Examining Junior High School English Teachers’ Integration Of Interactive Whiteboards In English Teaching:From The TPACK Perspective

With the extensive application of educational technology in English teaching,English teachers’ ability to integrate technology in English teaching has become a hot research topic.As one of the innovative educational technologies,the Interactive Whiteboards(IWBs)catch an increasing attention in research.Literature review of relevant research suggested very few studies focus on junior high school English teachers’ TPACK in using IWBs.Thus,this study aims to unpack the following questions:(1)How do junior high school English teachers perceive their TPACK when they integrate IWBs into English teaching? Does their TPACK vary in terms of gender,age,teaching experiences,educational degrees,professional titles,and technical training? If yes,what are the differences?(2)How do junior high school English teachers integrate IWBs into English teaching? What is their design thinking in using IWBs? What problems do English teachers encounter when they apply IWBs to teach English?(3)What factors influence junior high school English teachers IWBs integration into English teaching?The results were as follows:(1)Results from the survey suggested junior high school English teachers believe they have an overall high level of TPACK,of which the content knowledge(CK)is the highest one and the technological knowledge(TK)is the lowest one.There is no significant discrepancy in English teachers’ TPACK level in terms of gender,educational degrees,and technical training,but there are significant discrepancies in terms of age,teaching experiences,and professional titles.To be specific,teachers aged from 21 to 30 possess the highest TK level;teachers with less than 5 years of teaching possess the highest TK level and reach higher TPACK level than those with more than 5years of teaching;teachers with lower professional titles reach higher TPACK levels than those with higher professional titles.(2)Classroom observations and interviews suggested young teachers integrated IWBs into English teaching by using words games in the warm-up stage,sharing materials in the pre-reading stage,using sorting games and presentation in the while-reading stage,and using screen projection in the post-reading stage,while elder teachers mainly used the presentation function in whole teaching process.Their thinking for integration design is that they use IWBs to stimulate students’ learning interests,expand knowledge,explain language points clearly,and facilitate classroom management.In addition,the main problems when using IWBs include lack of confidence in using IWBs,traditional teaching beliefs as barriers to IWBs usage,limited access to technology support and training,limited access for students to use IWBs,insufficient resources installed in IWBs for English teaching,and time constraints.(3)Factors affecting teachers’ IWBs integration are as follows: knowledge and confidence of using IWBs,teaching belief,facilitating conditions(i.e.,IWBs integration-related training,technological support,and functions of IWBs),school environment(i.e.,promotion policy,leaders’ influence,teachers’ collaboration,and school culture),non-teaching related tasks,and teachers’ perceived pressure from exams.In conclusion,this study demonstrates the current situation of Chinese junior high school English teachers’ IWBs integration into teaching,enriches people’s understanding of the TPACK theory,reveals the problems in integrating the IWBs into English teaching,provides a reference for English teachers’ education and training in China,and gives inspiration for the formulation of relevant English education technology policies.