A Comparative Study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-Based and Conventional Methods of Instruction on Learners' Academic Enthusiasm for L2 Learning

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare the effects of information and communication technology (ICT)-based and conventional methods of instruction on ninth-grade students' academic enthusiasm for L2 learning (English). The statistical population included all ninth-grade students from lower secondary schools for girls located in the city of Tehran, Iran, in 2019-2020. For this purpose, applied research with a quasiexperimental design was employed to meet the study objectives. To select the statistical sample, the convenience sampling method was used, so one school equipped with the essential facilities was chosen to implement the ICT-based education. Then, two classrooms at the given school were selected as the experimental and control groups, each one consisting of 27 students, based on the random sampling method. The research tool was the 15-item Academic Enthusiasm Questionnaire (AEQ) containing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive subscales, and recruiting a five-point Likert-Type scale. All the classrooms initially received a pretest, and then the experimental group was instructed by the ICT-based education. Finally, all the study groups completed a posttest. Moreover, inferential and descriptive statistics were applied for data analysis. The study results demonstrated a significant difference in terms of the baseline academic enthusiasm between the experimental and control groups. In addition, the ICT-based method of instruction showed stronger effects on students' academic enthusiasm than the conventional one.