Curriculum Integration of MALL in L1/L2 Pedagogy: Perspectives on Research

Introduction In the rapidly changing technological environment of developed countries, smartphones and other personal electronic devices are commonplace, particularly among young people. Many educators are moving to take advantage of the functionality of smart phone applications for Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). MALL allows learning to occur conveniently and continuously in and out of the learner's daily life and connect formal in-class lessons with informal learning outside the classroom (Wong et al., 2012). The continually changing field of smartphones and mobile applications, however, makes it hard for language learning researchers, let alone teachers, to remain current on the available technology and how it can be applied to teaching and learning. It is timely, therefore, to survey the work that has been done in this area, focusing on issues such as what mobile devices are actually being used, for what purposes, where, and what factors affect the feasibility of MALL implementation in connection with informal or formal language learning. Leaders in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) have been calling for less experimental research into differences, comparing when a given technology is or is not used, and more research to determine affordances that a given technology can provide toward achieving outcome goals (Colpaert, 2012). The logical extension of this idea is that extensive meta-analysis is required to allow instructional designers to understand the affordances provided by various CALL systems, and best practices for their use (Marek & Wu, 2014). The researchers concluded that a meta-analysis of MALL research, focused on identifying trends, actual contributions resulting from MALL research, and most recent practices, would be a valuable contribution to the MALL literature. The goal of the study, therefore, was to explore the perspectives of the corresponding authors of past peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers with regard to the integration of MALL into the L1 and L2 classroom. The following specific research questions guided this study: * What are the most common elements of MALL instructional design? * To what extent have the outcomes of MALL research been incorporated into the curriculum? * What factors have been found to positively or negatively relate to further MALL development and curriculum integration? * Why do the respondents think MALL development and curriculum integration should be pursued? Significance of the study This study is significant because it surveys the corresponding authors of past studies who are arguably experts in MALL use, to identify patterns of MALL use as well as exploring the authors' perceptions about MALL curriculum integration and factors influencing MALL development. The study is also significant because it reports not only technologies that have been tested, but the extent to which MALL systems are incorporated into sustainable technology design as opposed to being short-term "one-off' projects (Kennedy & Levy, 2009). Finally, the study is significant because MALL research usually examines the opinions or perspectives of the students/participants. Few studies also explore the perceptions and reactions of the teachers/researchers, which is the primary data source of this study. Student perceptions may be skewed by convenience or easiness of learning activities, whereas the teachers and researchers were expected to be more focused on the learning goals and outcomes. Literature review In order to understand the findings and discussion of this study, it is necessary to understand the context of MALL as a learning technology. The authors, therefore, present a brief review of the benefits derived from using Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), benefits from using Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), and a review of the typical MALL research context. …