MALL: Current guidelines and future directions

Last year while I was traveling in Thailand, I came across an editorial in an English-language Thai newspaper that left me quite agitated. In it, a journalist-cum-mother protested the Thai government's plan to distribute tablet computers to school children. In her experience as a mother, she said, tablets only have two purposes: for reading (and why would she want her children reading on a tablet, when they have perfectly good books at home?) and for games. Taxpayer money shouldn't be used to enable children to play Angry Birds, she complained.

I was so appalled by her position that if it hadn't been my last day in Thailand, I would have written a scathing response. She was incredibly misinformed and clearly lacked the vision and creativity of a good teacher! Not only did the government's plan show great foresight in preparing the next generation for participation in an increasingly technological world, but distributing tablets in schools nationwide would help even the playing field between economic classes. Tablets also have a wide range of educational applications that this myopic journalist was clearly overlooking. Bravo, Thai government!

This week's readings on mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) gave me further support for my retort. This week, we read the New Media Consortium's (NMC) Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition 

and

Stockwell, G. (2012). Mobile-assisted language learning. In H. Reinders & M. Thomas (Eds.),  Contemporary Computer-Assisted Language Learning (pp. 201-216). Huntingdon, GBR: Bloomsbury Publishing. 

Now, my students use smartphones and tablets a lot in my classes, so Stockwell's discussion of their multiple functionalities came as no surprise. My students use their smartphones constantly, so using them for learning is a natural next step. They are what Stockwell calls "a familiar part of the everyday routine of the user, and this in itself increases the chance for learning to take place" (p. 205). As Stockwell points out, mobile devices can take on the role previously occupied by heavy language textbooks, making "learning something that can happen in a spontaneous way depending on circumstances" (p. 204). Got a few extra minutes on the bus? Pull out your "textbook" and review! We just need to "provide the skills and the impetus for learners to do it" (Stockwell, 2012, p. 205). 

Stockwell provided a few interesting insights into how, precisely, to integrate mobile technology. Though a few of the studies he cited seemed a little outdated, I found several quite applicable. First, he notes that in one study, students preferred to access language-learning podcasts on a desktop computer rather than an mp3 player. The downloading process seemed to be the primary barrier to listening on an mp3 player (or, now, smartphones): the students lacked time and know-how. This seems easy to work around. Teachers could just take the time to show students how to download the podcasts; could upload the podcasts so students can listen to them online, without downloading them; and/or show students how to get podcasts to automatically update, with no extra time needed.  Point taken.

A second guideline for teachers considering integrating MALL in their classes comes from another study Stockwell cited, in which ELLs listened to or read an English audio guide while visiting a zoo. Students "felt that the events at the zoo were distracting from the learning that they were undertaking," and found it difficult to read the screen (p. 208). Lesson learned: encourage students to use smartphones for language study when they can devote full cognitive attention to it--for example, while on the treadmill at the gym, while riding a bus, or any other time when they want their brain distracted from the external environment.

The third MALL guideline I found interesting relates to occasions when it might be better to use a desktop computer instead of a mobile device. For example, Stockwell cites the "size of the screen and the inconvenient keypad" (p. 209) as considerations, and points out that the length of the text should also be a factor in decisions about whether something should be read on a smartphone or on a desktop computer. (I suspect the increasing popularity of tablets will obviate this last concern, though.) Indeed, I discovered some of this first hand when I tried to do a poster project on Smore.com using smartphones; my students complained about the difficulty in entering text and in viewing the complete project, suggesting I should use desktop computers for this particular project in the future.

The most interesting thing Stockwell discussed, I think, was the future of MALL. He suggested that mobile devices might increasingly shift to more "push"-style learning, in which "information is made available to learners without effort on their part," and there will be an increasing "interconnectedness" in which "learners can constantly be interacting with the things and people around them" (p. 212). A student of Japanese who walks past a Japanese restaurant, he suggests, thus might automatically find information about Japanese food and useful food-related vocabulary. Learners will increasingly be able to interact with their environment "in a way that can facilitate language learning through relating it to potential opportunities that arise as part of their daily lives rather than just what occurs in the classroom" (p. 213). I keep telling my students they need to make English a part of their daily lives; I love the idea that mobile technology is evolving to the point where they can do this without any extraordinary (or even conscious) effort.

The reduction of barriers and increase in everyday integration is echoed in the NMC Horizon Report. This interesting document takes stock of where mobile learning stands today and what technological advancements are on the horizon. It discusses, for example, new apps that make it "very easy for anyone to create and publish media-rich interactive pieces" (p. 11) or that permit "users to add, edit, and delete text annotations displayed alongside […] video footage" (p. 12). These kind of multimodal options for students tie in nicely with new conceptions of multiple literacies and Universal Design for Learning, decreasing barriers to learning and putting an increased value on students' autonomy and individuality. The report also cites studies that have found that "integrating tablets into the curriculum has led to increased student engagement and has enhanced learning experiences" (p. 15), and explores the potential of online games to promote "teamwork, leadership, and discovery" in addition to prompting gamers to "expand their learning outside of the game" (p. 20). 

So yes, my dear Thai journalist/mother, giving tablets to your nation's students is actually a fantastic idea--as long as teachers take into consideration some of the guidelines that researchers such as Stockwell proffer. The future is technology, and it's to your advantage to start integrating it now.