Factors influencing the use of instructional media by middle school teachers in two school districts in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing the use of instructional media by middle school teachers in Riyadh and Jizan, Saudi Arabia.

The major findings of this study were: (1) Instructional media was assessed as being unavailable in their schools by 56% of Riyadh's teachers and 68% of Jizan's teachers. (2) In-service training programs in the use of instructional media were considered as essential need for teachers by 71% of Riyadh's teachers and 67% of Jizan's teachers. (3) Sixty-one percent of the total responses from Riyadh and 62% of the total responses from Jizan indicated the importance of having a media specialist in every middle school. (4) School administration was indicated by 72% of Riyadh's teachers and 55% of Jizan's teachers as being discouraging teachers from using AV materials in teaching. (5) Seventy percent of Jizan's teachers and 53% of Riyadh's teachers reported that their schools lack the basic facilities to house AV materials and equipment. (6) The relationship between subject area of teaching and the use of instructional media by teachers was found significant at (P .05). A negative correlation was found between the two variables in both school districts (r = -.04) in Riyadh, and (r = -.03) in Jizan. (10) The most important factors influencing the teachers' use of instructional media were decided by both samples (Riyadh and Jizan) as: (A) Media availability. (B) Previous experience with the use of instructional media. (C) In-Service training programs. (D) Physical arrangement of the schools.

The collected data was analyzed by using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Three different techniques were employed for data analysis: percentages, analysis of variance, and Pearson Product Moment of Correlation Coefficient.

Research questionnaires were developed for the purpose of this study and were distributed to teachers randomly. Four hundred eighty six was the total number of participants from both school districts Riyadh (339), and Jizan (147).