USING PHENOMENOGRAPHY TO CAPTURE THE VARIATIONS IN STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

This paper aims at exploring the variations in learners’ attitudes towards the use of technology in language learning. The use of computer as well as new media has dominated language learning and teaching while the attitudes of learners towards Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) need to be further investigated in order to develop more effective curricula that focus on the students’ particular needs. The findings of this study demonstrate the variation of students’ views towards CALL, indicating that students understand and ascribe meaning to CALL in different ways. The phenomenographic approach has been chosen since it is a research method that emphasizes on the variation in meaning to describe the object under study. This meaning can be found in the interviewees’ experience of a particular phenomenon. A set of hierarchical set of logically related categories are demonstrated, indicating that students’ perceptions range from ignorance to highest level of CALL awareness.