Why are community college teachers of Chinese left behind in using ICTs in their teaching? Case studies in Hong Kong

K Leung
Caritas Francis Hsu College
Hong Kong SAR, China

G Maxwell, K Siu and Y Hui
Caritas Bianchi College of Careers
Hong Kong SAR, China

Though the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for language instruction has expanded rapidly worldwide in the past decade, the development of ICT use in the Chinese Language instruction of most self-financing community colleges in Hong Kong is still in its infancy to date. The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences in the current use of ICT among teachers of Chinese at different educational levels in their classroom practice. Data was collected via interviews with 16 in-service Chinese teachers from primary school, secondary school to community college levels concerning their feedback with special reference to ICT access, ICT ability, ICT use and inhibitors to greater use of ICT in their day-to-day teaching. Findings from the preliminary study reveal that there is only limited use of ICTs in Chinese language instruction. These suggest that the provision of subject-specific ICT resources, pedagogy-oriented ICT training programmes, and sufficient government financial support are central to changing the balance from limited ICT use to more effective use.