This review examined the studies on the role of technology-based English as a foreign language (EFL) academic motivation. A significant positive correlation between academic motivation and ...educational technology use has been approved in related studies. However, there is a dire need for studying the effect of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) and Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) on learners' motivation. The literature showed that purposeful attractiveness, effectiveness, and usefulness of digital instruments can positively affect learner motivation. There are also some reasons for increasing learner motivation in educational technology contexts, such as learners' integration with the community, familiarising with different societies and cultures, input flooding opportunities, engagement in academic contexts, and interaction with native speakers. In the end, the paedagogical implications are expounded to promote the learners' grit and diminish anxiety for better performance. This review also provides suggestions for further research to clarify our perspective on emotional variables like motivation.
Learners in computer- or mobile-assisted collaborative learning environments could remain anonymous or unfamiliar, as educators might not provide explicit socializing activities with the assumption ...that effective interactions could happen naturally in these situations. However, from the perspectives of social presence, it was hypothesized that for learners who were unfamiliar to their peers in online collaborative learning environments, performing explicit socializing activities prior to learning phases would help them have better learning performance, experience lower levels of working memory load, and experience higher levels of social presence than performing implicit socializing activities. This research was conducted to test the hypotheses with 60 participants. The results showed that providing explicit socializing activities to unfamiliar learners in mobile-assisted collaborative learning environments increased the level of social presence, facilitated their acquisition of complex cognitive skills such as EFL argument essay writing skills, and reduced the level of cognitive load in learning. These results are discussed in light of human cognitive architecture and the social presence theory.
•The effects of explicit and implicit socializing activities on unfamiliar collaborators were examined.•Explicit socializing activities helped improve unfamiliar collaborators' argumentative writing performances.•Explicit socializing activities also reduced unfamiliar collaborators' cognitive load.•Explicit socializing activities helped unfamiliar collaborators experience higher levels of social presence.•Explicit socializing activities promoted unfamiliar collaborators' interaction in collaborations.
Hundreds of millions of language learners around the globe study a second language with popular apps such as Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, Busuu, and Babbel. This study examined the effectiveness of one ...app, Babbel, for developing both receptive linguistic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, as well as oral communicative ability in Spanish as a second language. Fifty‐four English speakers not enrolled in Spanish classes studied Spanish on Babbel over the course of 12 weeks, with a goal of studying roughly 10 min per day. Participants completed pretests and posttests, and provided data on their motivation to learn Spanish and use Babbel. Results showed that learners were able to develop grammar and vocabulary knowledge as well as oral communicative ability. The amount of Babbel study time was the strongest predictor for all three measures, with motivation to learn Spanish also significantly predicting growth in oral communicative ability.
The Challenge
Hundreds of millions of learners use digital apps to learn world languages, but how effective are these apps for learning how to speak a second language? To answer this question, this article compares the grammar, vocabulary, and speaking development of 54 learners who spent three months studying Spanish with the app Babbel.
Language teachers are often masters of using the physical space in their language classrooms, rearranging furniture, groups, and artifacts to facilitate meaningful encounters with and among learners. ...Indeed, during the COVID‐19 crisis, many language teachers are sharing that these human encounters—reading learners' needs through body language, moving in and out of conversations, or engaging each other face‐to‐face—are the biggest felt loss in their emergent digital language classrooms. Yet, the new digital realities do not necessarily mean that teachers must sacrifice real collaboration among their learners. Digital tools were often designed to explicitly facilitate multimodal collaboration, and, with a wider variety of humans and human stories than may be found within the four walls of the typical classroom. This article aims to help language teachers facilitate more diverse interactions in the target language through the use of tools, spaces, and strategies that can be easily incorporated into our digital classrooms. We describe three categories of such activities (mobile‐assisted learning, tandem learning, and service‐learning) and explain how these can be most effectively incorporated into an online language class.
The Challenge
Videoconferencing tools such as Zoom are being widely used as an immediate response to remote language teaching needs. However, these tools are rarely ideal as a replacement for the classroom's physically embodied engagement. What alternatives exist for educators facilitating students' language growth and human collaboration?
Digital technologies have been widely used to enhance language learning, the effectiveness of which has been acknowledged in the literature. With the rapid development of digital devices and ...technologies, increasing technologies have been used in the most recent several years, leading to more diversified approaches to language education. This exceptional advance over the past few years calls for a summary of state-of-the-art technologies that have been used to enhance language learning and promote effective learning. The present study was conducted to fill this gap by reviewing all the relevant publications in 10 widely recognised journals in the field of technology-enhanced language learning. An analysis of 57 articles indicated five major types of technology for second and foreign language learning (i.e. technologies for mobile learning, multimedia learning and socialisation, speech-to-text and text-to-speech recognition, and digital-game-based learning). The results also showed four primary purposes and benefits of the state-of-the-art technologies: promoting practices, delivering instructional content, facilitating interactions, and restructuring teaching approaches. Moreover, these state-of-the-art technologies have been integrated into various aspects of language teaching and learning, the overall impact of which has been positive.
Proficiency in English occupies a significant place in the newly formed Kurdistan region of Iraq. English is considered a window of opportunities and economic development of its people and the ...region. The quality of teaching and learning plays a crucial role in achieving the objective. However, the lack of trained teachers in English at the school level has severely affected the standards of English at the tertiary level. Students pursuing undergraduate courses at Cihan University find it a challenging task to meet the required standards. The lack of a strong foundation in English in addition to the constraints of time and the high standards of the curriculum at the tertiary level makes it more challenging for the teachers to teach them writing skills. The present study aims at exposing the Kurdish students to English collocations vocabulary through Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) to enhance their writing and communicative purposes. Twenty-five students from undergraduate courses were randomly selected for the purpose of the study. The results have shown an improved performance of the students in using the right collocations. The study brings out the need for integrating MALL in the regular curriculum at the tertiary levels in Kurdistan.
Recent research on the processing effects of mobile media has incorporated offline research methods to demonstrate that reading on mobile media is as effective as reading on computers or paper in ...accuracy of text comprehension. The present study uses an eye-tracking methodology to compare the effects of reading on mobile media (mobile phone and tablet) and traditional media (paper and computer) on cognitive processing behaviours as well as on accuracy. Chinese L2 learners of English (n = 156) read an English novel, The Elephant Man, in one of the four reading conditions (mobile phone: 41, tablet: 39, computer: 38, and paper: 38) while their eye movements were recorded. Between-condition comparisons showed that mobile-assisted reading performance was equally accurate, fast and efficient to process texts, and fast to respond to posttests. Statistically significantly shorter mean fixation duration of mobile-assisted than computer-assisted reading suggests slightly more efficiency in cognitive processing. The overall findings of the present study add to other strong evidence that mobile-assisted reading is effective in text processing. We discuss the implications of our results and provide directions for future research and insights into mobile-assisted language learning, including online learning, e.g., during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
•Using eye-tracking to examine effects of mobile media on L2 text processing in comparison to traditional media.•Examining text processing in three aspects: the end-result, the treatment text processing, and the posttest recall.•Finding mobile-assisted reading performance equally accurate, fast and efficient to process, and fast to respond.•Adding to other strong evidence of the effectiveness of mobile media in L2 text processing.
Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is prevalent in English instruction to enhance students' learning interest and motivation. However, its effectiveness and practicality have rarely been well ...confirmed. The present study intended to investigate the effectiveness and practicality of utilizing a developed Mobile Learning Application (MLA) in listening instruction. A quasi-experimental design was applied in the study with a test and a questionnaire as research instruments. The pre-test and post-test were administered to examine the effects of administering MLA on 86 undergraduate students’ listening comprehension, and the questionnaire was employed to investigate 184 students’ perceptions of the practicality of MLA in mastering listening comprehension as data triangulation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the collected data. The results showed that a teacher-developed MLA is feasible for effective learning media to enhance students’ listening comprehension with the significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores. Moreover, it also accentuated that students' perception obtained a positive perception of the practicality of a developed MLA in mastering their listening comprehension. This finding encourages EFL teachers to use a mobile learning application in listening instruction to promote students’ independence in mastering listening skills.
This paper aimed at investigating the related studies on educational technology and its effect on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner self-efficacy. Earlier studies have proved the positive ...and significant relationship between learner self-efficacy and educational technology use. Investigations have revealed that improving learners' dynamic mindsets, online interaction, self-assessment, academic knowledge, and positive affectivity can increase learner self-efficacy. Moreover, the provision of the encouraging context can help develop learners' self-efficacy in technology-supported education. Furthermore, the study presented the implications and future directions of this line of research for different people, such as EFL teachers, teacher educators, and foreign language scholars. The ideas can improve their awareness of learner self-efficacy in technology-supported educational contexts and its role in L2 education.
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