Children’s perceptions of learning with an interactive whiteboard Lorena Ya ´n ˜ez and Yvette Coyle The appearance of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools in Britain and other parts of the world has been accompanied by research that attempts to analyse their effects on teaching and learning processes. The majority of studies to date have been carried out in schools in England in mainstream numeracy and literacy classes. The present paper attempts to contribute to this growing body of research by focusing on IWB use in a different learning context: an English language immersion class in a British primary school in Spain. Focus group interviews and annotated drawings were used with a class of NS and NNS children to identify their perceptions of the IWB and how it helps them learn. Issues that emerged from the data included the children’s desire to interact more with the IWB, their frustration with frequently occurring technical problems, and the importance, particularly for the NNS, of the multimodal properties of the board. Introduction In recent years, information technology has had an increasingly important impact on educational research. Indeed, there has been a growing interest in the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in classrooms as this technology is thought to combine all previous teaching aids: chalkboard, whiteboard, television, video, overhead projector, CD player, and computer (Hall and Higgins 2005). Key findings of research carried out by BECTA (2003) on the use of IWBs in British schools highlight areas such as children’s increased motivation and engagement with classroom learning as their main benefits. The majority of available research has focused mainly on teachers’ perceptions of IWBs and how they relate to teaching (Smith, Higgins, Wall, and Miller 2005; Kennewell, Tanner, Jones, and Beauchamp 2007). Other studies, however, have focused their attention on the ways IWBs affect pupils and their learning. Hall and Higgins (op.cit.: 106) have claimed that pupils’ favourable views of IWBs are directly related to their versatility and multimodal presentation, which children seem to particularly enjoy. Since digital boards offer a range of possibilities that learners find attractive in the classroom, there is ‘an overwhelming sense of more available resources to use’. It is mainly the multimedia presentation that children enjoy, ‘especially the visual aspect, audio and being able to touch the screen’ (ibid.: 106). Proponents of the IWB have suggested that it has the ability to effect a profound change in the way in which pupils learn (Kennewell et al. op.cit.; Shenton and Pagett 2007). However, there are also concerns that the ’novelty value’ of IWBs may wear off as pupils become accustomed to their features (Smith et al. op.cit.). ELT Journal; doi:10.1093/elt/ccq069 1 of 12 ª The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. ELT Journal Advance Access published December 9, 2010 by guest on December 10, 2010 eltj.oxfordjournals.org Downloaded from