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Description
This qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of English-major students at a university in Hanoi, Vietnam, regarding the utilization of technology for English learning beyond the classroom. It applied the extended Technology Acceptance Model by Al-Adwan et al. (2023) to specifically analyze English learners’ perceptions on five aspects. Six students participated and the data was collected from activity logs and interviews, then analyzed by manual coding. The findings indicate that laptops and smartphones are the most popular and preferred tools among students while Youtube is the most frequently mentioned platform. The laptop is the most useful tool, and ChatGPT and Youtube are recognized highly helpful platforms by English-majors. Regarding perceived ease of use, most students have a positive attitude towards the user-friendliness of technologies. In terms of enjoyment, digital tools and platforms are generally perceived as enjoyable, with ChatGPT being the most noticeable. Concerning perceived cyber risks, no considerable privacy and security issues are reported. With regard to personal innovativeness in Information Technology, the participants tend to be motivated to use technology for learning English beyond the class by personal curiosity, encouragement from friends and recommendations highlighting technology’s benefits. In addition, the participants also stated some shortcomings of existing technology together with several recommendations that other learners, teachers and technology developers can consider for effective use and technology improvement. Some key challenges include distraction, source overchoice, Internet connection and the difficulty of learning content. The study concludes with several suggestions for future research, including adding quantitative elements (e.g., surveys) to collect data from larger samples alongside qualitative activity logs and interviews, and conducting follow-up studies over an academic year or longer to examine whether out-of-class technology use supports in-class English learning and how students’ attitudes and experiences with technology evolve over time.
Keywords: English learning beyond the classroom, Technology Acceptance Model, Useful, Ease of Use, Enjoyment, Cyber risks, Personal innovativeness in Information Technology.
