Informal digital learning of English to support a formal speaking course: EFL preservice teachers’ perceptions and implementation ideas

Abstract

This study aimed at exploring how English as a foreign language (hereafter, EFL) preservice teacher (hereafter, PSTs) who had no teaching experience perceived Informal Digital Learning of English (hereafter, IDLE) and their IDLE implementation ideas for their future students’ out-of-class activities to support formal classroom instruction. The researchers employed a basic qualitative design to understand the participants’ perceptions and implementation ideas. The data were gathered through interviews and document analysis, and subsequently, 14 EFL PSTs with no prior teaching experience were recruited using a purposive sampling strategy. The data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings give new insights that the participants had positive perceptions towards IDLE and had various implementation ideas of IDLE for their future students, mostly through disrupting Web 2.0 technology tools, even though they had no teaching experience using technology. Two implications for English educators and teacher education programs are highlighted in this article: changing teachers’ mindsets towards EFL learning and the insertion of IDLE as a topic into pedagogy courses.