The impact of the perceptions of information technology on the use of digital tools in teaching Chinese as a second language

This report examines the current use of digital technology tools by the K-16 teachers of Chinese in order to provide a basis for the improvement of effective integration of digital tools in teaching Chinese language. It aims to reveal the impacts of the teachers' perception toward the use of information technology on the actual use of digital tools in the classroom. The preliminary results indicate that: 1) the teachers' perception on the uses of digital tools affects how s/he actually uses these tools in the language classroom; 2) the high perception teachers have, the higher the self perceived ability toward the use of the digital tools; 3) the higher the teachers' self-perceived ability, the more they use digital tools in the classroom. These results confirm that Chinese language teachers' perception of the use of digital tools and that of teachers of other subjects are not very different. It also offers suggestions of ways to enhance the teachers' perceptions towards the use of digital tools in teaching.