THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STUDENTS' AND LANGUAGE TEACHERS' USAGE OF ICT: A CASE FROM SAUDI ARABIA

Culture is widely reported as a major factor affecting teacher use of information and communication technology (ICT). However, culture cannot be analysed at a single level (Leidner & Kayworth, 2006). This study used three levels of culture, classroom, school and national levels, to analyse teachers' use of ICT, in order to answer my research question: "What are the socio-cultural factors that influence students' and language teachers' usage of ICT in their schools?" The study was undertaken within the interpretive paradigm, and adopted several theories: socio-cultural theory, ecological perspective, Hofstede's model, and a metaphor from the Concern Based Adoption Model (CBAM). A multiple case study was employed as methodology in order to yield detailed data to assist in understanding the use of ICT in schools. Classroom observation, teachers' semi-structured interviews, and focus groups were conducted to provide rich data. Six English teachers, five Arabic teachers, three school leaders, three supervisors, and three student focus groups constituted the sample, taken from three case studies in an intermediate boys' schools in Arrass city in Saudi Arabia. In teachers' decisions to use ICT in their classrooms, self-concern, task concern and impact concern emerged from the data analysis as influential factors. Self-concern had the strongest effect, in that teachers who had more self-concern tended not to use ICT.