Digital technology supporting English learning among Indonesian university students

Abstract

Worldwide, information technology now plays a substantial role in the daily life of most people, whether in the developed world or in developing countries, such as Indonesia. In this fourth most populated country in the world, information technology is widely used for everyday communications and entertainment purposes, as well as for supporting education. Using a survey of 496 students enrolled in a university in Jakarta, this paper reports on a study aimed at assessing the experiences of young Indonesian students undertaking online learning and the potential of this platform for English learning. The findings show that online activities, skills, and perceived usefulness were positively correlated with positive experiences of learning English online. In particular, the perceived usefulness of the Internet and the ability to use different functions of digital devices and applications had a stronger correlation with increased benefits of online English learning. The study generates implications for Indonesian education suggesting a review of the roles of English instructors in promoting English learning through technology, improvement in English instructors’ skills in utilizing technology in their teaching, and support of relevant stakeholders as well as the preparation of English teacher preparation programme to support pre-service teachers for teaching with technology.