Afordances of computer-assisted language learning in higher education: a qualitative inquiry

Resumen

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has become a rudimentary part of English language education because of its positive impacts on students’ language skills achievements. Despite all its advantages, most teachers do not employ CALL frequently in language education, especially in Iran. Thus, the current qualitative study aims to explore the enablers and barriers of the uptake and efective use of CALL by higher education language teachers in terms of teacher education, contextual factors, and individual teacher factors. The participants were 66 English language teachers in Iran who responded to an open-ended online survey. To make a sound decision, I applied the Delphi method to validate the instrument. Then, content analysis was applied to classify data and align them into the main themes. One of the key indings of this study is that language teachers require appropriate CALL teacher education and professional development courses which meet their real needs.