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4.2 The Participants’ Perception of their Abilities of using the IWB and their Integration
of it in ELT .................................................................................................................................................. 22
4.3 The Beneficial Aspects of using the IWB in ELT ..................................................................... 24
4.4 Factors that affect the Participants’ integration of IWB in ELT ........................................ 26
4.3 Summary ............................................................................................................................................. 30
5. Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 31
5.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards using Interactive Whiteboards in English Language
Teaching ..................................................................................................................................................... 31
5.2 Time and training; two important factors ............................................................................... 33
5.3 Benefits with the Interactive Whiteboard ............................................................................... 34
6. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 37
7. References .................................................................................................................................. 39
8. Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 43

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1. Introduction 
The Interactive Whiteboard first appeared in schools two decades ago with the belief and 
hope that the technology would become the most innovative and revolutionary tool in the 
educational workspace. It was supposed to replace the blackboard, which had had a 
substantial impact on teaching for the last 200 years (Betcher and Lee, 2010). The large 
touch-sensitive interactive screen is a fully interactive tool that unites many other digital 
technologies as a convenient means of delivering a range of Information and communication 
technological aids in the classroom. In English Language Teaching, the Interactive 
whiteboard has opened up for many possibilities in teaching, creating potentially unlimited 
opportunities for communicative and interactive classroom activities. The prime benefit with 
the interactive whiteboard is that it supports interactivity and communication, which is an 
important part of language learning. English has become a universal language and developed 
a necessity for people to have good English communication skills (Lundahl, 2012), which 
makes communication and interactivity an essential part in language learning. Another 
advantage with the interactive whiteboard is that it supports all modes of teacher interaction 
with learners. It can be used in whole-class-, small group- and personalized-teaching (Betcher 
and Lee ibid). Additionally, it supports many different learning-styles, such as: 
kinesthetic, 
visual, audio, active, and verbal-social
(Glover et al., 2005). However, despite these many 
positive functions, possibilities and benefits, there is still a lack of evidence as to whether the 
interactive whiteboard has any effect on the pupils’ achievements or not (Hockly, 2013).
For the interactive whiteboard to create any improvement in the pupils’ language 
proficiencies it has to be used regularly and interactively, it has to become a natural part of 
teaching. Betcher and Lee (op cit) contend that teachers’ attitudes towards the interactive 
whiteboard have a great impact on whether the interactive whiteboard will have a successful 
effect on teaching and learning or not (Betcher, Lee, ibid). They claim that, to improve 
teaching and learning, putting an interactive whiteboard in the classroom is not enough. In 
order to be of greatest benefit to the learner, the interactive whiteboard has to become a part 
of the everyday teaching and learning process and teachers need to gain confidence in using it 
effectively. Training and a change of pedagogy from transmission to interaction are crucial 

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for a successful use of the technology. Consequently, the pressure seems to be on teachers to 
incorporate the interactive whiteboard into their pedagogical and technological frameworks. 
Moreover, despite the interactive whiteboard’s many interactive functions and benefits for 
teaching, teachers do not use it to its full capacity; instead it has become a substitute for the 
traditional whiteboard.