Teaching EFL with Interactive Whiteboards: Do the Benefits Outweigh the Drawbacks?

Abstract

Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have been used in the educational context of Iran since 2009 and formally introduced to the educational context of Iran by the Iranian Ministry of Education in 2011. This study sets out to investigate how Iranian EFL teachers use IWBs in the classroom and what difficulties and challenges they may encounter when they use this technology. To this end, a total of 71 Iranian EFL teachers who taught EFL at secondary schools participated in the study. A questionnaire and interviews were developed as the instruments. The findings revealed the positive views and perspectives of teachers about the use of IWBs, while several curricular, training, pragmatic, and infrastructural obstacles and challenges were also reported. The results also showed that the teachers used IWBs in a limited way and mostly underused them. The IWBs were mainly utilized as a means to connecting to the Internet or showing videos and pictures occasionally. The teachers believed that the IWBs can be employed to teach different language skills and sub-skills. The teachers deemed some measures such as continuous training, the change of the traditional and rigid curricula, and support from educational directors and planners as important and necessary. The study has implications for the proper use of IWBs and the implementation of IWB-based teacher training in EFL instruction in different parts of the world.