The integration of information technology (ICT) into primary classrooms is increasingly crucial for engaging and stimulating digital young learners who are in daily contact with technology. In 2005 Bahrain Ministry of Education started King Hamad Future Schools Project which aimed to adopt the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in all government schools. However, there has not yet been any study that investigates the utilization of this technology in English language teaching either in primary or in intermediate and secondary schools. This thesis studies the employment and effectiveness of IWB in teaching English vocabulary to 104 young learners and their attitude and perception towards its use in their learning. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, through questionnaire, language tests and classroom observations. The questionnaire and the observation results indicated that IWB is highly rated and preferred by the participating young learners. Three themes emerged from observation. The first theme is the IWB impact on children as learners which entails its influence on the children’s interaction, their learning, and their behaviour; the second theme is the impact of IWB on pedagogy; this involves the use of IWB multimedia, its presentational mode of range, and the use of games. The third and final theme is the IWB’s interactional affordances that include the teachers and the pupils’ use and control of the interactive board and the IWB’s effects on the lesson’s space. The analysis of the vocabulary tests has shown a positive impact on the learning of English vocabulary which was reflected by the pupils’ test results. As the study was conducted in Bahrain and on limited number of young learners, its results are limited and cannot be generalised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:744001 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Al Dosary, Eman |
| Contributors | Durrant, Phill ; Salter-Dvorak, Hania |
| Publisher | University of Exeter |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32860 |
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