Abstract

Efforts to upgrade and expand basic ICT infrastructure are currently underway in all schools throughout the state of Sarawak. Being the largest state in Malaysia and with a majority of its schools presently situated in its rural regions, the diffusion of technological innovations in such instructional context however continues to be an uphill task. While much of the attention has been on the deployment of technological infrastructure in its school premises, it is argued that institutionalization of technological innovations in instructional practices in the state is contingent upon the kind of support received by its teachers when implementing ICT practices in their classroom teaching. Recent studies on the effect of ICT implementation in rural communities in Sarawak have also indicated that the benefits of technology accessibility may not be immediately experienced by the pupils in the rural regions without them having a good command of the English Language in the first place. With these as the premises, this study sought to investigate the concerns, which English Language teachers from two primary divisions in the state of Sarawak have, about adoption of technological innovations in their instructions and to ascertain whether significant difference in the concern profile existed amongst the teachers based on selected demographic groupings. This paper will discuss findings of this study and addresses the implications of such findings on the measures of intervention that can be extended to facilitate institutionalization of technology in ESL classrooms in the state.