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Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

Video Greeting from TIRF Trustee Michael Carrier

The use of mobile and handheld technology is growing exponentially in language education, and it is clear that much more research, project evaluation, and evidence-based analysis are needed to help us understand this new phenomenon. However, important questions remain about the efficacy of handheld devices in language learning.

What benefits do learners, teachers and school administrators derive from the use of mobile and handheld technology? What are the challenges and pitfalls? Can this technology be misapplied and waste precious resources?

With questions like these in mind, TIRF has commissioned six papers to explore the current state of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). It is our hope that these papers provide an accurate account of how MALL is impacting the landscape of English language education, and what challenges lie ahead for language learning teachers and students, administrators, business professionals, and others.

The following provides brief information about the five papers and the authors who wrote them. Click on any of the papers’ titles to read an executive summary of the paper, download the paper, and to view invited discussants’ comments on the authors’ papers. We would also very much like to have your reactions to our MALL papers. Please use the “Comment” function below or on the authors’ pages to provide any feedback you may have.

Terms of Use and Disclaimer: TIRF is providing this information as a service to our constituents, and no endorsement by TIRF of the ideas presented in this paper is intended or implied. The information is made available free of charge and may be shared, with proper attribution. However, the papers may not be reprinted without express written permission from TIRF.

Beyond the Classroom: Mobile Learning the Wider World

  • Ken Beatty, Professor of TESOL, Anaheim University

Designer Learning: The Teacher as Designer of Mobile-based Classroom Learning Experiences

  • Nicky Hockly, Director of Pedagogy, The Consultants-E

Re-skilling Language Learners for a Mobile World

  • Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Professor of Learning Technology and Communication, The Open University

Some Emerging Principles for Mobile-assisted Language Learning

  • Glenn Stockwell, Professor, Waseda University
  • Philip Hubbard, Senior Lecturer and Director of English for Foreign Students, Stanford University Language Center

Is there Evidence for Differential Benefits between Mobile Devices Used for Self-access Learning as Opposed to Language Learning in the Classroom with the Teacher?

  • Paul Sweeney, Founder and Director, Eduworlds Knowledge Ltd.

Mobile Learning for Languages: Can the Past Speak to the Future?

  • John Traxler, Professor of Mobile Learning and Learning Lab Director, University of Wolverhampton