An Investigation into the Possibility of Implementation of Smartphone Assisted Language Learning (SALL) in Classroom Settings of General English Language Courses

Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Modern Research in Education, Teaching and Learning

Year: 2022

DOI:

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An Investigation into the Possibility of Implementation of Smartphone Assisted Language Learning (SALL) in Classroom Settings of General English Language Courses

Shila Panadgoo, Julia Miller, Edward Palmer, Walter Barbieri

ABSTRACT: 

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the possibility of implementation SALL at an Australian university English language centre examining the students’ use of the Evernote notetaking app for the creation and use of electronic vocabulary notebooks as a part of their classroom tasks and activities. Four teachers and 138 students completed the study pre-use questionnaire, and three teachers and 49 students completed the study post-use questionnaire. The questionnaire data were supported by interviews and observations. Activity theory was deployed to frame the use of smartphones and describe the related pedagogy, and expectation disconfirmation theory, the theory of interpersonal behaviour, and user acceptance models were used to generate two models to study teachers’ and students’ pre- and post-use attitudes. The results reflected the participants attitudes towards SALL both before and after the intervention. However, voluntariness, mindset, freedom of choice of technology, type of activity, and smartphone disadvantages were found to have a strong moderating impact on both teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards SALL and functioned as a barrier to the formal use of smartphones. The study concluded that despite their possible advantages; smartphones can only play a complementary role to the use of desktop/laptop computers or tablets for less demanding activities and tasks due to their small screen and keypad size.

keywords: Smartphones; English language teaching and learning; teachers’ attitudes; students’ attitudes; user acceptance.