Abstract

Clickers (or Classroom Response Systems) are becoming increasingly commonplace in educational settings, especially in science classrooms and academic lecture settings (e.g., Fies & Marshall, 2006). Surprisingly,the use of clickers is not as widespread in foreign and second language (L2) education (Tabak & Cardoso, 2009) and the number of studies that address the pedagogical potential of the technology in L2 settings is still scarce (Cutrim Schmid, 2007). One of the goals of this study is to address this gap in the literature by investigating English as a foreign language learners' perception of clickers and the apparent effect that this technology can have on learning outcomes. Overall, the results are consistent with the consensus that students perceive these devices as a positive addition to their classes, as their use increases participation and the general enjoyment of classes (Caldwell, 2007), contributes to learning (Bruff, 2009), fosters interaction (Mazur, 1997), and allows learners to self-asses and compare their performance with that of their peers (Bruff, 2009).