TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

This paper examines the potentiality of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) in Teacher Education for
effective teaching and learning in English language. Information and
Communication Technology, the modern technologies for storage,
manipulation, and dissemination of information, include both
hardware tools such as laptops, smart phones, projectors and software
tools such as E-mail, Skype, Facebook and YouTube. These
technological tools have brought a revolutionary movement in the
field of education and information communication. Education which
makes wide use of information communication has been highly
influenced by the use of ICTs. In recent years, ICTs have been
exploited in the teaching and learning of English language. Teaching
and learning of the English language is one of the main concerns of
many educational institutions because English is not only an
international language and a Lingua Franca of the world’s citizens,
but it is also the storehouse of knowledge. The swift development of
technology has had a considerable effect on teaching especially in
English language classes and the rising procedure of using creative
technology to help teachers’ instruction and learning indicates the
growing domination of technology in academic environment. In
addition, teacher professional development significantly affects
enhancing the teaching quality, especially the quality of educational
activities within the class. This paper therefore attempts to explore the
potentiality and role of technology-based teacher education and
teacher professional development in English language.