ICT tools patterns of use among Malaysian ESL undergraduates

The proposal to undertake major reforms in universities to cater to the need of the so-called
“digital natives” has revealed the belief that there is a homogenous generation of university
students highly skilled in the usage of technology is untrue. Instead these students seem more
inclined to use technology for social rather than academic purposes. In Malaysia, the use of
technology in learning English as Second Language (ESL) has generally been well received.
However the characteristics of the “digital natives” have not been clearly defined until
recently when Thang et al. (2014) undertook a study to investigate patterns of ICT use of
students in a public university in Malaysia. Their findings are somewhat similar to those of
other countries but they differ in that they found students show a preference for the teachercentred
approach. The current study extends on this by undertaking a study involving four
different types of public universities. A questionnaire designed by the research team was used
to collect data which were analysed quantitatively using SPSS. The findings revealed that
students from all four universities generally felt that technology is useful for learning ESL.
However, their usage is more for recreation than for learning ESL. It further revealed that the
teachers used technology only moderately, but the students still felt that their teachers are
competent in the use of technology. This shows their unwillingness to criticize their teachers
openly. However, there were some variations which suggest that students from older
research universities are more self-reliant and students from newer universities are more
receptive to the use of technology for learning ESL.