Interactive Whiteboards and Talking Books: A New Approach to Teaching Children to Write?

This article presents work undertaken with a class of Scottish Primary Six children (aged 10) to investigate the use of interactive whiteboard technology and interactive talking books in whole-class writing lessons. The paper reports on a research project with three aims: to investigate how the use of an interactive whiteboard to reflect on the language and style of professional authors influenced the children's own writing; to examine the effect of this experience on the writing and behaviour of children with additional support needs; and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using such technology in whole-class writing lessons. The resulting evidence suggests that while some children benefited from the approach, teaching children to write through examination of professional models of writing in whole-class lessons did not promote the most effective learning even where the text was provided in such an interactive medium. The implications of these results for practitioners who wish to use talking books and whiteboard technology to teach writing are discussed.