The Importance of Using Information Communication Technology for Learning and Teaching the English Language in Kurdistan of Iraq

Kurdistan as a region in north of Iraq has undergone significant changes regarding its educational system, and using ICTs (information communication technologies) for teaching and learning English has been given a great role in the system. There are many researchers who wrote about the benefits and the challenges of using ICTs. As the term ICT includes many kinds of devices and applications, students and teachers in Kurdistan are using various types of ICTs inside or outside of the schools. Students and teachers use ICTs for teaching and learning the skills of the English language such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Although it is new for Kurdistan to imbed ICTs on a broad scale, there are also challenges and side effects. In that respect, this study tries demonstrating the importance of using ICTs, benefits, challenges, and negative sides in Kurdistan in the perspective of both teachers and students. The results of the study show that teachers and students in Kurdistan find ICTs very beneficial for improving their English language proficiency. The Importance of Using ICTS for Learning and Teaching the English Language in Kurdistan of Iraq 1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction Embedding ICTs (information and communication technologies) in education has become a hot topic for educators around the world. There are many people who for example, consider the significance of technology in education as a need. Concerning using ICTs, many researchers such as Watson (2001) (P. 251) talk about the experiences of using ICT and the reasons why ICTs should be in education in the UK (United Kingdom). He states that “IT (information technology) is not only perceived as a catalyst for change, but also change in teaching style, change in learning approaches, and change in access to information. ” According to what he says Kurdistan is in need of such ICT usage because Kurdistan has started to implement almost all the changes that he talks about; for example, changes in the curriculum of the English language from K to 12 to integrate ICTs in 2001. After that, teachers‟ perspectives have changed. They followed a traditional method before that change, but now they are following more communicative and interactive approaches of teaching. Livingstone (2012) shows that kids are more attracted to technologies that encourage their learning. For that reason, using technology in Kurdistan can change the attitudes of the learners and then teachers regarding learning and teaching. When the learners are attracted to the lesson, they may find the lesson enjoyable. As a result, Kurdish learners might embrace it as a replacement of the former traditional way of learning. However, there are some teachers who may still reject it because of the inconveniences such as lacking skills, training courses, and access to ICTs that are happening in Kurdistan, but that might not hinder the development of using ICTs. The Importance of Using ICTS for Learning and Teaching the English Language in Kurdistan of Iraq 2 1.1 Background of the Progresses and Using Technology in Kurdistan of Iraq in Education For doing a study like this it would be better to have a view of the current system of education in Kurdistan region of Iraq according to the stages of studying from kindergarten to college. It starts with a 2 year pre-school education for 4-5 year old children (not compulsory), then primary school which is 6 years compulsory primary education for 6-11 year old children. After that is a 3 year stage of middle school for 12-15 year old children, and the next 3 years are high school for 15 to 18 year old teenagers. Then, college and higher education starts (Party, 2017). In addition to the stages of education, Akrawi (2011) talks about the way that teachers teach in Kurdistan. She states that the traditional method of teaching style in Kurdistan is an autocratic or a teacher-centered (authoritative) way of teaching. Then, she compares Kurdistan to Northern Europe (the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) where they have studentcentered learning (SCL). She cites Li (2007) that for having an SCL environment there should be interaction and communication. As a result, the communication becomes even more effective when it is integrated with ICT. Applying such change in education draws attention toward the communicative approach which will be discussed in the next section. Another part of the educational background of Kurdistan is that the Ministry of Education from the Kurdistan Regional Government has undergone a big growth of education in the late 1990s and afterwards. They tried to make changes in the curriculum. The goal was to change it for a better one that was more intense and updated, to develop the system to fit with the modern systems of education. As a result, in 2001-2003 a great change in education occurred in the curriculum. During that change and afterwards many technological trends happened throughout the country. For example in 2007 UNESCO tried accelerating E-learning in Iraq, and a part of it The Importance of Using ICTS for Learning and Teaching the English Language in Kurdistan of Iraq 3 was for the Iraqi Kurdish people in the Kurdistan region as cited on UNESCO Office for Iraq‟s