The Use of Interactive Whiteboards for English Foreign Language

Education

Xiaojun Wang

, Jiří Dostál

and Hana Bučková

Faculty of Education, Palacký University Olomouc, Zizkovo nám. 5, Olomouc, Czech Republic

Keywords: Interactivity, Whiteboard, Computer, English Foreign Language, Education.

Abstract: This paper highlights the usefulness of interactive whiteboards in improving teaching and learning English as

a foreign language. For language learning, it is important to develop learners’ communicative competence as

language is a vehicle for communication. It is not uncommon that learners who master grammar principles

nevertheless fail to speak confidently in real situations. Interaction, which involves input and output, is critical

in developing communicative competence in a language. The interactive whiteboard, as implied by the name,

can increase interaction between teachers and learners and among learners, as opposed to a plain whiteboard,

since the main function of interactive whiteboards is its interactivity. Thus it can be an effective tool for

English education. This paper explains from both the theoretical and the practical viewpoint the advantages

and techniques involved in the use of interactive whiteboards in teaching English as a foreign language in

order to encourage educators and English foreign language teachers to implement interactive whiteboards in

teaching so as to improve the outcomes of English education, and it also points out common pitfalls the

teachers should avoid.

1 INTRODUCTION

English has become an international language and

plays an important role in our lives. With the help of

English, people with different cultures and different

language backgrounds can communicate with each

other. Governments worldwide attach much

importance to English education in their countries.

The big challenge of learning English in many

countries is a lack of authentic language speaking

environment and limited time for communication in

class. It was reported that there is a lack of interaction

for real communication in English foreign language

classes (Gklouzeli, 2015). The English classroom, in

most circumstances, is formed by a teacher standing

before a podium and students taking notes during the

lesson. The lack of authentic language speaking

environment and limited chance of communication

will lead to a lack of proficiency in communicative

competence of language. With the increasing

frequency of communication between countries and

people, the demands of communicative competence

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of English language increase. No matter language is

a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning or

a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relations

and for the performance of social transactions

between individuals (Richards and Rodgers, 1986),

communicative competence is of pivotal importance

as an indicator of language level.

The coming of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) and the studies proving that ICT

can enhance the outcomes of education suggest to us

using modern technology to achieve more effective

ways of teaching and learning English as a foreign

language. The development of digital technology

offers us a variety of options. Among the various

kinds of ICT tools, the interactive whiteboard can be

an ideal ICT tool for English education. An

interactive whiteboard is a modern instructional tool

proved to be an effective technology facilitating

teaching and learning. According to findings from

British Education Communications and Technology

Agency (BECTA, 2003) (BECTA is that

government’s lead agency for Information and

Wang, X., DostÃ ˛al, J. and BuÄ kovÃ ˛a, H.

The Use of Interactive Whiteboards for English Foreign Language Education.

DOI: 10.5220/0007720601690174

In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2019), pages 169-174

ISBN: 978-989-758-367-4

169

Communication Technology in education),

interactive whiteboards can provide benefits to both

teachers and students. For teachers, interactive

whiteboards can encourage spontaneity and

flexibility, allowing teachers to draw on and annotate

a wide range of web-based resources; enable teachers

to save and print what is on the board, including any

notes made during the lesson, reducing duplication of

effort and facilitating revision; allow teachers to share

and re-use materials, reducing workloads; have been

widely reported to be easier to use than a computer in

teaching. For students, interactive whiteboards can

increase enjoyment and motivation; provide greater

opportunities for participation and collaboration,

developing students‘ personal and social skills;

reduce the need for note-taking through the capacity

to save and print what appears on the board; etc.

Research showed that interactive whiteboards can

improve student learning because there are increasing

attention and participation in the learning process

(Olivares and Castillo, 2018). A study by (Tertemiz,

2015) indicated that both teachers and students held

the view that interactive whiteboards can reduce

distractions and attract student attention. Luo and

Yang (2016) researched the effect of the interactive

functions of whiteboards on elementary students’

learning. The findings showed that teachers’ use of

the interactive whiteboards’ basic interactive function

helps to enhance students’ willingness to learn and

enjoyment of learning. It is an undeniable fact that

through active involvement in instruction pupils learn

more effectively (Dostál, 2011).

This article aims to introduce the interactive

whiteboards as instruments for teaching English as a

foreign language. Features of the interactive

whiteboards and scientific basis of incorporating

interactive whiteboards will be presented.

Educational applications of interactive whiteboards

in English foreign language education will also be

highlighted. To conclude, the issue of the effective

use of interactive whiteboards in real situation and

suggestions to effective integration will be provided.

2 METHODOLOGY

The paper aims to elaborate the potential of

interactive whiteboards for English education. This is

achieved by studying the affordability of interactive

whiteboards, the scientific basis of using interactive

whiteboards in teaching and the previous research

published in journals and conference proceedings

included in Web of Scientific and SCOPUS, with

respect to using interactive whiteboards for English

education. In other words, theoretical and qualitative

analysis is employed in the study.

3 FEATURES OF THE

INTERACTIVE

WHITEBOARDS

Interactive whiteboards are a conglomeration of all

previous educational technologies like the chalkboard,

plain whiteboard, television, video, overhead

projector, CD player and personal computer, but with

the added advantage of being able to interact with

various elements of these media (Hall and Higgins,

2005). BECTA (2003) gives the definition of

interactive whiteboards as follows:

An interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-

sensitive board which is connected to a digital

projector and a computer. The projector displays the

image from the computer screen onto the board. The

computer can then be controlled by touching the

board, either directly or with a special pen. Among

the potential applications are:

 using web-based resources in whole-class

teaching

 showing video clips to help explain concepts

 demonstrating a piece of software

 presenting students’ work to the rest of the

class

 creating digital flipcharts

 manipulating text and practicing handwriting

 quick and seamless revision.

Interactive whiteboards include three main parts:

the whiteboard, the projector, and the computer. The

projector shoots an image onto the interactive

whiteboard. Materials and software on the computer

can be displayed on the interactive whiteboard.

Normally, we operate a computer with a mouse, but

with an interactive whiteboard, we can use our hands

and a tool. The whiteboard is touch-sensitive.

Whether a Word document or PowerPoint, you can

open it just by tapping on the screen with fingers. You

can write anything on the board by hand, and your

handwriting can be cleaned by hand or by a digital

eraser.

The electronic touch-sensitive whiteboard can act

as an overhead projector screen, as well as a platform

that operations can be made on it. The electronic pen

can be used to edit, modify or save previously written

CSEDU 2019 - 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

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text. With the electronic pen, the difficult information

to teach and important points can be marked with

different colours, helping students know well the

difficult and important points in the learning.

Meanwhile, the edited materials can be saved in a

different format and sent to students so that students

do not need to take notes in class, allowing the

students to devote their attention to participation in

class. Teachers can make a real-time record of the

whole classroom teaching process for students to

review learned knowledge after class. Compared to

projector multimedia, the main function of which is

used for displaying text, pictures, WORD,

PowerPoint, etc., an interactive whiteboard, by

enabling teachers to make marks or notes on the

materials, is a more effective instructional tool. In

addition, interactive whiteboards include various

kinds of digital teaching materials, teachers can direct

use these resources or utilize the materials to make

individual teaching plan and courseware.

Most interactive whiteboards contain interactive

textbooks containing videos, audio, hyperlinks and

extra materials, helping teachers save time for

preparing lessons. There are many interactive

software programs, such as ActivInspire, Smart

Notebook, etc., built in the interactive whiteboards.

Teachers can use these interactive programs to

create tests or questions and students can do

exercises by directly operating the whiteboard

during the lessons, which increases interactions in

class. Interactivity is an approach to learning in

which the teacher and learners interact to ensure

understanding, enhance conceptual development

and stimulate debate. Learning is stimulated through

participation rather than through the rote or passive

learning which characterizes didactic approaches

(Thomas, 2010).

The response system is another attractive function.

All students can have boxes resembling mobiles

phones, with which they can interact with the

interactive whiteboard simultaneously. When

teachers create exercises or activities, students are

asked to press buttons to choose their answer.

Afterwards, they can see the feedback immediately.

This affordance increases students’ engagement.

4 THEORETICAL BASES

4.1 Constructivism

Constructivism is an influential theory in the field of

education that delineates and sheds light on the

essence and nature of education. According to

constructivism, learning is a process of constructing

meaning, which is achieved by the interaction

between existing knowledge and new ideas. That

means learning is a process of discovering the

relationship between what is already known and

something new. In other words, knowledge is not

merely imparted to the student by the teacher but

gained by construction of meaning which is

conceptualized within the existing context. From a

constructivist point of view, a context is important

to learning because the construction of meaning

cannot take place without a context (Slavin, 2003).

The aforementioned context is better referenced in a

learning environment in which the teacher can

interact with students and students can also interact

with each other. It is acknowledged that a better

learning environment or atmosphere plays an

important role in learning in that it can facilitate

students’ understanding of knowledge.

For English language study, language

environment is crucial. The biggest challenge of

learning English in non-native speaking countries is a

lack of an authentic English speaking environment. In

most cases, students cannot access a real language

environment in the traditional classroom. Interactive

whiteboards enable teachers to integrate a large

number of teaching resources such as educational

software, audio, videos, pictures, animation, etc., into

the teaching process, which enables students to listen

to native speakers’ spoken English. The use of

educational software, audio, videos, images,

animation also helps effectively activate the

connection of the old knowledge and the new

knowledge, thus helping students understand and

process the new knowledge. In addition, the use of

interactive whiteboards capable of integrating various

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

and multimedia in the classroom can provide an

authentic language learning environment, promoting

interactions between teachers and students. A

constructivist classroom is student-focused, and the

teacher acts more as a facilitator than in the one-

directional model of the traditional teacher-centered

classroom.

Constructivists believe that student-focused

instruction can help students become active learners,

instead of just passive learners. Active participation

is crucial to the retention of usable knowledge. The

main affordability of an interactive whiteboard is its

interactive function that increases classroom

interactions between teachers and students and

among students themselves.

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171

4.2 Theory of Second Language

Acquisition

Humans acquire language in only one way - by

understanding messages or by receiving

‘comprehensible input’ (Krashen, 1985). Speaking

is a result of acquisition and not its cause.

Speech cannot be taught directly but ‘emerges’ on

its own as a result of building competence via

comprehensible input. If input is understood, and

there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is

automatically produced (Krashen, 1985). Although

comprehensible input is necessary for acquisition, it

is not sufficient. The ‘affective filter’ is a mental

block that prevents acquirers from fully utilizing

that comprehensible input they receive for language

acquisition. When the acquirer is anxious,

unmotivated or unconfident in the process of

receiving a message, he or she may understand what

he hears and reads, but the input will not reach the

LAD (Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device:

LAD). When this happens, we say the filter is up.

And the filter is down when the acquirer is not

concerned with the possibility of failure in language

acquisition and when he considers himself to be a

potential member of the group speaking the target

language. The filter is lowest when the acquirer is

more involved in the message (Krashen, 1985). We

can summarize that comprehensible input and a low

affective filter are two important factors

encouraging second-language acquisition (Krashen,

1985). Using interactive whiteboards can help

students achieve comprehensible input and a lower

affective filter. Firstly, when using interactive

whiteboards in teaching, the teacher can use videos,

pictures, images, and animation, which are built-in

or stored in interactive whiteboards, to help students

understand knowledge. Sometimes knowledge and

ideas are abstract and complicated so that it is not

easy for students to understand without the help of

these aids. In other words, these technological aids

make input more comprehensible. Additionally,

with the help of an interactive whiteboard, the

teacher can integrate words, pictures, images, videos,

audio, animations, etc., into the teaching material,

presenting teaching content in a vivid way, and

students can also physically manipulate the texts on

the whiteboard, making learning more enjoyable,

thus reducing the anxiety and enhancing students’

motivation for learning.

5 APPLICATIONS OF

INTERACTIVE

WHITEBOARDS IN EFL

EDUCATION

A noteworthy number of studies have accredited that

interactive whiteboards can improve the outcomes of

English education. In an article by Zezulková (2017),

the interactive whiteboard was used to teach English

lessons. The subjects were 11 to 15-year-old students.

In the study, the teacher designed speaking,

vocabulary, grammar, writing, reading and listening

activities with the help of an interactive whiteboard.

For example, for developing students’ speaking skills,

the teacher created an activity called “one story”.

Firstly, the teacher presented an image on the board

and then told the students to tell a story. The first

student would initiate the story and stop in the middle

of a sentence. Then the second student continued the

story. Like the first student, the second student also

stopped in the middle of a sentence. And the rest of

the student followed the same pattern until the teacher

told them to finish it. For vocabulary learning, the

teacher created an activity called “one body” in which

the teacher presented a person’s silhouette and icon

(speakers) on the interactive whiteboard. By clicking

on the icons, the students can listen to the words about

body parts. The students can come to the whiteboard

and drag the body parts to the right place on the

silhouette. Grammar learning is not infrequently

unpopular with students. Interactive whiteboards can

make grammar learning more interesting. In the

research, the teacher used the “word order” activity to

teach grammar, in which a few sentences were

divided into single words and can be dragged on the

screen. The students were invited to come to the

whiteboard to put the words in the right order.

The writing activity in the study was similar to the

aforementioned speaking activity. In the writing

activity, the students were told to write a short story

together. The teacher prepared a blank page on the

whiteboard and the first student was asked to come to

the front to write one sentence but stop in the middle

of the sentence. The second student would finish the

partial sentence and start a new one, and the rest of

the students followed this pattern until it was finished.

In the listening activity, students were required to

listen to some people talking and drew what the

people had been talking about. Likewise, the students

were asked to come to the front to draw something

which can be drawn simply, such as a house, the sun,

a car, etc., according to what they hear. The recording

can be replayed if necessary, and the pictures can be

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saved and used to retell the story next time. As to the

reading activity, the teacher prepared one or more

poems or rhymes in the interactive whiteboard. The

students were asked to come to the board and drag the

rhyming words to pairs. Then the students practiced

the pronunciation with the teacher. Finally, they read

the whole poem. The result indicated that the

activities designed by using an interactive whiteboard

led to an increasing interaction and cooperation

between the teacher and students and amongst

students. And students became more active in the

class.

Gkiouzeli (2015) studied the role of interactive

whiteboards in English as a foreign language class in

Greece. He reported that interactive whiteboards

increased the students’ participation when the

pedagogical tools the teachers used were

complemented by stimulating materials presented on

the interactive whiteboards and the way the

interactive whiteboard intervenes and affects the

interpersonal exchanges between teachers and

students looks like real life exchanges. Language is a

living thing, so the best way to learn a language is in

an interactive and authentic environment (Lin and

Chu, 2018). In other words, the study showed that the

use of an interactive whiteboard can facilitate English

teaching and learning.

Dudáková (2013) researched using interactive

whiteboards in teaching English in the Czech

Republic. The participants were English foreign

language teachers from primary, lower, upper

secondary language schools and kindergartens. A

questionnaire was used in the survey. In the study, the

majority of teachers held the view that interactive

whiteboards are supportive in all areas of English

teaching, including practice, vocabulary, grammar,

listening, presentation, reading, writing, tests,

speaking. They considered that interactive

whiteboards make teaching more effective.

Katwibun (2014) studied the use of interactive

whiteboards in vocabulary teaching. The subjects

were 51 11th-grade students. The research

instruments consisted of three lesson plans, three

interactive whiteboard instructional media packets,

post-teaching teacher’s notes, vocabulary knowledge

tests, students’ participation observation form, and

attitude questionnaire. Visual and audio tools of

interactive whiteboards were used to teach

vocabulary. A vocabulary knowledge test was

employed to assess students’ vocabulary knowledge

after using the interactive whiteboard. The study

showed that implementing interactive whiteboards as

instructional tools in vocabulary teaching can

improve students’ vocabulary knowledge and it can

also increase students’ participation and motivation in

English learning.

Consistent with the above findings, a study by Lin

and Chu (2018) on the effectiveness of the interactive

whiteboards on English language teaching indicated

that the interactive whiteboards can improve the

outcomes of English education. The participants in

the study were 43 students from Grade 3 in Sahes

Elementary School in Taiwan and their language

proficiency level was not significantly different

before the study. The students were divided into two

groups: the experimental group and the control group.

The former were taught through interactive

whiteboard-based instruction and the latter through

normal instruction. After several weeks of instruction,

the two groups were given an immediate test and a

retention test respectively. The results revealed that

the experimental group significantly outperformed

the control group on both the students’ immediate test

and retention test. In addition, most students said that

they enjoyed the interactive whiteboard-based

learning environment.

6 CONCLUSIONS

This paper discusses the potential of the interactive

whiteboards in teaching English as a foreign language.

In general, the majority of studies indicated that the

interactive whiteboards are proven technological

tools. However, it is the teacher who implements it

that makes the changes happen rather than the

functionalities of the interactive whiteboard itself.

Recent research indicated that most teachers use it as

a projector in teaching practice and the interactive

function is in most case neglected. Many teachers

seem to use the interactive whiteboard merely as a

large –scale visual blackboard or a simple

presentation tool. As a consequence, the use of

interactive whiteboards often has no significant

impact on teachers’ pedagogy (Vita, et al, 2018).

Research found out that there is a need for teachers to

improve technological competencies and abilities in

schools. Teachers’ knowledge of effectively using

interactive whiteboards is often insufficient (Olivares

and Castillo, 2018). Exerting the most interactive

effect of the whiteboard depends on teachers because

teachers determine how it can be used in the

classroom. For effective classes, especially for

communicative ones involving lots of interaction in

the classroom, teachers need to focus on developing

their pedagogy because the technology is only the

means for serving to that purpose (Toscu, 2013).

The Use of Interactive Whiteboards for English Foreign Language Education

173

Teachers’ competence in using interactive

whiteboard plays an important role in the integration

of technology in educational settings in which the

affordances of the technology come into play.

Therefore, in order to enhance teaching quality and

effectiveness of student learning, due measures

should be taken to train teaching staff to be competent

in using the interactive whiteboards. Investment in

good quality training on the pedagogical use of this

technology becomes increasingly important. Special

emphasis should be placed on how this technology

can be exploited to develop pedagogical practices

based on a socio-cognitive view of communicative

teaching, which is in line with the latest developments

in language teaching research and practice (Hadadi,

et al., 2014).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The paper was created with a financial support of the

project of Grant fund of the Dean of the Faculty of

Education, Palacký University Olomouc, 2019 in the

framework of the project "Curricular Innovations of

the Subject of Computing in the Context of the

Teachers' Opinion and Research of Optimal

Preparation of Future EFL Teachers for the Use of

Information Technologies in Class".

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