environments. Combining audio-visual elements with
texts makes it easy to switch from one type of exercise to another, without having to
change the learning method.
• Interactivity is often encountered in these learning methods, as well as attractiveness:
through coloring, animation, special effects, multimedia programs are attractive and
motivating. Also, visual, sound, movie fragments, animated characters add appeal to
multimedia programs and webpages.
• Technology is increasingly used in language learning processes, either as a
complement to training or as the only means of learning. Although access to
technology may present difficulties in accessing adult and practitioner education
programs, they can be overcome. In addition, online platforms have made
considerable progress in recent years. They continue to offer more and more useful,
affordable applications and language learning tools.

If teachers committed to the use of these technologies must continue to offer

opportunities for learning and for the promotion and development of foreign language
training and skills, it is nonetheless important to admit that further research is needed on the
impact of the use of technology: given the rapid pace of software innovations and Internet

8
access, long-term research studies are needed to understand more about the role and impact
of using technology in English language learning, both in formal and nonformal education,
both in young learners and in adults (Surlea, http://www.elearning.ro/invatarea-limbilor-
straine-prin-utilizarea-noilor-tehnologii-pentru-formare).

1.2. ICT and the Teacher’s Role

As can be inferred from the above, the integration of computer technology in education
also has significant implications for the teaching profession. Such technological advances
presuppose that teachers will have to update their skills and learn to integrate new tools into
the way they teach. Moreover, the teacher’s role is set to undergo a fundamental
transformation, which may include the scenario evoked by Kenning (2007) in which
peripatetic electronic teachers with multiple telepresences – pedagogical, professional,
commercial and managerial – appear alternately as teachers, members of the teaching
profession, freelance workers and administrators. But, apart from such a more or less far-
fetched scenario, the teacher’s role in supporting learning will continue to remain dominant.

According to Dilts and DeLozier (2000), education involves the provision of four
different kinds of support for learning:

a) Guiding: the process of directing another person along a path; it involves attending to
the external context and supporting learning by providing maps for people to follow
when faced by a changed or new environment.
b) Coaching/training: are concerned with the improvement of behaviour based on some
analysis of current performance.
c) Teaching: focuses on the acquisition of general cognitive abilities, on learning and
understanding, rather than on what the person can do.
d) Mentoring: involves drawing out and validating a person’s unconscious competences.

As Margaret Kenning considers, teachers easily slip from one role to another during the
educational process:

9
 Teachers act as guides when they issue reading lists and give advice on resources.
They act as coaches when they give exam practice. They spend a lot of time
presenting and explaining new material, i.e. teaching, and they are involved in
mentoring when supervising original work. However, what is given priority in any
particular instance is liable to vary with the teacher’s personal style, and will also
depend on the prevailing orthodoxies and the kind of learning environment available.
(Kenning 2007: 110)

With regard to language teaching, Kenning also points to the fact that:

… the place of the four forms of support will depend on the purposes of language
learning and the relative importance of individual aspects (grammatical accuracy,
fluency, pronunciation and so on). For instance, giving a high priority to an area like
pronunciation, which requires intensive practice and precise feedback, will
automatically heighten the role of the teacher as coach, although thanks to the
availability of audio technologies, part of this role may be delegated to ICT. (Kenning
2007: 110-11)

It goes without saying that teaching in the 21st century is not an easy job for a more tradition-
bound teacher, as he/she has to keep up with the rapid pace of technology if he/she wants to
have a rewarding job (and this includes happy students too).

The opposite to the above may be described as a future-focused teacher, the one that has
overcome the barrier between the generations, has succeeded to adapt his or her teaching
methods in order to engage the students during classes and to make a way in this digital
world.

This kind of teacher might be also described as a digital immigrant, who could pass
for a digital native because he has learnt the “language” of this new world, although the
“language” he uses is not perfect.

The first term in italics (digital immigrant) was coined by Mark Prensky in 2001 to
describe people who started to use ICT later in life and who are still “traditional” because
they process information slowly, work on one thing at a time and do not like less serious

10
approaches to learning; in distinction, the second term (digital native) describes young people
who succeed in processing the information faster; they enjoy multi-tasking and, of course,
gaming.

The following table better illustrates the differences between the two generations:

Digital Native Learners Digital Immigrant Teachers

Prefer receiving information quickly from Prefer slow and controlled release of
multiple multimedia sources. information from limited sources.

Prefer parallel processing and multitasking. Prefer singular processing and single or
limited tasking.

Prefer processing pictures, sounds and video Prefer to provide text before pictures, sounds
before text. and video.

Prefer random access to hyperlinked Prefer to provide information linearly,

multimedia information. logically and sequentially.

Prefer to interact/network simultaneously Prefer students to work independently rather

with many others. than networks and interact.

Prefer to learn “just in time.” Prefer to teach “just in case”(it’s on the

exam)

Prefer instant gratifications and instant Prefer deffered gratifications and deffered
rewards. rewards.

Prefer learning that is relevant, instantly Prefer to teach to the curriculum guide and
useful and fun. standardized tests.

1.3.Learning Theories and ICT

Learning theories, according to Wikipedia, “are conceptual frameworks that describe how
students absorb, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and
environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or

11
a world view, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_theory_education).

The following table presents in a synoptic form the main differences between the
various types of learning theories:

Question Behaviorism Cognitivism Constructivism Connectivism

How does Black box Structured, Social, meaning Distributed within a

learning created by each network,
The main Computational
occur? learner(personal) social,technologically
focus is on
enhanced,
observable
recognizing and
behavior
interpretting patterns

What factors Nature of Previous Engagement, Diversity of work

influence reward , experience participation,
learning? punishment, social,cultural
Existing
stimuli schema

What is the Memory is Encoding, Prior knowledge Adaptive patterns,

role of hardwiring of remixed to representative of
Storage,
memory? repeated current context current state, existing
Retrieval.
experiences- in networks.
where reward
and
punishment

are most
influential

How does Stimulus, Duplicating Socialisation Connecting to(adding

transfer response knowledge nodes)
occur? constructs of
“knower”

What types Task based Reasoning, Social, vague Complex learning,

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of learning learning clear objectives, rapid changing core,
are best problem solving diverse knowledge
explained by sources.
this theory?

(Theory comparison n.d)

Used in the creation of instructional environments, learning theories were developed in a time
when learning was not impacted through digital technology. But, as digital technology has
reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn, the learning needs and
theories that describe learning principles and processes became reflective of the new
instructional environments which integrate ICT. Among these, constructivism and
connectivism may be seen as exemplary for their adaptability in the face of recent
technological changes, offering an educational environment capable to teach students
transferable strategies for learning how to learn, which will serve them both in their formal
and informal educational contexts and development.

Constructivism

The core of constructivist theory consists in transformation of the all information

students learn, through their own perception and experience. Learners (especially the young
ones) thrive when they are given the freedom to make something new(to create) and produces
them pleasure and a positive feeling about learning; they do not feel the “burdens” of
learning but this process of teaching/learning becomes enjoyable.

With these in view, nowadays teaching should no longer be a teacher-oriented but

rather a student-centered class because the traditional teacher has to understand the fact that
every human being is unique and has its own unique way and pace of learning.

In constructivist classes the Internet has to be used as it is a powerful tool for

exploration and discovery and it also allows students to engage in meaningful and authentic
experiences as documentaries about remote places or they could also virtually experience the
effects of an earthquake or a tsunami.

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Connectivism

Connectivism is also known as Digital Age Learning and it is about learning as a

creative process. Students learn through informal, networked technology, enabled
environment. They connect information because they have the desire to know more; they also
have the decision making skills about what they want to learn.

Students learn through construction of knowledge socializing and they really need to
be self-lead. The teacher’s role is to pose leading questions, to group students in order to
learn with and through each other. One example of connectivism includes group discussions
(or video conferences).

In other words, connectivism means that people develop their knowledge and
exchange their cultures by interacting with each other; people promote themselves in
different ways when they use social media, they might have some different goals but one of
the goals is certainly the desire to know better and more.

1.4.Digital literacy

According to the entries in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) Online for ‘literate’ and
‘literacy’, literacy is traditionally taken to refer to the ability to read and write. As such, “it is
bound up with the invention of writing, though its spread undoubtedly received considerable
impetus from the invention of the printing press and subsequent improvements in printing
methods” (Kenning 2007: 122). The concept radically changed after the appearance of ICT,
that represented using new technology tools and accessing the internet. Concurrently, it has
become commonplace to apply the term ‘text’ to communicative artefacts that are not made
up, or wholly made up, of written words, contrary to traditional practice. TV adverts, for
example, are described as ‘media texts’. It is therefore logical to construe literacy as ‘the
ability to produce, understand and use texts in culturally appropriate ways’ (Kenning 2007:
123), or, as the ability to extract and convey meaning in different contexts and to different
audiences (for example audio, visual, texts modes) through ICT:

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 Digital literacy gives young people the ability to take advantage of the wealth of new
and emerging opportunities associated with digital technologies whilst also remaining
alert to various challenges technology can present. (Hague C.& Payton, S. 2010)

The reason why teachers need to change the old learning environment is because the new
Digital Learning Environment (DLE) offers flexibility and opportunities for collaboration and
connectivity to global online resources. Another matter of importance relates to the fact that
DLE supports young people to be competent in the use of technology that could enable them
to develop their subject knowledge by supporting creativity and allowing them to make
discerning use of the increasing number of digital resources available to them.

Components of digital literacy include:

• Functional skills

• Creativity

• Critical Thinking and Evaluation

• Cultural and Social Understanding

• Collaboration

• Ability to find and select information

• E-safety

In other words, being digitally literate in the 21st century is not only being comfortable and
confident using computers, smartphones, tablets or other devices, but digital literacy is one
component of being a digital citizen, a person who is responsible for how they utilize
technology to interact with the world around them. It allows people to interact and
communicate with family and friends at a regular basis due to the busy constraints of this
world.

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Chapter 2

ICT RESOURCES IN ELT

ICT, or information and communication technology, in an educational context is the part

played by a wide range of technology, not merely to process information but also (crucially
for education) for communication. (Rank, Warren, & Millum, 2011). In the English
classroom, ICT can take the form of several resources, such as the computer and everything it
encompasses, from a word processor to the internet; the video projector; a digital camera; a
video camera; etc. This chapter will focus on the use of several resources for teaching English
as a foreign language.

2.1.The computer

The computer is probably the vastest resource when it comes to ICT in the English
classroom. Its uses are inexhaustible, and I will only discuss a few, i.e. the word processor,
social media, online reference tools, and online teaching tools for English as a foreign
language.

2.1.1. The word processor

The word processor is a software that all computers have. A common example is Microsoft
Word. In the English classroom it can be successfully used by both the teacher and the
student. The teacher can organize their teaching materials in a document which can then be
projected or printed for the students. The student can use a word processor for different
writing tasks given by the teacher. It can be used to write different documents, from scratch
to the final form. For instance, when students practice writing an essay, it is a useful tool for
note taking in the planning part of writing (fig 1), the tables can be used for organizing ideas
(fig 2), and of course the final document can be written using the word processor (fig 3).

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(fig 1)

(fig 2)

17
(fig 3)

2.1.2. Social media

Whether we like it or not, our students are part of a social media generation. Social media are
internet-based technologies that promote information and ideas sharing in virtual
communities. They are based on content created by users, such as text posts, videos or
photos. They promote an online community by means of connecting several user profiles. In
the classroom, social media can be successfully used to learn English when guided by the
teacher. Some platforms that are compatible with English language learning are: Wikipedia,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only a
starting point for future research.

Wikipedia is an online platform similar to an encyclopaedia - its slogan is The Free

Encyclopaedia - with user-generated content. It has numerous articles on a variety of subjects
and any user can edit them. Wikipedia can be a useful tool when students are looking for
information. For instance, in a CLIL lesson, students can look up articles on subjects such as
geography, science, history or art. It encourages self-reliance, independent learning and
students can read articles that they enjoy, while practicing their reading skills. Furthermore, if

18
students have the task of writing a paper or a project they can use Wikipedia for information.
There is an example bellow of an article students can find online:

Students can also be encouraged to use the editing option under the supervision of the
teacher. They can thus improve their writing skills, while learning how to choose the correct
grammatical option, how to provide references, how to check their facts and how to make a
constructive edit. The editing steps are easy and Wikipedia offers a quick walk-through:

19
20
21
Facebook is one of the most used social media websites. It is an online platform that
encourages its users to share content such as text posts, photos or videos, and also to connect
with other users by becoming ‘friends’. The teacher can benefit from the students’ familiarity
with this social platform by opening another way of communication while away from class.
Students might thus be encouraged to state their opinions, concerns or thoughts in an
informal way, by using a website that they are already keen on. The teacher can also give
students their assignments and help them if they encounter any trouble while working on it at
home. The communication can be between the teacher and the students and also between the
students. They can collaborate easily and keep in touch while discussing lesson matters. It is
a great opportunity to use the familiar for academic purposes. However, the teacher should be
careful not to impose the use of this website because not all students have access to it. It
should be taken into consideration as an optional tool.

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Twitter is an online social networking platform where users can post short texts, called
tweets. The maximum characters a tweet can have is 280. Twitter can have several
educational benefits: it forces students to distill and focus their points (Domizi, 2013) due to
the character limit, it can improve student engagement in course material, and has been found
to help develop reflective practices and a sense of community with teacher education
students. (Domizi, 2013). In their case study, Domizi (2013) used Twitter in a graduate
seminar to encourage learning and to build a sense of community. The results of the study
show that students used Twitter to connect to the content of the course and also to other
students. Moreover, students considered Twitter to be useful professionally and personally
(Domizi, 2013). The character limit that Twitter imposes, which also makes it unique, forces
students to write their message concisely, to have critical thinking and to further improve
their writing skills.

23
Youtube is a website that encourages the sharing of video created by its users. It allows users
to upload videos, to watch them, to comment and rate them, to share them and also to connect
with other users by subscribing to other channels. The use of video in the classroom can have
several benefits, such as clarifying the learning content, offering visual aid, or engaging
students and raising their interest in the lesson. In a case study where Youtube videos were
used during an integrated science course for nonscience majors, students acknowledged that

the videos helped to keep students’ attention, generated interest in science,

and clarified understanding. Students cited the benefit of visual learning along
with the lecture in helping them understand scientific processes and
principles. Video provide students with memory cues and connections that
also helped them remember conceptual ideas.

(Eick & King, 2012)

Youtube videos can be used in a CLIL lesson, it can also be used to present students the
culture of English-speaking countries, to offer students the opportunity of hearing native
accent, to help students improve their listening skills, etc. A quick search for British
Christmas customs, for instance, yields thousands of results, which can be successfully used
in a lesson before the Christmas break to discuss Christmas customs.

24
25
 2.1.3. Online reference tools

Reference tools can be extremely useful in the English classroom. They can take several
forms, such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, thesauri, handbooks, atlases, etc. Pressley, et al.
(2013) describes references sources as

authoritative works that help you locate information about people, facts, and
ideas. These sources can help you find the date of an important event, major
achievements of an individual or organization, or a definition of a term or
concept. These books are often used to find specific facts, rather than written
to be read cover-to-cover.

(Pressley, et al., 2013)

References tools and also available online and can be useful in the English learning
classroom. Probably the most accessible and effective are dictionaries, thesauri and
encyclopedias, and I will discuss some of them.

Dictionaries are indispensable in the EFL classroom, either English-Romanian,

Romanian-English or English dictionaries. Students can check the meaning of the lexemes
they do not know, hear the pronunciation of the words or see them used in a context. Online
dictionaries are easily available and students can even access them on their smartphones.

When it comes to English-Romanian and Romanian-English dictionaries, there are

various websites that can be accessed, such as: http://www.dictionare.com/,
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-romanian/, http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-
romanian/, http://hallo.ro/english-romanian-dictionary/.

http://www.dictionare.com/ is a pretty straight forward website. Students can use the

search engine to look up the words that interest them.

26
The results show the meaning of the word and also some compound nouns, idioms, or
expressions.

27
 https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-romanian is a great resource tool because it offers
not only the translation of the word, but it also gives examples, context sentences, and it lists
the neighbouring words in the dictionary.

28
29
30
31
32
 Another great online dictionary is http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-romanian/.
Students can hear the pronunciation of the word, they can see it used in context, hear the
entire sentence and see its translation, and they can also read some additional grammatical
information.

33
34
35
 Hallo - http://hallo.ro/english-romanian-dictionary/ - is an English-Romanian
dictionary that lists multiple entries, including compound nouns, phrasal verbs of idioms
containing the searched word, along with the possibility of hearing the word. Although it is
an English-Romanian dictionary, searching a Romanian word still yields results, as shown
below:

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 A thesaurus is a reference tool that lists words, usually in alphabetical order, along
with their synonyms and sometimes antonyms. It is a great resource for building students’
vocabulary, expanding their language awareness and assisting them in choosing the best word
for the given context.

A great online thesaurus can be found at http://www.thesaurus.com/. It has many great

option, such as listening to the pronunciation of the word, listing the synonyms for the
searched word, which can in turn be sorted by complexity or length, its antonyms, more
words related to it, and also the word origin and history and example sentences which can be
seen on the right.

Here is the main page of the website:

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Here is the list of synonyms:

The list of synonyms can be sorted by complexity:

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The list of synonyms can be sorted by length as well:

We can also choose to highlight the common words from the synonyms list:

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More related words are listed in the following pages:

There are also antonyms

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On the right side of the website we can find the word origin and history of the word and also
some example sentences.

Collins also has a great online thesaurus which can be found on the following link
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus. It offers many options, such

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as a list of synonyms, a definition of the word, a list of related words, a subject word list,
quotations, additional synonyms, pictures, and nearby words.

The main page of the website:

The definition is on the right side of the page, and there is a list of synonyms:

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Quotations list:

Additional synonyms and an image of the word:

A list of nearby words:

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A subject word list:

Another fascinating thesaurus is The Visual Thesaurus,

https://www.visualthesaurus.com/, which is an interactive thesaurus that creates a word map
with different branches and words that can be explored by the user. It encourages language
exploration and learning in an engaging way. Here is an example:

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The word map also offers definitions:

By clicking on a word of interest, another word map is formed:

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Besides a definition, some words also have example sentences or phrases:

The possibilities of exploration and endless:

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 An encyclopedia is a book or a series of books with complex information on a subject
or several subjects such as art, science, geography, history, etc. There are many online
encyclopedias, and probably the most known is Wikipedia, which I previously discussed.
Other great resources can be found at http://www.encyclopedia.com/ or
https://www.britannica.com/.

Encyclopedia.com is an online encyclopedia which prides on its reliable sources, such

as Oxford University Press or Columbia Encyclopedia. It is not user generated, so the sources
can be cited. When searching for a subject, there are several sources to choose from:

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At the end of the article, which is rich in information, there are some suggestions for further
reading:

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 Britannica is also an excellent tool, providing numerous articles with abundant
information.

On the left side of the article there is a contents list, with hyperlinks for quick
navigation:

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At the end of the article, there is a list of related articles for further reading:

There is also a list of additional media, such as pictures and videos, and more references
found in Britannica articles:

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There is also a vast list of suggested additional reading, organized by subject:

The website also offers a list of useful quotes:

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It also offers a list of external websites:

Another option is to see the history of editing:

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The website lists the contributors and some biographical details about them:

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 2.1.4. Online teaching tools

There are thousands of EFL tools online, which offer various resources, from lesson plans to
printable hand-outs, from videos to games. I will discuss only a small number of the ones that
I have used in class.

The British Council has two websites, one for children and one for teenagers, with fun
and interactive resources that can be used in the classroom or even at home instead of the
traditional homework.

The young learners’ version can be found at

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/. The website has seven main categories: Listen and
watch; read and write; speak and spell; grammar and vocabulary; fun and games; print and
make; parents.

Each of them has additional activities and printable worksheets. The users have the
possibility to comment and share their opinion. All of them have several subcategories and
different games to practice language. The first category, Listen and learn, has three
subcategories: Songs, where students can listen to several songs and sing along, and also play
games or print activities; Short stories, a section with stories to watch, and activities to check

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comprehension and to practice vocabulary; Video zone, where students can watch videos on
different topics, e.g. the great white shark, emojis, etc, play games and print activities.

The Read and write section has three categories: Your turn, where students can
practice their writing skills by posting a comment their opinion of different topics; Reading
practice, where students can improve their reading skills by reading a variety of texts, playing
games or using the printable worksheets; Writing practice, where students practice their
writing skills by reading a model, writing different types of texts, such as a party invitation or
a pen pal letter, and playing games.

The Speak and spell section is designed to help students improve their spelling and
pronunciation and it is based on the UK literacy programme called Letters and sounds. It
offers students the chance to play games, watch songs and stories, or print worksheets. It has
four categories: Sounds, which has sounds and action songs; Speak, where students can watch
videos and then practice pronunciation; Spell, a section with videos and spelling practice; and
Tricky words, where students can play games to practice spelling more difficult words.

Grammar and vocabulary is a section where students can learn more about grammar
rules, play word and grammar games, watch videos. It also includes several useful printable
resources, such as worksheets, tests and reference cards. It has five sections: Grammar
practice, where students can read about grammar rules and play games on different topics,
such as modal verbs, countable and uncountable nouns, etc., they can also print activities, test
and reference cards for further practice. Grammar videos is a series of videos with two main
characters, Kitty and her grandmother, which help students grasp grammatical notions in a
fun way. Grammar chants has several videos of chants that students can listen to and practice
chanting, to practice using the grammatical structures in a context. Word games, where
students can play games on different topics to learn new vocabulary; and Word of the week,
with videos that focus on one word and show native children using the words in a natural
context.

Fun and games is a sections where students can learn English while having fun.
Games is a sections full of games on different topics. For instance, in ABC countdown
students order the letters of the alphabet in 30 seconds. Jokes offers students the opportunity
to read jokes. Tongue twisters is a sections where students can practice their speaking skills.

Print and make has numerous printable resources. Flashcards has sets of flashcards
organized on vocabulary topics, including some flashcards that students can colour in and

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write the words. Crafts has several printable crafts, such as a tea party invitation, a board
game template or a song book. Worksheets offers printable hand-outs with different activities,
such as puzzles or quizzes, on different topics, for instance cooking, sports, or colours.
Colouring has colouring worksheets with sentences that describe the picture. Students have to
read the sentences and colour the pictures accordingly.

Below is an example of what students can do on this website. The short story Robin
Hood is presented in a short video. Before the video, there is a vocabulary game that pre-
teaches key vocabulary.

After the video, there is a game that checks students’ comprehension of the story:

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There is also a printable worksheet available with more exercises, to check vocabulary and
comprehension and finally to practice language in a freer task:

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 The website also offers resources for parents and teachers, such as tips on using the
website, advice about helping children learn English, etc.

The British Council has also created a website for teenagers,

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/, with activities that help students improve their
reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, further grammar and vocabulary practice, and
even exam tips. It has six main sections: Skills, Grammar and vocabulary, Exams, UK now,
Study break, and Magazine.

Skills section has four categories: Reading skills practice, Writing skills practice,
Listening skills practice and Speaking skills practice. Each of them has online exercises and
printable worksheets. Another useful feature is the possibility to search activities by level.

Grammar and vocabulary has various videos and exercises for students to practice
and improve their grammar and vocabulary. Grammar videos is a section of videos series
called Grammar Snack, with the grammatical structure presented in natural conversations.
Students are also offered written explanations. Phrasal verb videos has another series of
videos that focuses on phrasal verbs with additional exercise for further practice. The videos
are presented in an appealing, comic-strip style. Vocabulary exercises has activities on
different topics. Students can listen to the pronunciation of the words and to the exercises.

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 Exams sections offers tips for passing English exams with the best scores. It has tips
specific for each skill, in Reading exams, Writing exams, Listening exams and Speaking
exams. It also offers advice for grammar and vocabulary test in Grammar and vocabulary
exams. Students can also find tips for preparing for the exam in Exam study tips.

UK now has texts and videos about UK culture. Students can learn more about UK
while improving their reading and listening skills. Video UK has various videos about UK
culture, such as Bonfire night or Boarding schools. Read UK has a great number of texts
about UK culture, such as Roald Dahl, Edinburgh summer festivals or slang. Literature UK
has animated videos of Shakespeare’s plays, short stories and poems by British authors. Film
UK is a section with short films created by young people living in the UK. Music UK offers
students the chance to listen to British music and Science UK has articles about science and
research in the UK.

Study break is a section where students can have fun while still learning English.
Video zone has different videos accompanied by exercises, transcripts and worksheets.
Youtubers is a sections where different youtubers talk about various topics, such as New
Year’s resolutions or the pros and cons of summer jobs. Games is a section with games that
help students improve their vocabulary skills. Photo caption challenges students to write a
caption for different pictures. What is it? is a sections that presents cropped or zoomed in
pictures of different objects. Students have to guess what it is and write their opinion in the
comments. Graded reading and Graded listening offer students the chance to practice their
reading and listening skills according to their level by reading various stories and articles or
by listening to The Survivor, and audio fiction series.

Magazine is a section written by young people living in the UK. Each year different
writers are chosen from the British Council’s language assistants. The articles are organized
by topics: Books, Entertainment, Fashion, Life around the world, Music, Science and
technology, and Sport.

Below is an example of what can be found in the Listening skills practice section, A1
level.

Students can listen to a radio interview on the topic of sleeping.

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Students do a pre-listening exercise to check key vocabulary.

After they listen, students have a listening comprehension exercise.

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The following exercise is a vocabulary exercise with words and phrases from the listening
material.

There is also a printable worksheet with more listening exercises.

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Students can also print the answers sheet and the transcript:

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 www.storybird.com is a website where students can practice creative writing in an
attractive way. The teacher can create a virtual classroom. Each class has a different code that
students get from the teacher to join the class. The teacher can give students online
assignments, read their work and give individual feedback. Students can write stories or
poems by choosing visual art to inspire them.

The teacher can see all the stories written by students:

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This is a story written by one of my students. This is the cover:

And this is the first page:

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The teacher can also design specific assignments, by giving instructions, uploading media,
choosing which artwork to be used, the format – longform book, piture book or poem - ,
including a word list and setting the due date.

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Usually students start writing their stories by choosing a image that they like.

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 Duolingo is another website that offers students the chance to practice their language
skills. Schools.duolingo.com is the virtual classroom version. The teacher can create a
classroom, add students, create assignments, and track students’ progress. Duolingo has
conducted a study to check its effectiveness. The results showed that, over the course of eight
weeks, there was significant language improvement. The study revealed that students’
motivation influences the effectiveness of Duolingo, with people studying for travel gaining
the most and people studying for personal interest gaining the least. (Vesselinov & Grego,
2012). Another factor for Duolingo’s effectiveness was the students’ level, beginners gaining
more than advanced learners.

Duolingo is mostly based on translation exercises. Its format is similar to a game, and
it also has a mobile app version which can be used on smartphones or tablets.

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 2.2. Other ICT resources

The computer is a great resource, but it is not the only one that can be used in the English
classroom. The teacher and the students can also benefit from using a video projector, an
interactive board, digital cameras and video cameras, smartphones, etc.

The video projector can be used when it is connected to a computer to project

anything from a picture to a video, from a Power Point Presentation to a game. It engages
students’ attention and can be used in any type of lesson.

An interactive board has many uses. It is connected to a computer and a projector and
it allows its user to control the computer. It can be used for adding annotations to a text,
highlighting a text, adding notes or drawings, highlighting elements of a pictures, etc. For
instance, when teaching body parts, the teacher can project a simple image of the body that
can then be labelled with the body parts that are taught.

Digital cameras and video cameras, which can be standalone objects or integrated in
smartphones, can also be a great resource in the English classroom. For instance, students can
be recorded during a speaking task and then see the recording, thus noticing their good and
weak points. Students can also use the cameras for different projects, such as illustrating a
story, interviewing classmates, family members or school staff, creating a family tree,
documenting family traditions during holidays, etc. The teacher can also use the camera to
document students’ progress and activity in the classroom which can then be shared with the
parents when giving feedback.

Most students use smartphones on a daily basis. Smartphones are usually banned from
the classroom as they can be a distraction from the learning process. However, the teacher
can adapt and make use of them, engaging students in learning activities. Smartphones can do
almost anything a computer can, so students can use it to access the internet, to access social
apps and learning apps. Students can also use the phone camera.

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CHAPTER 3

TEACHING LANGUAGE SYSTEMS AND SKILLS THROUGH ICT

In the previous chapter I have mentioned some useful tools that the English teacher can use in
the classroom. In the following chapter I am going to look into different types of English
lessons and activities and how one can include ICT in them, proving that ICT can be adapted
to any type of lesson.

3.1. Teaching grammar

Teaching grammar can happen spontaneously, while students are working on something else,
or as a main objective for the lesson. As Jeremy Harmer put it, Grammar can be introduced
in a number of ways, or we can show students grammar evidence and ask them to work out
for themselves how the language is constructed. We will also want to provide opportunities
for students to practice different grammar points, and we may want to use games to make
such practice more engaging. (Harmer, 2001)

Below I have listed some examples of using ICT for introducing grammar.

The teacher can use a video to introduce a new grammatical structure. The video gives
students the opportunity to practice their listening skills as well, while seeing how to use the
new grammar structure in a context. On http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/ there are
plenty of resources for teaching grammar, where the video is followed by some explanations
in the form of a dialogue, which makes it more relatable and easy to follow, and then there
are some exercises for further practice.

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The teacher can also use a PowerPoint Presentation to introduce grammar. There are plenty
of presentations online that the teacher can use as they are or adapt them for their students.
The teacher could as well create a presentation for their classroom. Here are some slides
from a PowerPoint Presentation on the present perfect that I have downloaded on
https://busyteacher.org/.

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Another useful and accessible resource is the use of pictures, which can be projected for the
whole classroom to see and discuss. For instance, the teacher could introduce the structures
Do you like…? Yes, I do/ No, I don’t using a set of food images.

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Practising grammar can be done in various ways as there are countless resource online, and
some of them are presented below:

One website, myenglishpages.com, offers a range of exercises and tests, than can be
used either as a whole classroom activity, or as individual work, or even as homework.

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 https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/ has a section for grammar practice, with a
simple presentation of the rules and some games. There are also printable resources, such as

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worksheets, tests and reference cards which can be used both in the classroom and at home.

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 http://www.eslgamesworld.com/ offers a wide range of games specially designed to
be used in the classroom, form hangman to memory games, from car racing games to
jeopardy games and many more. I will show an example of a game that can be played with
the class divided in teams.

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3.2. Teaching vocabulary

Talking about the importance of vocabulary, David Wilkins stated that while without
grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. (Wilkins,
1972) Learning vocabulary can improve one’s communicative skills, since we can convey a
message by using words that are not necessarily connected in a structure that is
grammatically correct. For instance, we can think of a tourist that is looking for a restaurant.
He can get his message over by saying a simple, yet incorrect phrase, such as Where
restaurant? Or even Where eat? and he could be easily understood. When it comes to
teaching vocabulary, the teacher has a wide range of ICT resources that can be used.

The use of pictures is a simple and very useful tool. The teacher can use the computer
or a tablet to show students the pictures and elicit/ teach the target language. This could also
be done as a PowerPoint Presentation. Below is an example that I have used in the classroom
when teaching objects that can be found in the house.

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Dictionaries and thesauri are essential tools when it comes to teaching and learning
vocabulary, and I have presented them in detail in the previous chapter. They can be used in
activities with the whole class or in individual activities. The teacher could also encourage
students’ independence by selecting a range of apps that they can use on their smartphones to
look up words.

There are also plenty of website that offer different games to help students learn and
practice new vocabulary. For example, both http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/ and
http://learnengliskids.britishcouncil.org/ have various resources designed for EFL learners
organized by topic.

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3.3. Teaching reading skills

Reading is an important skill that is used not only in a classroom setting, but outside of the
classroom as well. Students might need to activate their previous language knowledge when
reading a notice, an advertisement, a book, a leaflet, a magazine, etc. Jeremy Harmer
describes the differences between extensive and intensive reading and the importance that
they carry.

To get maximum benefit from their reading, students need to be involved in both
extensive and intensive reading. Whereas with the former, a teacher encourages students to
choose for themselves what they read and to do so for pleasure and general language
improvement, the latter is often (but not exclusively) teacher-chosen and directed. It is
designed to enable students to develop specific receptive skills such as reading for gist (or
general understanding – often called skimming), reading for specific information (often
called scanning), reading for detailed comprehension or reading for inference (what is
‘behind’ the words) and attitude. (Harmer, 2001)

When it comes to ICT, there are many resources for reading activities. First off, there
are plenty of texts that can be found on the internet and used in the classroom. According to
the level of their students, the teacher can choose from a range of authentic texts, such as
news articles, stories, poems, etc. or texts that are created for students of English as a foreign
language. There are also various websites that offer exercises that accompany the text, to
check students’ comprehension.

But the internet is not the only resources that can be used in the English classroom
when in comes to reading. The teacher could also make use of an interactive board and
project the text that is being studied. The teacher could highlight parts of the texts, add notes,
etc. For lower levels of English, with students that are just starting to recognize written
words, the teacher could use the interactive board for a game of matching pictures with the
written words.

When it comes to extensive reading, the teacher could guide students and help them
choose appropriate texts, in the form of eBooks. Students can read them on their tablets or e-
readers. The teacher could organize a book club, encouraging students to read different types
of texts and then discuss their impressions and opinions. There are also plenty of interactive
eBooks, that students can use on their tablets or smartphones. The interactive eBooks allows

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the reader to interact with the content of the story, while enhancing the reading experience by
using sound effects and musical scores.

For instance, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore app allows the
reader to interact with objects in the story, with the setting or even to play music.

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3.4. Teaching writing skills

When it comes to teaching writing, Harmer distinguishes between tasks that have a real
purpose and tasks than have an invented purpose. Real purpose tasks are precisely the ones
that we predict our students will probably need to perform at some stage. (Harmer, How to
Teach Writing, 2004) For instance, students could practice writing emails or letters to a
friend, or a letter of intent for a new job, as they will most probably need to write these.
Invented purposes, on the other hand, are those which, however engaging, are unlikely to be
directly relevant to our students’ future needs. (Harmer, How to Teach Writing, 2004)
Harmer suggests to focus on writing tasks that most English speakers will undertake at some
point.

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 Some of the ICT resources that can be used successfully in writing activities have
been detailed in the previous chapter. To name a few, the teacher could use social media to
encourage students to practice writing in an environment that they are familiar with and that
they like, on subjects that are of interest to them. StoryBird is another resource that develops
students creative writing skills. And, of course, the word processor is a key resource when it
comes to teaching and practicing writing skills.

The teacher could also give students the opportunity to use their smartphones to create
multimedia content that accompanies their writing. For example, students could create a
music video for a song that they wrote or create a movie for a script that they created.

The teacher could also use online resources to give students the opportunity to write
letters to a pen pal. Cambridge Assessment has created a website for this purpose,
https://penfriends.cambridgeenglish.org/. The teacher has to follow three easy steps: register
their school, find a partner school and upload the cards. This is a great opportunity for
students to develop their writing skills, to use creative ways of communicating in English,
and to develop new friendships with other students around the world. The website also offers
a list of suggested themes to help students get inspired.

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3.5. Teaching listening skills

When teaching listening skills, the teacher is faced with the matter of choosing what type of
text their students should be exposed to. Nunan states that learners need to be exposed to a
wide range of text types from monologues to dialogues, from casual conversations in which
people are socializing, to interactions in which the speaker is trying to obtain goods and
services. (Nunan, 2015) The text’s difficulty and authenticity should also be taken into
consideration and chosen according to the students’ needs and abilities.

When it comes to teaching listening skills, ICT is a very important tool for the English
teacher. The internet is abundant in various texts that can be incorporated in a listening
lesson, such as YouTube clips, TED talks, news broadcasts, television shows, advertisements,
songs, etc. Here are some examples of online resources that can be used in the English
classroom.

YouTube is full of different clips that can be used as teaching material. Here is a song
that I used when teaching marine animals to young learners

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TED talks are videos from different speakers on various subjects, such as education, business,
psychology, science, technology, etc. Here is a video that my teenage students really enjoyed
and that gave us a great opportunity for debating the subject of video games.

The British Council has numerous resources categorized by level, with a listening material
and several tasks to check students’ comprehension.

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Other ICT tools, besides the computer, that can be used are the projector, when showing
students a clip, or the CD player and CD. Many teaching books have additional CD-ROMs

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with listening materials than can be successfully used in the classroom. Students could also
be encouraged to use their personal computers, TVs or smartphones at home to practice their
listening skills.

3.6 Teaching speaking skills

Speaking a foreign language is sometimes considered synonymous to knowing that language.

However, Thornbury disagrees and states that it is not enough to learn the grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation of a language in order to be a speaker of it.

Research – and common sense - suggests that there is a lot more to speaking
than the ability to form grammatically correct sentences and then to pronounce them.
For a start, speaking is interactive and requires the ability to co-operate in the
management of speaking turns. It also typically takes place in real time, with little
time for detailed planning. In these circumstances, spoken fluency requires the
capacity to marshal a store of memorized lexical chunks. And the nature of the
speaking process means that the grammar of spoken language differs in a number of
significant ways from the grammar of written language. Hence, the study of written
grammar may not be the most efficient preparation for speaking.

(Thornbury, 2005)

The teacher has the role of helping and guiding the students achieve all the skills
required in order to become fluent in English. There are many methods and activities that can
be done, and ICT can be successfully integrated in a speaking lesson.

Firstly, the teacher can make use of a camera, video recorder or even a smartphone to
record the students speaking in different situations such as recording stories, trailers, role
plays, interviews, presentations, songs etc. The recording can then be shown to the students
for a feedback session.

Secondly, there are many programs and websites that help students practice and
develop their speaking skills in a fun and pleasant way. Voki is a great website that allows
students to create a talking avatar by simply recording themselves speaking directly on the
website. The website also has a tool for the teacher that organizes the students’ assignments.

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Communication softwares, such as Skype, can also be successfully used in the English
classroom. The teacher could arrange for a video conference that would engage students in a
dialogue, for instance with a classroom from a different city or country, with a special guest
(a linguist, an actor, etc.).

To sum up, ICT offers a wide range of tools to the English teacher that can be used in
any type of lessons and activities. They are attractive and entertaining for the students and
give them a chance to practice their English in a different setting than the one they are
familiar with. Using technology in the classroom can improve engagement, collaboration or
individual learning. The benefits are numerous, for both the teacher and the learners.

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Chapter 4

PEDAGOGICAL RESEARCH ON USING ICT TOOLS IN ELT

4.1. Purpose

The aim of this last chapter is to prove that using ICT during English classes can
develop the students’ much needed 21st century skills like: creativity, collaboration or social
skills.

To begin with, I must confess that I have often asked myself: Are my classes pleasant,
attractive and challenging? Am I able to turn the students’ main interest-the Internet world
and new gadgets - into a learning tool? In my opinion this kind of questions are the ones that
every teacher should ask himself or herself in order to adapt his/her way of teaching for the
direct benefit of the students.

With these in view, I have designed a pedagogical experiment which was put into
practice during the 2017-2018 academic year at the “Brad Segal” College, Tulcea. The
purpose of the experiment was to examine the effectiveness of using ICT tools in English
Language Teaching, by studying the progress of two groups of high school students whom I
taught English as part of the curriculum, namely classes 12th A and 12th B. Both target
groups were homogenous in point of their dimension, age and gender composition - the 12th
A grade included 25 students (17 girls and 8 boys) aged 18-19; the 12th B grade had 27
students (17 girls and 10 boys), similarly aged between 18 and 19 years’ old. In addition,
both classes had mixed ability students (heterogenous in point of their levels of ability and
proficiency in English, with no top students, but only good, medium level and poor students),
while some of the students in the 12th B grade had good ICT skills. As such, the 12th A
grade became the control group, while the 12th grade was chosen as the experimental group.
While both groups were exposed to lessons from the same textbook, for the control group
only traditional teaching and assessing methods were used, while for the target group I chose
to blend traditional and modern methods of teaching and assessing methods using ICT tools.

To sum up, the main questions the study set to answer could be stated as follows:

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 • Are the blended teaching methods more efficient and effective than the traditional
ones?

• Are students more motivated to attend classes where the teacher makes use of ICT
tools?

4.2. Objectives

This research had as its main objectives:

• to determine to what extent, teaching with ICT is more efficient and effective than
teaching in a traditional way;

• to assess the level of competency in English acquired by students in their last high
school year of study and to discover the distinctions in performance of the two groups
under study by using a set of sample activities/questionnaires/tests;

• to find out whether the “experimental” group is more willing to attend the English
classes than the “control” group.

4.3. Hypothesis

The expected outcomes of the experiment may be stated as follows:

• Students in the control group will be less motivated than the students in the
experimental group, who study English language with the help of ICT;

• Students deprived of ICT tools won’t improve their language competency and skills
as well and as fast as students in the experimental group.

4.4. Methods used in the research

During the academic year when the research was conducted, I used descriptive
methods and techniques such as:

• observation (which is a fundamental method of collecting empirical data used in

social sciences and assistive practice),
• questionnaires,

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 • tests
• analyses of teaching techniques.

All these methods were used in a combined way in order to support the hypothesis and
the objectives of the study.

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year, the students from both groups
underwent a preliminary test, while a final one was applied to both classes at the end of the
school year; the results were then compared and interpreted.

4.5. Description of the research

At the very beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, the students in both classes
underwent a preliminary test. Their results provided me with very useful information,
because it was my first year of teaching in “Brad Segal” College in Tulcea (as a seconded
teacher), and I wanted to know the level of knowledge that the students had acquired till that
point. In addition, their scores also helped me identify the students’ learning needs.

During the same school year, the students also took progress tests; their role was to
measure skill progress and the learners’ acquisition in relation to the syllabus.

At the end of the school year, both classes took a summative test; its role was to
compare the effect that the different teaching methods had on their learning.

As I mentioned before, for the 12th A grade I used traditional methods, tools and
resources like: the blackboard, the chalk, CD and CD player, the respective text book,
worksheets.

During the school year the students in both groups also had a few projects to do, but
they almost “hated” me when I told the control group that they are not allowed to use the
computer for writing them. The information had to be from books in the school library or
from the county library.

The first project consisted in choosing one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in
Romania and design a poster to present it to the class. In their own project team, they had to
decide on the following: location of the site, description of the site; historic and artistic
importance of the site, important personalities connected to the site, etc.

The second project involved an important scientific or technologic

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discovery/invention. Their presentation had to include some details about the discoverer/
inventor; the practical use of that discovery/invention and how it has changed our life.

For the third one they had to design a leaflet to help young people know about the
activity of a voluntary organization. They had to include information about the purpose of
that organization, about the types of activities involved, what people should do to join the
organization, advantages and challenges.

In the meantime, with the experimental group I used the computer and the internet,
PowerPoint presentations for the same projects.

The students from both classes did well in their group work and the outcomes were
pretty good, but the students in the experimental group finished the project work much faster
than the control group, showing more enthusiasm towards their project work.

However, both classes participated in a common e-twinning project named “One

Europe, one Christmas - different customs”. For a first step, they all had to make
Christmas cards and then they wrote holiday greetings in Romanian and English for the
students from different European schools like Turkey, Slovakia, Poland, France. (I will give
more details about this project later in the following subchapter.)

At the end of the school year, both groups were given a questionnaire. The aim was to
reflect to what degree did the students enjoy using technology during the English classes. The
results were then gathered, analyzed and interpreted.

4.6. Analysis and interpretation of the results

In this part of the paper, I present examples of tests and sample activities used with
the target groups, as well as the questionnaire applied during 2017-2018 school year. These
will be followed by a parallel interpretation and analysis of the results obtained by the two
grades.

The following initial test (adapted from https://www.didactic.ro/materiale-

didactice/test-initial-lb-engleza-cls-a-12a) was given at the beginning of the school year.

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 TEST DE EVALUARE INITIALĂ

Anul scolar 2017-2018

Limba engleză

Clasa a 12- a

Numele si prenumele elevului:

Data sustinerii testului:

• Pentru rezolvarea corectă a tuturor cerintelor din Partea I si din Partea a II-a se acordă
90 de puncte. Din oficiu se acordă 10 puncte.
• Timpul efectiv de lucru este de 45 de minute.

PARTEA I (60 p.)

I. 1. Read the text below and answer the following questions. Some questions may have
more than one answer correct. (22 p.)

“The transfers”

Loren had been surreptitiously moving money from the accounts of his bank’s
wealthiest clients to one he created for himself in the Cayman Islands for 8 years. He had
every reason to believe that no one suspected a thing.
He had been prudent with all the money he had embezzled from Signet Bank. He wore
second-hand suits to his job as a bank teller there. He rode his bike from Anacostia - the
squalid, blighted neighborhood he called home - to his DuPont Circle branch each day.

He rarely travelled outside of the Washington, DC, area. He did nothing at all to raise
a red flag. He appeared as nothing more than an 18-dollar-an-hour bank employee in a town
where many made millions.

No one, he was sure, had ever scrutinized the myriad of transactions which had taken
place – lump sum transfers of $9,000 every other week. Otherwise, the truth would have

105
surely come to light a long time ago.“Nine thousand dollars every other week is just a drop in
the bucket to these rich folks,” Loren reasoned. This assuaged his guilt.

In Loren’s mind, it was the greedy people who got caught doing these things. It was
the ostentatious ones, too. It was the guys who built multi-million dollar homes with 24
rooms on a pauper’s salary. To him, the bank was fraught with idiots, and no one was
capable of unraveling his master plan. Now it was too late for them.

Today was the day Loren would begin reaping the benefits of all his patience and
cunning and begin living in blissful obscurity.

After an ordinary day at work, Loren got on his bike and road over the river to
National Airport. As the plane lifted off the runway for the Caribbean, Loren watched intently
out the window. He had close to $2 million collecting interest in the bank and had gotten off
scot-free.

As the plane landed, Loren finally allowed himself to fully dream of the carefree life
he was about to begin. He moved down the airplane steps, across the tarmac and headed
toward the airport. The balmy air felt comforting to his skin.

He breathed in slowly and deeply with anticipation and was surprised to hear a
familiar voice.

“Hey, Loren. Not so fast.”

a. Which is a synonym for surreptitiously?

1. boldly

2. carefully

3. overtly

4. Secretly

b. “He had been prudent with all the money he had embezzled from Signet Bank.”
Choose the best way to rewrite the above sentence.

• He had been showy with the funds he had taken from Signet Bank.

• He had saved all the money he had deposited into Signet Bank.

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 • He had felt guilty about all the money he had taken from Signet Bank.

• He had been discreet with all the money he had stolen from Signet Bank.

c. What were some of the things Loren did to appear ordinary? Check all that are correct.

1. He rode his bike to work.

2. He worked as a bank teller.

3. He wore second-hand clothes.

4. He transferred only $9,000 at a time.

d. What is meant by the expression to “raise a red flag”?

1. to appear guilty

2. to appear wealthy

3. to seem very smart

4. to give a warning signal

e. What made Loren so confident he would get away with his crime. Check all that are
correct.

1. The money was in the Cayman Islands.

2. He felt that no one ever suspects a bank teller.

3. He had done nothing to show that he had a lot of money.

4. He felt the people he worked with at the bank were not smart.

f. If Loren stole for 8 full years, about how much money did he have in the bank?

1. $72,000

2. $1.8 million

3. $2.5 million

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 4. $3.7 million

g. What is the best antonym for ostentatious?

1. lavish

2. conspicuous

3. childish

4. Modest

h. Which line from the passage best serves as its climax?

1. “Hey, Loren. Not so fast.”

2. Now it was too late for them.

3. Otherwise, the truth would have surely come to light a long time ago.

4. After an ordinary day at work, Loren got on his bike and road over the river to
National Airport.

i. Which word best describes Loren's attitude toward his bank colleagues?

1. benevolent

2. disdainful

3. impetuous

4. wary

j. Which is the best synonym for fraught?

1. filled with

2. short on

3. lead by

4. worked at

108
k. Which is the best antonym for myriad?

1. convoluted

2. interminable

3. multitude

4. paucity

I.2 Read the text below to fill in the missing information. On your Answer Sheet, write
only the missing words next to the number indicating each blank space. (12 p.)

The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a famous road bridge across the River Avon, which
joins Clifton in Bristol (1)______ one side, to Leigh Woods on the (2)________ side. When
it was originally built, it was the longest bridge of (3)______ kind anywhere in the world and
indeed, many people had believed that bridging such a great distance would turn out to
(4)________ impossible.
When Isambard Kingdom Brunel first designed the bridge in 1731, the two towers
that were going to support the roadway were designed to have (5)______ ancient Egyptian
appearance. Unfortunately, Brunel died before the bridge (6)______ completed and the
engineers who completed (7)__________ , covered the stone towers with conventional red
bricks instead.
Even today, more (8)________ a hundred years later, the bridge is still an impressive
sight. The roadway that stretches between the two towers is two hundred and fourteen metres
long, at a height of seventy-five metres above the river and the A4 road below. Originally,
(9)________ car driver, cyclist and pedestrian who crossed the bridge had to pay a toll.
(10)__________ nowadays, people on foot and cyclists can cross for free and
(11)__________ motorists must still pay.
In April 2006, the bridge was used (12)_________ the centre of a huge fireworks
display to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of its great designer, Brunel.

109
I. 3. Read the text below and use the words given in capitals to form words that fit in the
gaps. The words in capitals are given in the order you need to use them. (11 p.)

I was……………… browsing through the small ads in the local LAZY

newspaper when I saw an………………………for a second-hand ADVERTISE

word ………………………..so I decided to give them a ring to get

PROCESS

more ……………………… . I have a computer but it doesn’t really INFORM

have a …………………. memory for the project I’m involved

POWER

in at the moment. In most…………………..nowadays, it is becoming OCCUPY

useful to be “computer literate” but in my……………………….it has

PROFESS

become an absolute…………………… I must admit I do not get NECESSARY

much……………………….out of sitting in front of a computer screen PLEASE

for hours, but I don’t stand much chance of…………………………….

PROMOTE

without computer skills. So I made an ………………………………to APPOINT

see my bargain computer the next day.

I. 4. Rephrase the following sentences so that the meaning stays the same. Use no more
than three words including the word given in bold. Write your answers on the Answer
Sheet. (15 p.)

1. I’m sure he hasn't written that letter. CAN’T

He .....................................that letter.

2. I’m positive she didn’t say anything like that. HAVE

She couldn ‘t …………………. anything like that.

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3. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late. UNLESS

We’ll be late………………………..now.

4. You can borrow my jacket if you promise to look after it. LONG

You can borrow my jacket………………………. you promise to look after it.

5. I’m sure Mary has won first prize. MUST

Mary…………………………………first prize.

PARTEA a II-a (30 p.)

Write an essay giving your opinion on the dangers and the benefits of the Internet. Give
arguments and examples to support your ideas. (10-15 lines)

Sample answer sheet and assessment scale

PARTEA I – 60 p.

I. Multiple choice reading 2p x 11 questions 22p

a-4; b-4; c-1,3; d-4; e-3,4; f-2; g-4; h-1; i-2; j-1; k-4

I.2. Fill in (one word only) 1px12 words 12p

Suggested answers (any correct answer will be accepted):

1.-on; 2.-other; 3.-its; 4.- be/prove; 5.- an; 6- was; 7- it; 8-than; 9-every/each; 10-
but/however; 11-only; 12- as

I.3 Fill in 1p x 11 11p

1-lazily; 2-advertisement; 3-processor; 4-information; 5-powerful; 6-occupations;

7-profession; 8-necessity; 9-pleasure; 10-promotion;11-appointment

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I. 4. Rephrase 3px5 sentences 15p

Suggested answers (any correct answer will be accepted):

1._________can’t have written

2._________have said

3._________unless we leave

4._________as long as

5._________must have won

PARTEA a II-a - 30 p.

Task: narrative paragraph (creative writing)

task achievement & original input 10p

relevance of ideas to topic 4p

organization 6p

- organization / layout 3p

- cohesion and coherence 2p

- length constraint 1p

language accuracy and variety 6p

- correct use of grammar structures 5p

- accurate spelling and punctuation 1p

register and vocabulary 4p

- appropriate register and vocabulary 1p

-range of vocabulary 3p

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 Results and interpretation

Some of the students performed well in the initial test but there were also many bad
results. The results were pretty similar, such as the table below proves:

Marking scale – 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. of 12 A - 25 students 12 B– 27 pupils

students

Grades CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

obtained
6 grades of 4 6 grades of 4

6 grades of 5 5 grades of 5

4 grades of 6 5 grades of 6

6 grades of 7 8 grades of 7

2 grades of 8 2 grades of 8

1 grades of 9 1 grades of 9

Test
score 5.8 5.92

Two more tests were given in order to determine the starting level of both groups with
regard to:

a) their listening skills:

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(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/intermediate-b1-listening/advice-
exams)

b) their speaking skills:

(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/speaking/intermediate-b1-speaking/friend-
need)

114
 The students had to write a similar dialogue as in the example and perform it with
their deskmates.

The results of both tests assessing speaking and listening proved that both groups
have almost the same level of English skills and abilities. The results are visible in the table
below:

Marking scale – 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12th A - 25 students 12th B– 27 pupils

Grades CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

obtained
4grades of 4 6 grades of 4

6 grades of 5 5 grades of 5

6 grades of 6 5 grades of 6

3 grades of 7 5 grades of 7

2 grades of 8 2 grades of 8

4 grades of 9 4 grades of 9

Test 6.2 6.14

score

The following final test (adapted from https://www.didactic.ro/materiale-

didactice/test-paper-12th-grade-final-test) was applied to the two groups at the end of the
12th grade:

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 FINAL TEST PAPER

NAME:

1. Replace the underlined phrases with a phrasal verb or expression with THINK. -
12 points

a. I just don’t know what to do- I’m so confused, I can’t get my ideas in order.
…………………………………………………………………………..
b. My aunt is fantastic- she’s such fun, and I love herto bits.
………………………………………………………………………….
c. Employers like it if you can approach problems in a different way.
…………………………………………………………………………
d. Gemma had already advised her friend to approach the whole situation expecting to
succeed.
………………………………………………………………………

2. Use the words in capitals to form a word that fits into the space next to it! – 27
points

GOING GREEN

There is an _______________________1. (ARGUE) that _______________2.

(RECYCLE) may have some unforeseen negative effects. Of course, it would be a
major _______________________ 3.(ACHIEVE) if we were able to increase
_______________________4.(AWARE) to the threat of the environment caused by
_______________________ 5.(POLLUTE) and the _______________________
6.(BURN) of fossil fuels. However, if the public’s only _______________________
7.(INVOLVE) in ecological issues is taking their newspapers and bottles to a
recycling point, we may only be creating the _______________________8.
(APPEAR) of _______________________9. (IMPROVE).

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 3. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,
using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and
six words, including the word given. - 24 points

a. Jane realised what she’d forgotten to do as soon as she arrived. SOONER

No .................................................................. she realised what she’d forgotten
to do.
b. The use of mobile phones is absolutely forbidden in the class. MUST
Under ........................................................ used in the class.
c. It’s not often that you find someone with such a good memory. COME
Seldom..................................................someone with such a good memory.
d. The president never admitted that his strategy had failed. TIME
At ............................................................... that his strategy had failed.
e. They don’t often spend much money on cultural activities. RARELY
Only .................................... ... on cultural activities.
f. As soon as his lecture came to an end, the students broke into applause. FINISHED
Hardly............................................... when the students broke into applause.

4. Answer the following stating your own opinion (in 40-50 words)- 27 points
a. What can we learn from international travel?

_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________

b. Should young people be encouraged to travel? Why? Why not?

_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________
______________

c. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?

_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________

10 points are granted.

Test Paper 12th grade

Barem

1. (3*4=12 points)

a. think straight;
b. I think the world of her;
c. think outside the box;
d. think positively.

2. GOING GREEN (3*9=27points)

There is an argument 1 (ARGUE) that recycling 2(RECYCLE) may have some

unforeseen negative effects. Of course, it would be a major achievement 3(ACHIEVE) if we
were able to increase awareness 4 (AWARE) to the threat of the environment caused by
pollution 5(POLLUTE) and the burning 6 (BURN) of fossil fuels. However, if the public’s
only involvement 7 (INVOLVE) in ecological issues is talking their newspapers and bottles

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to a recycling point, we may only be creating the appearance8 (APPEAR) of improvement9
(IMPROVE).

3. (4*6=24points)

a. No sooner had Jane arrived than....

b. Under no circumstances must mobile phones....
c. Seldom do you come across....
d. At no time did the president admit.....
e. 5.Only rarely do they spend money....
f. Hardly had he finished his lecture....

4. (3*9=27 points)

• Scrie un text adecvat situatiei;

• Scrie enunturi de dificultate medie pe tema propusa;
• Explica in fraze scurte ceea ce simte;
• Ordoneaza corect cuvintele in enunturi de dificultate medie;
• Utilizeaza conectori adecvati situatiei;
• Foloseste corect structurile gramaticale studiate;
• Se incadreaza in limita de cuvinte impusa;
• Foloseste un repertoriu variat in exprimarea propriei opinii.

10 points are granted.

Results and interpretation

Marking scale – 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12 A - 25 students 12 B – 27 students

Grades CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

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 obtained 1grades of 4 0 grades of 4

4 grades of 5 3 grades of 5

8 grades of 6 7 grades of 6

4 grades of 7 4 grades of 7

3 grades of 8 6 grades of 8

5 grades of 9 7 grades of 9

Test 6.76 7.25

score

The following table presents the results obtained in the final test by both groups:

Conclusions

In the preliminary test, the students in the control group obtained an average of 5.8,
whereas for the Experimental group the average was about the same, i.e. 5.92.

At the beginning of June, the students in both grades underwent the final test (the
results of which are presented in the table above). As can be observed from this, the
experimental group, who was exposed to ICT tools, learnt better and their results were better
than the ones of the students in the control group (6.76<7.25).

The following table sums up the progress of both groups:

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 Marking scale – 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Initial Final

CONTROL EXPERIMENTAL CONTROL EXPERIMENTAL

GROUP 12th A GROUP 12th B GROUP 12th A GROUP 12th B

25 students 27 students 25 students 27 students

6 grades of 4 6 grades of 4 1grades of 4 0 grades of 4

Grades
obtained 6 grades of 5 5 grades of 5 4 grades of 5 3 grades of 5

4 grades of 6 5 grades of 6 8 grades of 6 7 grades of 6

6 grades of 7 8 grades of 7 4 grades of 7 4 grades of 7

2 grades of 8 2 grades of 8 3 grades of 8 6 grades of 8

1 grades of 9 1 grades of 9 5 grades of 9 7 grades of 9

Test
5,8 5,92 6,76 7,25
score

Initial
CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

49%
51%

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 Final
CONTROL GROUP EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

48%
52%

4.7. E-twinning projects

The aim of this subchapter is to prove the positive effects of e-twinning projects
(which massively involve the use of ICT) on the development of students’ much needed 21st
century skills mentioned at the beginning of this chapter (creativity, collaboration and social
skills).

E-Twinning provides teaching staff (teachers, directors, librarians, etc.) working in

schools in the participating European countries a platform for communication, collaboration,
project launching and information exchange, in short, a space where they feel they are part of
the most thrilling educational community in Europe.

E-Twinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through communication and

information technologies (ICT), providing support, tools and services to schools. It also
provides teachers with ongoing, online and free professional development opportunities
(https://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm).

Launched in 2005 as the core component of the European Commission's eLearning

program, eTwinning has become an integral part of Erasmus +, the 2014 EU Youth Program
for Education, Training.

E-Twinning Live is the place where teachers can experience the full potential of the
E-Twinning community. Here teachers have the opportunity to search for other eTwinners
and other schools on the platform, connect with them and track their activities. They can

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access all of the online events created by eTwinners, and they can also create their own
events.

Thanks to eTwinning Live, teachers can create their own projects in which they can
work on different key themes and skills, working with two or more teachers and their
students. They can also access the eTwinning professional development opportunities at
European level. Training events are pleasant, intensive, short-term courses that familiarize
teachers with a particular theme, stimulate the idea and help them develop their skills.

As part of my pedagogical experiment involving the use of ICT in English Language

Teaching, an e-twinning project was presented to both classes at the beginning of December
2017; this E-twinning project was called “One Europe, one Christmas - different
customs”.

The aim of the project was to exchange information about Christmas tradition in the
partner countries (Turkey, Slovakia, Poland, France). Students exchanged Christmas cards
written in English and their native language. They also had to make a poster and presentation
about their own Christmas traditions using canvas and PowerPoint/Prezi presentations.

Because during the first stage of the project students had to write Christmas cards, I
considered that both classes should participate in this activity, since writing cards is a rather
traditional method of instruction. In addition, the 12th B grade also had to make a PowerPoint
presentation about Christmas traditions and customs in Romania, and then they had to upload
it on the E-twinning platform in order to be seen by the other participants in the project. The
following is a screen capture of the site dedicated to the project:

123
124
The images below present a sample greeting card produced during the initial phase of the
project:

125
 In two weeks’ time, the first stage was almost completed: the cards and the envelops
with the addressees’ data were written, waiting to be sent. During the English classes we read
the Christmas cards and felt really happy. I was pleased by the fact that they worked together
in order to achieve their purpose although, at times, students used more Romanian than
English in their team work.

For the second stage of the project, I chose to create (collaborating only with the
experimental group) a web page on the Danube Delta’s flora, fauna and sightseeing
objectives, whereas the control group” were asked to write some information about the
Danube Delta on fliers.

A YouTube tutorial (Cum creezi un site web gratis de top fara cunostiinte de
programare, Sebastian Rizescu) was really useful for the group whose task was to create the
web page.

As such, the students were asked to collect data about the flora and fauna of the
Danube Delta and to translate the information in English, or, if they found the information in
English, to translate it in Romanian. I have also asked them to share opinions about how the
web page should look like. A number of suggestive pictures of the Danube Delta were
provided to us by Eugen Petrescu, a well-known Romanian ornithologist, who also offered
me precious information about the flora and fauna of the region, information that we used on
the web page. Examples of our work can be found by accessing
https://sites.google.com/view/wondersofdanubedelta/home.

126
Taking all these into account, I can conclude by saying that the students in the experimental
group (i.e. 12th B) seemed happier while working, because they knew “it was for real” (i.e.
they had a real purpose to accomplish), in comparison with the control group, who were not
as enthusiastic about the project, some of them considering that they almost worked “in
vain”. As such, the “ICT” group were creative, collaborated one with another, and, in so
doing, they, of course, improved their social skills in addition to their skills in English.

4.8. Opinion survey

At the end of the pedagogical experiment, I conducted an opinion survey among my students
to find out their perceptions on the use of ICT in English Language Teaching. The following
sample questionnaire were provided to both the experimental group and the control one:

127
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Do you consider using ICT (computers, interactive NOT A SOME A

whiteboards) during lessons has a positive impact on AT LITTLE WHAT LOT
the following? Tick one box only for each row. ALL

1. You concentrate more on what you’re learning

2. You try harder in what you’re learning

3. You feel more independent in your learning (e.g.

go over work again, find out more about things you
are interested in)

4. You understand more easily what you’re learning

5. You remember more easily what you’ve learnt

6. ICT enables you to work better with other students

on tasks

7. ICT improves the atmosphere in class (e.g. students

are more engaged, there is less disruption)

Thinking about your experience with STRONGLY DISAGREE AGREE STRONGLY

computers: to what extent do you DISAGREE AGREE
agree with the following statements?

1.It is really important to me to work

with a computer for learning

2. Using a computer for learning is

really fun

3. I use a computer for learning

because I’m very interested in
computers

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4. I lose track of time when I’m
learning with the computer

5. It’s really worth using a computer

for learning because it will help me
in my future life as an adult.

6. I use a computer to learn as it will

help in the work that I want to do
later on.

7. I learn things using computers that

will help me to get a job.

8. Learning with computer is

important for me because I need it
for what I want to study later on.

Both sections A and B aim to quantify the students’ general opinion on ICT, as well
as its role in their student (and future) life. There were 50 respondents in all (26 from the
experimental group and 24 from the control group). The tables below offers a synoptic view
of their answers:

A. Do you consider using ICT (computers, interactive NOT A SOME A

whiteboards) during lessons has a positive impact on AT LITTLE WHAT LOT
the following? Tick one box only for each row. ALL

1. You concentrate more on what you’re learning 1 4 5 40

2. You try harder in what you’re learning 2 3 7 38

3. You feel more independent in your learning (e.g. 1 4 3 42

go over work again, find out more about things you
are interested in)

4. You understand more easily what you’re learning - 5 4 41

5. You remember more easily what you’ve learnt 3 2 8 37

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6. ICT enables you to work better with other students - 5 1 44
on tasks

7. ICT improves the atmosphere in class (e.g. students - 5 - 45

are more engaged, there is less disruption)

B.Thinking about your experience STRONGLY DISAGREE AGREE STRONGLY

with computers: to what extent do DISAGREE AGREE
you agree with the following
statements?

1.It is really important to me to work 3 2 3 42

with a computer for learning

2. Using a computer for learning is 1 4 5 40

really fun

3. I use a computer for learning 2 3 7 38

because I’m very interested in
computers

4. I lose track of time when I’m 1 4 3 42

learning with the computer

5. It’s really worth using a computer - 5 4 41

for learning because it will help me
in my future life as an adult.

6. I use a computer to learn as it will 3 2 8 37

help in the work that I want to do
later on.

7. I learn things using computers that - 5 3 42

will help me to get a job.

8. Learning with computer is 2 3 6 39

important for me because I need it
for what I want to study later on.

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 As the figures demonstrate, the respondents from both groups (control and
experimental) overwhelmingly agreed that by conducting activities using ICT learning tools
benefits them in many ways. For example, most of them ticked “a lot” with respect to their
way of learning, thinking and solving problems.

Additionally, the greatest majority of students agreed on the statement that ICT
motivates both students and teacher during the learning process.

Thus, from a total of 50 students, 45 of them responded for the use of ICT tools in the
learning process (ticking “a lot” and “somewhat” for the entrances under question A and
“strongly agree” and “agree” for the entrances under question B), while just 5 of them
preferred the traditional way in learning, by ticking “a little” and “not at all” for the entrances
under question A and “disagree” and “strongly disagree” for the entrances under question B.

The chart below summarizes the students’ responses with regard to the need to use
modern (ICT-based) methods and resources of learning:

Traditional/Modern Learning (ICT-based)

Traditional Methods of learning Modern Methods of learning

10%

90%

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4.9. Conclusions

My teaching experience during the 2017-2018 academic year at the “Brad Segal”
College, Tulcea, as well as the pedagogical experiment I conducted with the two groups of
12th grade students, made me accept the idea that the computer can be regarded as a third
important factor, alongside a teacher and his or her pupils, in the English class, enabling one
find solutions in order to improve the didactic process.

However, it remains the idea that the role of the teacher will never be able to be
replaced by the computer, the electronic equipment being only a means by which the
educator can express his mastery of his work.

Although the benefits of using computers cannot be denied, such as the pedagogical
experiment has proved, we also need to be realistic in what regards the disadvantages of over
using ICT tools in the teaching of foreign languages. In the main, the latter can be related to
the following areas of discussion:

• although it allows the simulation of different events, processes, and actions, the ICT-
based method cannot replace practical activity;
• the possibility of losing the habit of having discussions, of arguing due to man-
computer interaction;
• the isolation of pupils from their friends, colleagues and teachers over time, due to the
prolonged use of the computer;
• it is not suitable for all students and all cognitive styles;
• it has a different impact, depending on the pupils’ age.

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 FINAL REMARKS

Undoubtedly, the integration of ICT resources into education is beneficial and leads to
an increase in school performance, provided that students have knowledge of computer use.
This implies the introduction of ICT lessons at all profiles and at all levels of education, even
if this would mean redesigning the classes (ICT-based instruction best works with small
groups of students), as well as equipping them with high-performance computers connected
to the Internet.

In addition, teachers should possess, besides the theoretical and practical knowledge of
the subject under study, the skills of using ICT. So, focusing on the use of information and
communication technologies by teachers and learners becomes a priority.

Apart from these, there should also be more methodical research on the implementation
of ICT in education. ICT should not only be an instrument to present existing content in
another way, it must lead to changes in the way of thinking and classroom style of teachers.

Nevertheless, the use of ICT must not become an obsession because each student has
the right to school success and to the highest possible curricular standards, therefore
appropriate pedagogical methods must be found in each case. So, we do not have to give up
chalk, blackboard and sponge, work with the manual, solve problems and make real
experiments, because only by acting in this way we would be able to make a direct
connection between practical experience and theoretical ideas.

In conclusion, we can say that in order to achieve quality education and to achieve the
best results we have to use both the classical methods of teaching, learning, evaluation and
the modern methods, in which ICT plays such an important role.

133
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