The Effect of Implementation of Smart Board on Iranian Lower-Intermediate EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension and Their Intrinsic Motivation in Reading

Abstract

Smart board has been found as an effective learning tool in English as foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension. The present study aims at exploring the effects of smart board on reading comprehension and intrinsic motivation to read. Among 90 EFL learners, fifty-two Iranian lower-intermediate EFL learners were selected based on Quick Placement Test (QPT) developed by Oxford University Press and University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (2001). These participants were randomly assigned in two experimental (smart board) and one control (traditional board) groups. Each group included 26 male EFL students. At the beginning of the study, pretest (Reading Comprehension Test from Key English Test developed by Cambridge ESOL Examination, 2008) was administered to both experimental and control groups. In addition to KET, a translated copy of intrinsic motivation in English reading questionnaire (IMERQ) adopted from Wigfield and Guthrie (1997) was given to these two groups. Throughout the course of 14 sessions (three months), participants in experimental group were taught reading materials from Intro-interchange (Ricahrds, 2005) by using smart board. Participants in control group took benefits from traditional board. Reading materials were the same for both groups. Finally, participants in both groups sat for posttest. Here, both instruments administered at the start of the study, were used as the posttest. Results of t-test indicated that implementation of smart-board significantly improved participants' reading comprehension and their intrinsic motivation to read. These findings provide pedagogical implications for utilizing smart board in EFL context.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p281