Familiarity with Information and Communication Technology: A Study of the TESL Undergraduates of the Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is now an essential part of tertiary education around the world. Through the use of ICT, students benefit more from their learning through seamless communication and synchronous knowledge interchange with others, be it on or off campus. To ensure that ICT can be integrated effectively into students’ learning, there is a need to identify students’ level and capability of ICT usage. Given the differences that may exist in the levels of ICT familiarity for Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students who come from diverse backgrounds, there is a need to study the use of ICT among the students in order to effectively plan for lessons integrating ICT. This survey examines the usage of ICT among UiTM Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students in their third or fourth semesters. The study covers the availability of ICT, use of ICT at home, use of ICT at school and attitudes towards computers. It was found that students are familiar with ICT and that they have positive attitudes towards using ICT for personal and educational purposes.