Iranian Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of Interactive Whiteboards in English Language Teaching Classrooms

Abstract

This study explored the attitudes of Iranian teachers about utilizing Interactive White Boards (IWBs) in EFL classrooms. The main goal of this paper was to evaluate teachers’ beliefs about IWB use and frequency of IWB usage in Iranian schools. To achieve this aim, 174 EFL teachers who used IWB for instruction from different educational levels (grade 6 to 11) participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of 22 questions was developed by the teacher-researcher based on an extensive literature review on related instructional theories and models. The questionnaire was distributed to the English teachers through both paper and e-mail. Teachers' beliefs and attitudes about the IWB use were studied with respect to four main themes: instructional effects, motivational effects, usability, and frequency. The findings of this study indicated that Iranian EFL teachers hold positive attitudes towards the effects of IWB use in their classrooms in general. It was also found that the more teachers frequently use IWBs, the more they improve their IWB competencies.