Exploring the Potentials of Using Smartphones in Enhancing Learning English at University: The Case of Algerian Second Year Master Students of English, Mostaganem University

This research is a descriptive case study that investigates the status quo of mobile learning in Algerian EFL settings. It aims at examining the investment of smartphones' advantageous characteristics in enhancing English language learning processes. Thus, it attempts at evaluating second year...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of English Teaching Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 246 - 266
Main Author Boudjelal, Mustapha
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Journal of English Teaching 01.06.2022
Subjects
Electronic Learning
English (Second Language)
Foreign Countries
Graduate Students
Handheld Devices
Learning Experience
Second Language Learning
Teacher Attitudes
Algeria
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Summary:This research is a descriptive case study that investigates the status quo of mobile learning in Algerian EFL settings. It aims at examining the investment of smartphones' advantageous characteristics in enhancing English language learning processes. Thus, it attempts at evaluating second year master learners' of English understandings about mobile learning, gauging their perceptions about teachers' attitudes towards these devices, and most importantly, establishing a possible link between these two mentioned variables and learners' actual practices of using these mobile technologies in EFL classroom milieus. It adopts mixed method research approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data. To rigorously explore the afore-mentioned aims, a survey questionnaire was administered to 30 Algerian second year master students of English, specialized in Didactics and Applied Languages, Mostaganem University. The analysis of the collected data revealed that engaging in mobile learning in EFL classes is obstructed by various hindrances that can be summarized in learners' cursory understandings about mobile learning and its tools, which lead the learners to use their smartphones as means of communication and entertainment, neglecting their pedagogical potentials. In addition to this, the ineffective use of these devices was partly attributed to learners' negative perceptions about teachers' attitudes towards these devices.
ISSN:2087-9628