It's all in the numbers: enhancing technology use in urban and rural environments

This chapter focuses on teacher professional development and TELL, and the constraints of TELL. More specifically, it explores some of the barriers and enablers to the use of technology in English language classes in six secondary school across Malaysia, in both rural and urban settings.

The cross-cultural aspect of the study comes from a comparison of the schools involved and considerations of context-appropriate technological tools and materials in the differing school environments. The backdrop to the study is the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MMoE) aim to develop technology use such that it ‘will be a ubiquitous part of schooling life, with no urban-rural divide and with all teachers and students equipped with the skills necessary to use this technology’ (Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, 2013, p. E-20).

One particular issue highlighted in the study is the benefit of communities of teachers working together to implement and integrate technology into their teaching.