A Research Proposal on an Empirical Study of Foreign Language Teachers’ Information Literacy in Shandong Province

Abstract

With the increasing advancement of global information technology in education, educational informatization has become a necessary road to the development of education. The information technology has been affecting foreign language teaching in every aspect, which has experienced three phases so far, from the assistance of college English teaching using information technology, the integration of the two aspects, to the current deep fusion. The interaction between foreign language teaching and information technology is an ecological evolutionary process, and information technology, as an exotic species, will unavoidably transform and affect the evolution of the whole system. Therefore, it has become a crucial obligation for foreign language teachers to choose, accept and infuse when encountering the information technology. No doubt to say, whether the fusion of IT and foreign language teaching can be effective largely depends on a group of teachers possessing excellent information literacy. Teachers have the final decision in choosing what kind of technology will be used, how long and how well technologies will be employed in the actual teaching activities. They have been playing a vital role in the transformation and advancement of classroom ecosystem. However, the academic research conducted in recent years mainly concentrated on the mode of fusion, teaching designs as well as the students’ self-study, while few attention has been drawn to the foreign language teachers’ information literacy in the process of fusion between foreign language teaching and information technology. Based on this, the research proposal will delve into the development and difficulties concerning the deep infuse between foreign language teaching and information technology, as well as the transformation of research paradigm. And lastly, the purpose and significance also will be illustrated so as to infer some practical suggestion to foreign language teachers.