Mobile Assisted Language Learning and EFL 1 Mobile Assisted Language learning and EFL Michael Thomas Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan

Mobile Assisted Language Learning and EFL

1

Mobile Assisted Language learning and EFL

Michael Thomas

Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan

2Mobile Assisted Language Learning and EFL

Questions

Is mobile learning another example of technology-driven pedagogy?

Can mobile devices by used as effective instructional tools?

Are mobile technologies a medium for increased social inclusion in education?


What is mobile or m-learning?

Mobile learning relates to “the possibilities opened up by portable, lightweight devices that are … small enough to fit in a pocket or the palm of one’s hand. Typical examples are mobile phones … smartphones, palmtops and PDAs; Tablet PCs, laptop computers and personal media players”

Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler, 2005


The Characteristics of Mobile Learning spontaneous bite-sized, fast-food learning short-burst personal informal contextual portable ubiquitous anywhere, anytime

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The Characteristics of Mobile Learning

ubiquitous (everywhere, anytime)

pervasive (an abundance of networked mobile and embedded devices)

ambient (completely surrounding us, learning enhanced buildings and networks, wireless cities)

(Kukulska-Hulme & Traxler, 2005)




The Ubiquity of Mobile Technology

midnight 31st December 2005 to midnight 1st January 2006, 165 million SMS sent (UK)

total phone users in China reached 740 million in 2005 390 million were mobile users Chinese mobile phone users sent 304.65 billion SMS in

2005, an increase of almost 40% percent from 2004 Japan 2005, saw the latest generation of mobile phones

offering TV, audio, language classes, and dictionaries the market for downloadable music remains the most

valuable: €6 billion by 2008


The Ubiquity of Mobile Technology

KDDI and NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service Japanese-English and English-Japanese

dictionaries 2005, KDDI launched a mobile ebook service

for bestsellers, business titles, manga and anime


Mobile Learning Literature

Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme & John Traxler (eds). Routledge, 2005.

13 case studies




Mobile Learning Literature

Metcalf, D. S. 2006, mLearning: Mobile Learning and Performance in the Palm of your Hand, Amherst, Massachusetts, HRD Press Inc.

Corporate training and mobile learning




From CALL to MALL

Chinnery, George M. “Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language Learning”, Language Learning & Technology, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 2006, pp. 9-16

Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL)


MALL Studies: Convenient

email English vocabulary lessons at timed intervals to the mobile phones of 44 Japanese university students

students receiving mobile email learned more 71% of the subjects preferred receiving these lessons

on mobile phones rather than PCs 93% felt this a valuable teaching method

Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2005). Using Mobile Phones in English Education in Japan, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Vol. 21, Issue 3 pp.217-228.


MALL Studies: Ubiquity

333 Japanese university students polled 100% reported owning a mobile phone 99% send email on their mobile phones, exchanging

some 200 email messages each week 66% email peers about classes; 44% email for studying only 43% email on PCs, exchanging an average of only

2 messages per week. Only 20% had used a PDA

Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2005). Using Mobile Phones in English Education in Japan. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Vol. 21, Issue 3, pp. 217-228.


MALL Studies: Interactivity

effective undergraduate education includes discussion, timely and frequent feedback to students, and active problem solving

mobile web phones to take polls, promote interactivity, and check student comprehension during large lecture classes

answer quizzes, collating and displaying the results polling motivates student discussion, and gives students

and instructors immediate feedback

Thornton, P. & Houser, C. (2003). EduCall: Adding interactivity to large lecture classes in Japan via mobile phone. Proceedings of EdMedia2003, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp.1871-1874.


MALL Studies: Input Skills

2-minute transcription tasks, 24 Japanese university students typed Japanese:English at 8:7 wpm on miniature QWERTY keyboards, 10:9 on onscreen QWERTY keyboards, 17:5 on mobiles, 23:14 on desktop PCs, and 31:30 with pencil and paper

Students preferred typing on desktops and mobiles students could take notes and write reports on their mobiles, but

would require training before using PDAs and writing in English. recognition

Houser, C. & P. Thornton (2004) Japanese college students typing speeds on mobile devices. In Jeremy Roschelle, Tak-Wai Chan, Kinshuk, Stephen J. H. Yang (Eds.). Taoyuan, Taiwan. IEEE Computer Society 2004, pp. 129-133.


MALL Studies: CMS

poodle, a course management system designed to facilitate deploying educational materials to mobile phones

supports ubiquitous polls, quizzes, wikis, forums, and flash cards

Houser, C. & Thornton, P. (2005). Poodle: A course-management system for mobile phones. In H. Ogata, M. Sharples, Kinshuk, & Y. Yano (Eds.), Proceedings of the third IEEE International Workshop, November 28-30, 2005, Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society, pp. 211-215.


Ubiquitous m-learning in Japan

Mobile phone usage in Japan is at 91 million 90% of students have access to mobile phones Average length of possession of mobile phones: 7

years No Japanese person leaves home without one But, typically banned from classrooms


Learning with Mobile Phones in Japan

Using online dictionaries Record dates using online calendars and

organizing tools Capture notes through through use of mobile

cameras Email or phone students to arrange meetings

for class projects Translation websites


Learning with Mobile Phones

To record and listen to audio from lectures and classes

To listen to audio material aimed at pronunciation practice

To receive text / multimedia messages from teachers with class content

To receive administrative information about course schedules, tests, assignments


Limitations of Mobile Technology

Screen size Keyboard entry High cost of data transmission Slow network speeds for video and audio Most users still access 2G cellular data networks (data

upload 9.6kbps and download at 29.8kbps) Average Japanese mobile phone bill 9,000 Yen /

80USD Battery life of mobile devices Compatibility with computing interfaces


Mobile Networks

Text and image based context are most appropriate Sound and video becoming possible with 3G cellular

technology Development of IP phones can use home or

campus networks Students on campus will be able to circumvent high

data transmission charges by using wireless campus networks


MALL Activities

Vocabulary review Mobile blogs Mobile calendar Online courses for mobiles Mobile polls Mobile television


Vocabulary Review

Email and text messages the most effective mobile tools

Hauser & Thornton Vocabulary via Mobile Email

Activities that involve vocabulary practice Phrase translation Quizzes http://www.studypatch.net/mobile


Vocabulary Review

Mike Levy and Claire Kennedy’s essay on ‘Learning Italian via mobile SMS’

Mobile phones were used to send students new vocabulary items from an Italian novel studied on the course, along with definitions and example uses of the words

A process of regularly spaced-intervals was used according to two strategies – ‘once only’ and ‘recurring delivery’ – and vocabulary was sent prior to and between students’ scheduled language lessons


Vocabulary Review

Feedback: a maximum of 160 characters could be displayed on the screens, significant periods of time were required for message preparation

Content: students reacted most favorably to SMS concerned with grammar, vocabulary, news, literature and administrative matters

Timing: both in terms of most appropriate time of the day as well as the interval strategy adopted, was also a crucial issue

94.4% of students gave favorable feedback, indicating that they had liked the use of SMS for learning vocabulary, especially the use of a prompt to aid retention, and the sending of messages outside of normal study times or prior to class


Mobile Calendar

Mobile phones as personal organizers For instructors and students Improve student-student student-teacher communication Administrative tasks Dissemination of course-related information Study links


Online Courses for Mobiles

Course Management Systems Moodle for mobiles Course administration Course teaching modules

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss/php?d=33033


Case Study: NUCB

205 freshmen English language majors 1GB iPod Shuffle required to download audio resources from a

university server encouraged to listen to them on their iPods,

both on and off campus The audio was then used in Final

Examination papers


Case Study: NUCB

70% used iPods for listening to music 18% for activities related to learning English

12% for storing data files 64% they had never or hardly ever used their

iPods for listening in English while traveling to and from campus


Case Study: NUCB

26% iPods had improved their overall exposure to English language resources

54% of students said that they bring their iPods to campus very often or often

only 15% said that faculty had used it effectively enough for them to consider using their iPod for English language learning purposes

21% saw a strong connection between the English language resources and the iPod technology itself


Case Study: NUCB

15% had downloaded music from iTunes Apple site 66% said they had never done so only 4% of students knew the difference between

podcasting and downloading music 57% of students thought the iPods had been

distributed as an attempt to attract them to study at the university rather than to help them in any meaningful learning process


Questions

Is mobile learning another example of technology-driven pedagogy?

Can mobile devices by used as effective instructional tools?

Are mobile technologies a medium for increased social inclusion in education?

Documents

Mobile Assisted Language Learning and EFL 1 Mobile Assisted Language learning and EFL Michael Thomas Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan