T EACHERS ’ SELF - EVALUATION OF THEIR SKILLS IN USING MEDIA FOR PEDAGOGICAL PURPOSES

In addition to evaluating the usefulness of media, the respondents also had to evaluate their pedagogical skills in using media. The self-evaluations reveal what media teachers are most comfortable with pedagogically and which types of media they do not know how to use in teaching. Teachers were asked how well they master using different types of media for pedagogical purposes. The options were: very well, quite well, quite poorly and very poorly.

The fifth option was “cannot say”, because it was likely that some teachers had never used or maybe even heard of certain types of media and, therefore, would be unable to assess their skills. It seems that especially the more traditional types of media received high self-evaluations, whereas social media received low self-evaluations or no evaluations at all. Table 14 shows how teachers evaluated their own skills in using print media for pedagogical purposes.

Table 14. Self-evaluation of the pedagogical skills in using print media.

In general, teachers felt that they master the pedagogical use of print media quite well. The use of newspapers was mastered quite well or very well by 74 % of the respondents and the use of comics by 70 % of the respondents. Teachers were most uncertain about their pedagogical skills when using fictional and non-fictional literature in teaching. This might have to do with the length of literary texts, which can make it more difficult to apply them to language teaching compared to, for instance, newspapers. Even though teachers were mostly familiar with the pedagogical use of print media, they did not use print media that much in teaching. It is likely that since these types of media have been around longer than for instance N=60 Very well Quite well Quite poorly Very poorly Cannot say Total

Newspapers % 22 52 18 - 8 100

Tabloids % 17 38 17 5 23 100

Periodicals % 17 50 17 3 13 100

Comics % 18 52 17 3 10 100

Fictional literature % 13 43 22 7 15 100

Non-fictional literature

%

12 45 15 8 20 100

social media, their pedagogical use is more familiar to the teachers. They might have used many of these media themselves when they were in school and, therefore, know the possibilities for pedagogical use. Many of the teachers have most likely tried using print media in their teaching at some point of their career, but for one reason or another do not use them that much at present. This could be because of the time that it takes to incorporate these media into teaching or simply because technology has started to make many of these media types nearly obsolete, as there are currently digital versions of many of these media types available that can often be quite easily accessed.

Table 15 shows how teachers evaluated their pedagogical skills in using broadcast media in teaching.

Table 15. Self-evaluation of the pedagogical skills in using broadcast media.

N=60 Very well Quite well Quite poorly Very poorly Cannot say Total

Television programs % 20 52 20 - 8 100

Radio % 13 18 20 8 40 100

Movies % 17 65 13 - 5 100

When it comes to the pedagogical use of broadcast media, teachers feel like they master the use of television programs and movies quite well or very well. Movies were mastered very well or quite well by 82 % of the respondents and television programs by 72 % of the respondents. None of the teachers felt that their pedagogical skills in using these two types of media were very poor. The pedagogical skills in using radio in language teaching were not as strong as the skills with movies and television programs. A majority of 40 % could not evaluate their pedagogical skills and those who did had very varied evaluations of their skills with no clear majority.

Table 16 presents the results of how teachers evaluated their pedagogical skills in using the types of new media in language teaching.

Table 16. Self-evaluation of the pedagogical skills in using new media.

N=60 Very well Quite well Quite poorly Very poorly Cannot say Total

Email % 23 20 20 3 33 100

Different websites % 22 43 20 2 13 100

Discussion forums on the internet

%

2 10 25 10 53 100

Gaming sites on the internet

% 3 17 17 20 43 100

Computer games (offline)

% 3 10 18 23 45 100

Teaching programs % 22 42 20 2 15 100

Tablets/iPads % 15 45 18 10 12 100

Mobile phones % 15 50 18 8 8 100

Smartboards % 18 22 18 13 28 100

According to self-evaluations, the pedagogical use of new media was mostly mastered quite well, but some of the media types could not be evaluated by a majority of the respondents.

The teachers felt that their pedagogical skills were the strongest when using different websites, mobile phones and teaching programs. The pedagogical skills in using different websites were quite good or very good according to 65 % of the respondents. The pedagogical skills in using mobile phones were also quite good or very good according to 65 % of the respondents. Teaching programs had similar percentages, with 64 % of the respondents evaluating their skills as quite good or very good. Tablets/iPads were also familiar to teachers as 60 % of the respondents evaluated their pedagogical skills as quite good or very good. The pedagogical skills in using discussion forums, gaming sites and offline computer games were evaluated mostly as poor or very poor, but nearly half of the respondents could not evaluate their pedagogical skills.

Table 17 shows how teachers evaluated their pedagogical skills in using different types of social media.

Table 17. Self-evaluation of the pedagogical skills in using social media.

N=60 Very well Quite well Quite poorly Very poorly Cannot say Total

Virtual worlds % 2 2 10 30 57 100

Social networking services

%

10 15 18 17 40 100

Media services % 20 50 13 7 10 100

Wiki- and other web hosting services

% 13 30 25 10 22 100

Microblogs % 2 2 18 22 57 100

Blogs % 7 30 17 12 35 100

Social bookmarking web services

% 2 3 10 28 57 100

Podcasts % 3 12 12 27 47 100

The pedagogical skills in using most of the social media types could not be evaluated by many of the respondents as is shown in Table 17. It is most likely that the respondents have not used these media types in teaching and therefore cannot really say how good their skills in using them are. Despite this, there were also media types that the respondents felt they can use pedagogically quite well or very well. The pedagogical skills in using media services were evaluated as quite good or very good by 70 % of the respondents. The pedagogical skills in using wiki- and other web hosting services was evaluated as quite good or very good by 43 % of the respondents. The teachers were also quite confident in using blogs pedagogically, with 37 % evaluating their skills as quite good or very good. When it comes to the self-evaluation of pedagogical skills, the emphasis on other social media types was more on the ‘quite poorly’

or ‘very poorly’ options.