WEB QUESTING IN TEFL COURSES: WHAT FACTORS DETER THE STUDENTS’ INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v86i6.4600

Keywords:

WebQuesting, barriers to information-seeking behaviour, TEFL students

Abstract

The survival and the continuity of an organization’s operations depend upon the use of information. As such, investigating the Webquesting behavior of university students in general and TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) students in particular during the Covid 19 seems essential. Since information-seeking behavior can be influenced by various factors we aimed to explore the attitude of TEFL students  towards webquesting. In the next phase of the study, we sought the barriers to TEFL students’ Webquesting behaviour. Accordingly, the present research employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The statistical population consisted of 128 TEFL students and the sampling method was purposeful. The findings of this study revealed that the students were not satisfied with their webquesting and that there were two major obstacles in their webquesting, namely, learners’ constraints and teachers’ constraints. The inhibitors included lack of familiarity with Internet sources, poor information seeking skills, lack of interest in some topics, lack of skills in using the Internet, poor English proficiency, teachers’ lack of CALL (computer assisted language learning) preparation, lack of help from the side of teachers, teachers’ lack of attention to non-textbook resources, and students’ lack of motivation and time. Findings have implications for TEFL teachers, since, based on the qualitative data, the most important source of information for students is textbooks and the most important goal of searching for information is for doing homework. The importance of textbooks for students is the result of the pivotal role given to the text books by teachers and the final exams.  Perhaps students’ lack of interest in webquesting is partly due to such an undue emphasis. On the other hand, students’ lack of interest in Webquesting was also due to the lack of attention and encouragement from the side of teachers to use the Internet resources.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Majid Farahian, Islamic Azad University

Assistant Professor of Applied linguistics

Farshad Parhamnia, Islamic Azad University

Assistant Professor of Knowledge and Information Science

Milad Sheikhbanooie, Islamic Azad University

MA student of Applied Linguistics

References

M. Nasiri, “The studying the behavior Behbahan Students and influence and the effect of teachers on their informing pattern,” Journal of Academic Librarianship and Information Research, vol. 43, no. 39, pp. 153-181, 2005. (Persian)

A. Riahi , “Information behaviors and information seeking of nursing students of Mazandaran University of Medical Science,” The Journal of Medical Education and Development (JMED), vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 195-211, 2017. (Persian)

A, Shar'atmadari, “A Qualitative Study on Stimulus and Barriers of Information-Seeking Behavior of Counselling MA Students,” Quarterly Counseling Culture and Psychotherapy, vol. 4, no. 15, pp. 17-33, 2013. (Persian)

A. Kalantari, A. Jowkar, H. Jahani Hashemi , “ Information seeking behavior of postgraduate students of Qazvin University of medical sciences for retrieval of specialized images and videos,” Payavard, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 479-489, 2017. (Persian)

J. Naeimi, S. Mohammad Esmaeil, “ The Assessment of information-seeking behavior of medical sciences University researchers of Khorasan Razavi using neural network approach,” Library and Information Science Research (LISRJ), vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 80-96, 2017. (Persian)

P. Memarbashi, N. Zamani Miandashti, “An Analysis of Information-Seeking Behavior Through The Internet Tmong Agricultural Undergraduate Students at Razi University of Kermanshah,” Iranian Agricultural Extension and Education, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 33-49, 2013. (Persian)

F. Safari Rad, ‘Investigation of information seeking behavior of postgraduate students of Shiraz University’, Cultural Research Letter, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 210-193, 2003. (in English)

I. Redad, “Behavioral information seeking of postgraduate students of Islamic Azad University using World Wide Web,” Journal of Library and Information Science, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 141-168, 2009. (in English)

M. Majidi, G. Shakerian, “The study of information seeking behavior of Allameh Tabataba’i university faculty members in using online resources,” Journal management System, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 105-126, 2016. (Persian)

T. D. Wilson, “Human Information Behavior,” Informing Science (Special Issue on Information Science Research), vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 49-55, 2000. (in English)

A. Adhami , “What is the information Seeking and Behavior of Information Seeking?,” Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IRANDOC), vol. 19, no. 3- 4, pp. 31-36, 2004. (Persian)

S. Ebrahimy, Z F. Hekmat, A. Jowkar , “Prediction of information seeking behavior of Shiraz University graduate students based on the dimensions of goal orientations and creativity dimensions,” Journal of Information Processing and Management,; vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 965-996, 2015. (in English)

A. Malliari, S. Korobili, Zapounidou, “Exploring the information seeking behavior of Greek graduate students: A case study set the University of Macedonia,” The International Information & Library Review, vol. 34, pp. 79-91, 2011. (in English)

A. Norouzi Chakli, “The main and effective factors in information seeking behavior,” Librarianship and Information, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 144-175, 2006. (in English)

M. Shohel, C. Mahruf, A. Kirkwood, “Using technology for enhancing teaching and learning in Bangladesh: challenges and consequences,” Learning, Media and Technology, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 414-428, 2012. (in English)

J. Lock, P. Redmond, “Embedded experts in online collaborative learning: A case study,” The Internet and Higher Education, vol. 48, 2020. (in English)

T. March , “What are WebQuests (really)? ,” 2004. [Online]. Available: http://bestwebquests.com/whatç webquestsçare.asp (in English)

R. Zheng, J. Perez, J. Williamson, J. Flygare, “WebQuests as perceived by teachers: Implications for online teaching and learning,” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 24, pp. 295–304, 2007. (in English)

M. P. Murphy, “COVID-19 and emergency e-learning: Consequences of the securitization of higher education for post-pandemic pedagogy,” Contemporary Security Policy,vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 1-14, 2020. (in English)

P. Mayring, “Qualitative content analysis.” In: Flick, U., Kardoff, E. and Steinke, I. (eds.), A companion to qualitative research, London: Sage, pp. 266 – 269, 2000. (in English)

J. W. Creswell, V. L. Plano Clark, Designing and conducting mixed methods research, Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications,2011. (in English)

H. Behroozfar , “Study of the resource-based teaching method in terms of achieving the goals of higher education and coordinating with the goals and services of academic libraries,” Library and Information Science, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 61-82, 2014. (Persian)

A. Norouzi Chakly, “The main and effective factors in the behavior of information seekers,” Information and education, vol. 9, no. 33, pp. 174-143,2006. (Persian)

R. Rahnavard, “The Impact of Internal and External Motivation on Knowledge Transfer (A Case Study: Higher Education and Research Management and Planning),” Human Resources Research, vol. 5, no. 18, pp. 31-48, 2015. (Persian)

M. Bijani, H. Moradi, G. Karami , “Investigating the concept and place of motivation in adult educational programs,” Work and Society, no. 133-132, pp. 100-112, 2011. (Persian)

M. Bagh Jannati, N. Motamed, M. Bagh Jannati, A. Hamidi, “Inhibitive Factors of the Development and Growth of Critical Thinking in Libraries,” Journal Studies in Library and Information Science, vol. 6 no. 13, pp. 25-50, 2014. (Persian)

M. Amiramini khalafloo, P. Bayat , “Investigation of information seeking behavior of students of Bushehr Jahad Agriculture Training Center and providing solutions for its improvement,” Agricultural Education Administration Research, vol. 10 no. 44, pp. 42-54, 2018. (Persian)

H. Moghadaszadeh, “The study of information literacy of faculty members of Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch,” Informatics and Informatics Monthly, Monthly , no. 8 , pp. 65-57, 2008.(Persian)

A. Ramezanpour, S. Golshahi Rad , “Evaluation of study pattern and the attitude of medical students and residents about study resources (books and notes) in Zanjan University of Medical Sciences - 2013-2014,” J Med Educ Dev, vol. 8, no. 19, pp. 41-52, 2015. (Persian)

R. Zheng, B. Stucky, M. McMack, M. Menchana & S. Stoddart, “WebQuest learning as perceived by higher-education learners.” Tech Trends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 49(4), 41-49,2005.(in English)

Downloads

Published

2021-12-30

How to Cite

[1]
M. Farahian, F. Parhamnia, and M. Sheikhbanooie, “WEB QUESTING IN TEFL COURSES: WHAT FACTORS DETER THE STUDENTS’ INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR?”, ITLT, vol. 86, no. 6, pp. 244–256, Dec. 2021.

Issue

Vol. 86 No. 6 (2021)

Section

ICT and learning tools in the higher education establishments

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Majid Farahian

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors hold copyright immediately after publication of their works and retain publishing rights without any restrictions.
  2. The copyright commencement date complies the publication date of the issue, where the article is included in.

Content Licensing

  1. Authors grant the journal a right of the first publication of the work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) that allows others freely to read, download, copy and print submissions, search content and link to published articles, disseminate their full text and use them for any legitimate non-commercial purposes (i.e. educational or scientific) with the mandatory reference to the article’s authors and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Original published articles cannot be used by users (exept authors) for commercial purposes or distributed by third-party intermediary organizations for a fee.

Deposit Policy

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) during the editorial process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see this journal’s registered deposit policy at Sherpa/Romeo directory).
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Post-print (post-refereeing manuscript version) and publisher's PDF-version self-archiving is allowed.
  4. Archiving the pre-print (pre-refereeing manuscript version) not allowed.