Teachers are important social agents who affect students' cognitive and social behaviors, including students' self-directed use of technology for language learning outside the classroom. However, how teachers influence student behaviors may vary across cultures, and understanding how teacher influences vary across different cultures is critical to developing culturally adaptive approaches to enhance students' self-directed use of technology for learning outside the classroom. This study surveyed 418 undergraduate foreign language learners (190 from Hong Kong and 228 from the U.S.) on their intention to use technology for language learning outside the classroom, teacher influence and other psychosocial factors that may affect their technology use intentions. Structural equation modeling analyses of the survey responses indicated that teacher capacity support was consistently the most influential teacher practice affecting students' self-directed technology use across the two cultures, whereas teacher affective support and teacher behavior support were significant predictors for Hong Kong students but not for U.S. students.
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The use of educational technology by Hong Kong primary school teachers has been realized by the government’s long-term support to the technology infrastructure, professional training, technical support, and development of teaching resources in local primary schools. However, the high adoption rate may not reflect the willingness of teachers to accept technology for educational purposes. Presently, there is no existing research investigating in-service primary teachers’ technology acceptance in Hong Kong. The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ acceptance of technology and the influencing factors behind their acceptance. This study takes a quantitative approach to investigate 185 primary teachers in Hong Kong using Structural Equation Modeling on a customized Technology Acceptance Model. The results suggest that contrary to common belief, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology have little influence on behavioral intention of use in our research context. Rather, a pragmatic consideration of facilitating conditions is found to be a strong dominating factor. A context-specific interpretation of the results is provided. Implications on school policy are also discussed to provide insights for the development of educational technology.
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