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Humanities
- ISSN: 2155-7993
- Journal of Modern Education Review
Investigating Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Effectiveness of Using Interactive Whiteboards When Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Mohammed Hassan Alshaikhi
(Institute of Education, University of Reading, UK)
Abstract: This paper investigates teachers’ attitudes towards Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in English language (ELT) classrooms in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The paper is based on the theoretical framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which explains individuals’ behaviour in accepting and adopting the use of technology. A two-phase case study approach using questionnaires and interviews was employed to investigate the attitudes of teachers towards integrating IWBs in English classrooms with the objective of identifying their different features, usages, usefulness, and ease of usage. The study took place at six male state schools. The results show that the majority of teachers in the sample have positive attitudes towards the usefulness and ease of using IWBs. Teachers believe that IWBs provide a productive teaching method to enable them to motivate their pupils and work cooperatively and that they remarkably improve children’s cognitive learning, particularly in primary schools. Teachers believe that the basic system of IWBs is easy to use and helps them to save time; however, there are some functions of IWBs that could be used to increase teachers’ productivity through providing appropriate training sessions. This paper concludes with teachers’ belief that IWBs are a potential means of receiving knowledge and information. Further investment is required into providing more training sessions by professional trainers to enable teachers to use all the features of IWBs.
Keywords: English teachers, attitudes, IWBs, TAM
