An explanatory investigation on the Turkish EFL teachers' tpack and their attitudes toward the use of interactive whiteboards

The present study aimed to investigate (a) TPACK of Turkish EFL in-service teachers; (b) the attitudes of the in-service Turkish EFL teachers towards the use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in their classes; (c) the relationship between TPACK and teachers' attitude toward IWB use; (d) the relationship between gender of the participants and their TPACK levels; (e) the relationship between gender of the participants and their attitude toward IWB use; (f) the relationship between teaching experience and TPACK; and (g) the relationship between teaching experience and attitude toward IWB use. The research was carried out in the contexts of 24 Anatolian High Schools in Gebze, Darıca and Çayırova municipalities of Kocaeli at the beginning of the second term of 2014/2015 academic year. A total of 106 in-service EFL teachers from these schools responded to all of the questions in the instruments. Data was collected through two main instruments: (1) Attitude questionnaire; (2) ELT-TPACK questionnaire gathering information combining technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. Additionally, teachers' demographic characteristics were also used in order to detect the participants profile in detail and to get information for investigating the relationships between the results of questionnaires and some of these variables. Quantitative data were analysed by descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, correlation analysis, and regression methods. The findings of the analysis of descriptive statistics indicated high levels of TPACK of the Turkish EFL in-service teachers. Additionally, the participants reported positive attitudes toward Interactive Whiteboard use in their classes. Furthermore, correlation analysis demonstrated a statistically meaningful positive relationship between the TPACK levels and attitudes of the teachers. In terms of the effect of gender and teaching experience on TPACK and attitude, further analysis were conducted. The results showed no meaningful relationship between gender and TPACK and similarly between gender and attitude. On the other hand, the analysis of the relationship between teaching experience and TPACK and teaching experience and attitude showed statistically meaningful relationships. As it was carried out to investigate the TPACK levels of the Turkish EFL in-service teachers in a certain geographical area and the attitude of the teachers' towards using IWB in their classes, and additionally exploring the effect of gender and teaching experience on TPACK and attitude for the first time, this study proved to have valuable contributions in getting a complete picture of TPACK levels of EFL teachers in a certain area and revealing the attitudes of these teachers towards using this technology in their classes. At the end of the study, there are some implications for educators, educational authorities and educational researchers.