The study used quasi-experimental designs. In this study netbooks were used by 57 five-graders in two classes to learn English language for an entire semester at an elementary school in Taipei. Fifty-seven students in two other classes served as the control group who received traditional instruction. The study collected data by classroom observation, reflective journal by teacher, questionnaires, and semi-structured interview. It was found that the use of netbooks encouraged the instructor to design more innovative learning activities which greatly enhanced student engagement in learning. The activities provided students with much more opportunities to practice listening and speaking. The netbook-using students not only liked English language class more and were more attentive during class but were more confident in being able to learn English language well. Analysis of final exam scores also revealed that netbook-using students significantly outscored their non-netbook-using counterparts.