Imre Fekete: Technology in English teaching • The Hungarian university context
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4. Results and Discussion
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4.1. Study 1: The Learners’ Questionnaire Study
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4.1.1. The Pilot Study

4.1.1. The Pilot Study

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4.1.1.1 The Internal Reliability of the Latent Constructs (Pilot1RQ1). To explore whether the questionnaire produced reliable scales, randomized questionnaire items were reorganised into constructs, and as the first method of reliability check, Cronbach’s alphas of the constructs were calculated. The process is visualised in Table 18, with the unreliable constructs italicised. It is suggested that constructs below a 0.6 Cronbach’s alpha should be regarded as unreliable (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012). As informants were sometimes asked to rate items from two perspectives (free time use and learning use), for such constructs, Cronbach’s alphas were calculated separately.
 

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Table 18 The First Round of Construct Reliability Analysis of the Learners’ Pilot Questionnaire
Scale
Cronbach’s alpha
Number of items
(Total: 54)
Free time use
Learning use
General use
1. Acceptance of ICT devices
.744
.600
4
2. Availability of ICT devices
.236
.344
4
3. Reasons for using ICT devices
.726
.812
4
4. Willingness for ICT skills development
.744
.529
4
5. Opportunities for ICT skills development
.839
.850
4
6. Perceived ability to use ICT devices
.320
.414
6
7. Substitution: ICT use over personal contact
.150
.398
5
8. Using ICT devices for language learning
.794
5
9. Digital competences
.873
18
 

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After the first round of reliability analysis, three constructs proved to be unreliable (Availability of ICT devices, Perceived ability to use ICT devices and ICT use over personal contact) because their Cronbach’s alpha values were below the desired 0.6 level (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012). Apart from these three unreliable constructs, the learning use of Willingness for ICT skills development also did not meet the reliability criteria.

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Literature suggests treating the three preliminarily unreliable constructs, Acceptance of ICT devices, Availability of ICT devices and Perceived ability to use ICT devices as joint constructs (Tongori, 2012; Tóth-Mózer, 2014); thus, not separating them to Free time use and Learning use because free time and learning use of devices cannot be separated from each other, given that positive attitudes the individual holds towards technology is not limited to either free time or learning use (Ham & Cha, 2009; Kozma, 2008; Tondeur et al., 2007a; Voogt & Pelgrum, 2005). Furthermore, in the Hungarian university context, it was surveyed before that almost 100% of the learners owned laptops (MDOS, 2016), thus, the devices necessary for learning in modern university settings are available for them as their own resources.

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Additionally, the Alpha if item deleted analysis of the Availability of ICT devices, Willingness for ICT skills development and ICT use over personal contact concepts confirmed that there was a problem with the wording of one of the items in each construct. In the Perceived ability to use ICT devices construct, two items had to be deleted because principal component analysis confirmed that they measured different components. The initial reliability analysis was followed by a second round of analysis. In the second round, each construct of the questionnaire reached the acceptability margin a minimum 0.6 Cronbach’s alpha value, as shown in Table 19.
 

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Table 19 The Second Round of Construct Reliability Analysis of the Learners’ Pilot Questionnaire
Scale
Cronbach’s alpha
Number of items (Total: 49)
Free time use
Learning use
General use
1. Acceptance of ICT devices
.812
4
2. Availability of ICT devices
.748
3
3. Reasons for using ICT devices
.726
.812
4
4. Willingness for ICT skills development
.744
.718
3
5. Opportunities for ICT skills development
.839
.850
4
6. Perceived ability to use ICT devices
.683
4
7. Substitution: ICT use over personal contact
.666
.621
4
8. Using ICT devices for language learning
.794
5
9. Digital competences
.873
18
 

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As a final reliability measure, the scales were tested for skewness and kurtosis (Table 20). The results confirmed that each construct met the minimum criteria and can be analysed using parametric statistical tests because the skewness = 3 and kurtosis = 21 cut-off margins (Ryu, 2011) were not reached by either of the scales.
 

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Table 20 Skewness and Kurtosis of the Scales of the Learners’ Pilot Questionnaire
Descriptive Statistics
N
Skewness
Kurtosis
Statistic
Statistic
Std. Error
Statistic
Std. Error
1. Acceptance of ICT devices
45
–.437
.354
–.771
.695
2. Availability of ICT devices
45
–2.261
.354
7.711
.695
3. Reasons for using ICT devices – free time
45
–1.390
.354
1.924
.695
3. Reasons for using ICT devices – learning
45
–2.043
.354
4.956
.695
4. Willingness for ICT skills development – free time
45
–.217
.354
–1.010
.695
4. Willingness for ICT skills development – learning
45
–1.231
.354
2.040
.695
5. Opportunities for ICT skills development – free time
45
–.452
.354
–.444
.695
5. Opportunities for ICT skills development – learning
45
–.376
.354
–.417
.695
6. Perceived ability to use ICT devices
45
–.586
.354
–.003
.695
7. Substitution: ICT use over personal contact – free time
45
.518
.354
2.497
.695
7. Substitution: ICT use over personal contact – learning
45
.023
.354
.602
.695
8. Using ICT devices for language learning
43
–.845
.361
.604
.709
9. Digital competences
45
–1.218
.354
1.975
.695
Valid N (listwise)
43
 

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After two rounds of reliability analysis, it could be concluded that the scales of the questionnaire were reliable, and the questionnaire could be used for large-scale data collection in hope that the alpha values that were still on the margin would rise with a larger sample size (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012).
 

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4.1.1.2 Willingness and Ability to use ICT Devices (Pilot1RQs 2-3). The reliable scales of the pilot questionnaire gave grounds for some preliminary data analysis. As only 45 informants participated in the research, these results should indeed be regarded as preliminary and should be interpreted with caution (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012). Research questions two to four enquired into the extent to which Hungarian English majors are willing and able to use ICT devices, as well as whether learners use them for some apparent future advantages their usage provides. To answer these questions, descriptive statistics of the scales were calculated, with the results visible in Table 21.
 

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Table 21 Means and Standard Deviations of the Scales of the Learners’ Pilot Study
Scale
Free time use
Learning use
General use
1. Acceptance of ICT devices
3.88 (0.75)
2. Availability of ICT devices
4.63 (0.44)
3. Reasons for using ICT devices
4.20 (0.69)
4.48 (0.66)
4. Willingness for ICT skills development
3.57 (0.81)
3.60 (0.86)
5. Opportunities for ICT skills development
3.62 (0.89)
3.45 (0.92)
6. Perceived ability to use ICT devices
4.21 (0.54)
7. Substitution: ICT use over personal contact
3.01 (0.59)
3.13 (0.63)
8. Using ICT devices for language learning
4.04 (0.76)
9. Digital competences
4.31 (0.46)
Note. Mean averages with standard deviations in brackets.
 

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The results revealed (Table 21) that the Availability of ICT devices for Hungarian English majors is relatively high (M = 4.63; SD = 0.44); however, neither the Acceptance of ICT devices (M = 3.88; SD = 0.75) nor the Willingness to take part in ICT skills development (free time: M = 3.57; SD = 0.81; learning use: M = 3.60; SD = 0.86) approximate the high availability value. Learners are relatively competent users of ICT devices (M = 4.31; SD = 0.46), they do not unquestionably prefer device use over personal contact (free time: M = 3.01; SD = 0.59; learning use: M = 3.13; SD = 0.63), especially in their free time.

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It has been argued that ICT devices are educational tools for the learners rather than magic solutions to motivate and transform them into autonomous users of ICT devices for learning purposes, nevertheless the Availability value seems to key in with the Hungarian trends, as MDOS (2016) claimed that almost every university student owned a laptop. Moreover, several studies highlight that learners are competent users of technology, albeit not necessarily for studying purposes (Papp-Danka, 2013; Tóth-Mózer, 2014).
 

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4.1.1.3 ICT Devices to Substitute Face-to-face Communication (Pilot1RQ4). To find out if there is a difference in participants’ reported reasons for using ICT devices for learning and free time purposes, paired sample t-tests (Table 22) were run. The results shed light on the fact that learners have more positive attitudes towards using ICT devices for the apparent advantages their usage provides in the educational context (M = 4.48; SD = 0.66) over free time (M = 4.20; SD = 0.69), and as such, devices are much rather used for study purposes (t = 4.44; Sig. (2-tailed): p < 0.001).
 

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Table 22 Paired Sample t-test of Reasons for Using ICT Devices for Learning and Free Time Purposes of the Learners’ Pilot Study
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
Mean
St. Deviation
Std. Error mean
Lower
Upper
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Pair 1: Reasons_learn –
Reasons_free time
0.283
0.428
0.064
0.155
0.412
4.437
44
< 0.001
 

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4.1.1.4 The Relationships Between Digital Competences, Availability, and Acceptance Towards the use of ICT Devices (Pilot1RQ5). Research question five enquired about whether there are any statistically significant correlations between the constructs of Digital competences, Availability of ICT devices and Acceptance of ICT devices among Hungarian English majors. For this, bivariate Pearson correlation analyses were carried out (Table 23).
 

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Table 23 Bivariate Pearson Correlations between Availability and Acceptance of ICT Devices, and Digital Competences of the Learners’ Pilot Study
1.
2.
9.
1. Acceptance
.336
.326
2. Availability
.336
.455
9. Digital competences
.326
.455
 

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The results revealed a moderate correlation between Digital competences and Availability of ICT devices (r = 0.455; Sig. (2-tailed): p = 0.002), while there is a weak correlation between Digital competences and Acceptance of ICT devices (r = 0.326; Sig. (2-tailed): p = 0.029), and Acceptance of ICT devices and Availability of ICT devices (r = 0.336; Sig. (2-tailed): p = 0.024). However, Fisher’s r-to-z transformation, which is used to test if there is a significant difference between two correlation coefficients, revealed that the difference between the moderate and the weak correlations are not significant.

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The moderate correlation between Digital competences and Availability of ICT devices suggests that operating modern technological devices requires a set of specific skills to be mastered and is indeed more complex than just being able to use some software (EU, 2015; 2016; Tongori, 2012, M. Pintér, 2019) because they involve competences such as conscious digital information processing and problem solving (EU, 2015; 2016). It is somewhat surprising that there are only weak correlations between acceptance and digital competences, and acceptance and availability, but these are perhaps consequences of how much technology has become part of everyday life.
 

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4.1.1.5 Conclusions of the Learners’ Pilot Study. Based on two rounds of reliability analysis, the questionnaire proved to be suitable for large-scale data collection. While constructs with three items (Availability of ICT devices and Willingness for ICT skills development) and constructs below a 0.7 Cronbach’s alpha (Perceived ability to use ICT devices and ICT use over personal contact) are less desirable (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012), before the administration of the questionnaire on a larger sample, some additional modifications had to be made. As for the constructs with three items, additional items were added that would most likely raise the reliability of each construct (Dörnyei & Csizér, 2012). As far as Perceived ability to use ICT devices is concerned, it was worth considering excluding the construct altogether from the future administration of the questionnaire because the adapted construct of Digital competences proved to be more reliable, and the two constructs targeted to measure roughly the same issue (EU, 2015; 2016).

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Additionally, the construct of Digital competences had to be separated as the construct consisted of 18 items; thus, for the main study, this construct was divided into four following the EU’s (2015) digital competences grid: 1. Digital content creation and sharing, 2. Keeping up with the development, 3. Reliability of digital sources, 4. Using search engines. This separation contributed to a more sophisticated questionnaire and more detailed views on the complex dimensions of ICT use of Hungarian English and EFL majors.
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