Week 9 - Mobile-assisted Language Learning

 In this week's lesson, we talked about MALL, an abbreviation for Mobile-assisted Language Learning. The meaning of this phrase is receiving education from small mobile devices/smartphones. 

This way of learning has many redeeming features and positive gainings. The conveniences are, according to Agnes Kukulska-Humme and Olga Viberg (2018), being accessible anywhere and anytime, personalization, active participation, peer-coaching, etc. It also helps with motivation and enjoyment as well as the reduction of anxiety during language classes. 

However, this learning form has negative aspects too. Students are more likely to get distracted by their phones, have safety concerns, or face technical issues; therefore, decreasing the chances of receiving high-quality lessons.

Then we mentioned applications/websites to use in order to help the learner improve in speaking skills. Some of which are Duolingo, Voicethread, Twitter, video editing apps, WhatsApp, etc. Using these kinds of websites will lead students to be more motivated for the language learning process.

After that, we went on with websites for writing skills. Using HelloTalk, HiNative, TripLingo, WhatsApp -again 😆-, etc. Or any website/application that can be an alternative to Cambly. These websites provide many fun features to encourage the user to write or chat. They are not only beneficial for educational purposes but also for connecting people and having fun.

The other skill was listening. We read an article written by Zhang (2016) about listening and MALL. After talking about it, we went on with the websites. If teachers want to improve their students' listening skills, they can make them use websites like Cake or Wannalisn!

After, we focused on reading skills. The websites to improve reading skills are Telegram, Quizlet, and again, WhatsApp. At Medipol University we use all three of these websites in our lessons and I, personally have seen their benefits from the first point of view. 

Then Mr. Karacan showed us a huge list [Picture 1] of websites that can be used to improve many skills. For example; Study Stack or LinguaHut can be used to improve vocabulary while Tandem for interaction, BliuBliu for processing, Conjuverb for grammar, Sound of Speech for pronunciation, or Lingro for all four skills!

This lesson was full of new information that I've never ever heard of! I'm a nerd when it comes to using applications for language learning but there were many new websites that I will check! Thank you Mr. Karacan and Mrs. Şahin for the lesson! 🎕


[Picture 1]







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