INTEGRATING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN NIGERIA: AN INVESTIGATION

Information and Communication Technology has revolutionalised every aspect of our lives. In education these technologies have considerable influence in teaching and learning which demands that every teacher must have a sound knowledge of ICT. Unfortunately, it would seem that many English language teachers in Nigeria do not have knowledge of I C T, nor can they integrate ICT in implementing the English language curriculum. This is despite the fact that ICT has a lot of facilities and opportunities the teacher can utilize to make the English language lessons interactive and learner centred. These researchers using three research questions set out to determine to what extent English language teachers are computer literate and use ICT in the implementation of the English language curriculum in Nigeria. This has become necessary when we consider the fact that the 21st century economy is technology. Using a structured questionnaire administered on 2000 English language teachers selected through the random sampling technique from secondary schools in the southeastern states of Nigeria. Using mean for data analysis, the findings show that English language teachers are not computer literate and do not integrate ICT in curriculum planning and processes. Consequently, the researchers made some recommendations some of which if implemented will help to realign our curriculum to prevailing needs in the global market without which we would be producing learners that lack the required generic skills and competencies to survive in the 21st century.