Exploring Malaysian Trainee Teachers’ Adoption of the Internet as Information Tool

Abstract

This study reports the usage of three commercial Internet search engines in information seeking among trainee teachers at a teacher training institute in Malaysia. It attempts to investigate the information seeking behavior of the trainees via three Internet search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) as gateways to information for research in academic learning using two cohorts of trainee teachers. The study surveyed 166 trainee teachers undergoing a 5-year Bachelor’s Degree program and compares the statistical differences on gender, programs and years of computer technology experiences. The results revealed that there were significant differences between gender for all the three search engines. Furthermore it also indicated that there was a significant difference between TESL and PISMP group for Yahoo and MSN but not for Google. A significant difference was also observed between years of computer technology experiences and the frequency of usage in the case of MSN. Post hoc test revealed a significant difference in the Internet search between those with more than 7 years of experience with those with less than 2 years experience and those between 2-4 years computing experience. The results provide insight into TESL and PPISMP trainee teachers’ use of the Internet search engines as a tool in information seeking when approaching research for their academic learning activities. Implications on the impact of the Internet to the trainee teachers’ academic learning in approaching research needs were discussed.