Going Mobile: Language Learning With an iPod Touch in Intermediate French and German Classes

Abstract: Mobile devices are becoming more and more pervasive in today's world for both personal use and educational purposes. Specific to the field of languages, mobile? assisted language learning, derived from m-learning and computer-assisted language learning (CALL), differs from CALL in that it makes use of a personal portable device to enhance learning and give it the "anytime, anyplace" feature. Our study focused on both the learner and the mobile tool. We specifically investigated how students use mobile devices, specifically the iPod Touch, while noting differences in both personal and academic use. Using ecological constructivism as a theoretical framework, we examined the affordances of the mobile devices that encourage interaction with the target language and culture and explored a range of tasks using a mobile device.Key words: ecological constructivism, iPod Touch, m-learning, mobile assisted language learning, mobile devicesIntroductionMobile devices are becoming more and more pervasive in today's world, both for personal use and for educational purposes. Currently, 67% of U.S. college students are smartphone users, and eMarketer (2012, n.p.) predicted that by the year 2016, 91.4% of U.S. college students will own a smartphone. However, this practice begins long before college: Croy (2012) indicated that one third of American high school students own an iPhone. The impact of mobile technology is apparent in many aspects of society, including art, employment, language, commerce, crime, and learning (Traxler, 2009a).In addition to the growing use of mobile devices in these domains, the application of such devices to classroom practice is generating more attention. In educational settings, learning and teaching using mobile devices is referred to as m-learning, or more specifically-"the provision of education and training on PDAs/palmtops/handhelds, smartphones and mobile phones" (Traxler, 2009b, p. 2). Mobile learning, including mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), originally focused on the use of mobile technologies to facilitate learning. More recently, however, researchers have also begun to focus on the mobility of the learner (Sharples, 2006). Using mobile devices, both instructors and learners are able to "transcend the boundaries of the structural stasis of classrooms and lecture halls and their associated modes of communication-they do not have to be confined to one particular place in order to be effective" (El-Hussein & Cronje, 2010, p. 13).The study reported here focused on both the learner and the mobile tool and specifically investigated how students used the iPod Touch for both personal and academic purposes. An iPod Touch is similar to an iPhone and plays music, videos, and games and downloads apps; it also connects wirelessly to the Internet. It is not, however, a smartphone. Using ecological constructivism as the theoretical framework, this study considered the features of mobile devices that encouraged interaction with the target language and culture and explored the range of tasks for which learners used a mobile device.Review of LiteratureMobile LearningMobile learning (m-learning) has been defined as using "handheld technologies, together with wireless and mobile phone networks, to facilitate, support, enhance and extend the reach of teaching and learning" (Attewell, Savill-Smith, & Douch, 2009, p. 1). These handheld technologies can include cell phones, PDAs, iPods, and iPads. Mobile tools are small, ubiquitous, and functional, which makes them attractive and easy for students to use and for facilitating sociocultural opportunities for learning (Pachler, Cook, & Bradley, 2009). Chinnery (2006) described mobile learning as taking place in environments that could be "face-to-face, distance, or online; further, they may be self-paced or calendar-based" (p. 9); in other words, devices can be used both within and outside the classroom and can reduce the cognitive load by providing less information at one time (Koole, 2009). …