Secondary Pre-service English Teachers’ Response to CALL Innovation in Cambodia

Lian (2021) outlined arguments for international collaboration in teacher education in Southeast Asia. In the same paper, Lian also identified technology-based systems that have shown to be successful in already completed projects with pre-service teachers in Indonesia. However, no method guarantees success as each teaching context presents new challenges and new opportunities for reflection. In this paper, the authors share their team’s reflections on a project that involved the use of CALL-based systems with pre-service secondary teachers of English in Cambodia in an online only environment. In every way, this was a new experience for the participating students. The project engaged collaborators from Cambodia and Australia. The present paper describes the context of this collaboration and presents the data that illustrate how pre-service teachers in Cambodia responded to the innovation. For projects of this kind to have an impact beyond their immediate context, it is necessary for educators to involve project reference groups in an ongoing evaluation of the programs and the factor that affect student engagement. This time, the funding was limited, which in turn affected the reference group’s engagement and commitment to the project. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that online only environments are not suitable in contexts that depend on reliable and quick internet and that present a steep learning curve for the students.