Pixel International Conferences

The annual report "The Swedes and the Internet" from 2017 states that close to 100 % of teenagers connect to the internet on a regular basis (Davidsson & Thoresson, 2017), mainly for social and recreational purposes. In relation to school work in general, around 80 % of secondary and upper-secondary pupils report that they use the internet and digital tools on a regular basis. For younger learners the figure is around 55 %. The inclusion of ICT and digital literacy has been a mainstay in the steering documents since 2011, and in 2017 the presence of digital literacy was further strengthened and specific knowledge requirements were introduced for several subjects. However, the area of pedagogical use of ICT and the promotion of digital literacy in foreign language (FL) teaching remains an under-researched area. The present study addresses this issue from the vantage point of FL teacher education. The paper reports on an analysis of 12 FL teacher students' views on the use of ICT and digital tools in FL teaching and learning. Reflective diaries written as part of an introductory course in language education theory, including a practicum period, were collected. Based on the frameworks of teacher cognition (Borg, 2015), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1982), and agency (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2011), the diary entries were analysed using a combination of qualitative content analysis (Creswell, 2014) and discurse analysis (Gee, 2011) to identify recurrent themes in the student's writing, and to establish the students' perceptions of their own sense of agency regarding their present assumptions and future projections of why, how and when to include ICT and digital tools in their teaching. The results indicate that the FL teacher students' own lack of pedagogical models initially restrict their sense of self-efficacy and agency in this respect, but also that the interplay between language education theory and teacher practicum may offer a stimulating arena to try out and reflect on ICT and digital tools for pedagogical purposes, potentially challenging previous held views. The results will be discussed in relation to FL teacher education and teaching practices.

Keywords: agency, FL teacher education, FL teaching and learning, ICT, reflection, self-efficacy;