Digital Native/Digital Immigrant Divide: EFL Teachers’ Mobile Device Experiences and Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how Thai EFL high-school teachers view and use mobiledevices (such as smart phones) in educational settings, and if the age-based digital native/digitalimmigrant divide would highlight any differences in responses. The participants were 55 Thai EFLteachers in 8 schools of different sizes in Southern Thailand, who were split into digital-native anddigital-immigrant subgroups during data analysis. Participants completed a 35-item Likert-typescale covering a range of topics related to mobile devices in the EFL setting including their ability,experience, school/personal policy, instructional utilization, and whether they supported mobiledevices as a learning aid. The results showed that while digital native teachers consistentlyresponded more positively towards the benefits/uses of mobile devices in EFL teaching/learningthan the older digital immigrant teachers often at a significant level, all teachers -regardless ofage- agreed on the benefits and promotion of mobile devices as EFL learning aids. Results of thisstudy expand the knowledge base of EFL teachers’ mobile device experiences and practice whileraising awareness of significant differences between digital natives and digital immigrants, andrecommendations are made for policymakers, schools, and teachers.