Shift in the ESL Classroom: Effectiveness of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in English as a Second Language (ESL) Settings

Abstract

The advancement of the mobile devices has created several benefits to the humankind, extending them in the field of education as well. Since these devices are generally used by the young generation, it becomes hard to be neglected using in the language learning process. The use of mobile applications for various purposes is commonly experienced in the Sri Lankan context as well. Although frequently used in written and oral discourses, phrasal verbs (PVs) are subject to be excluded if the correct use of them is challenging for the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Therefore, this research intends to inspect the efficacy of teaching PVs via one of the commonly used mobile applications, since it is prevalent in the society and is a novel method which is different from the traditional teaching done in the ESL classrooms. Thirty undergraduates were selected and divided into two groups of 15 each. Pre-test was given for both groups first and they were not given prior instructions in the subject. They had to use their prevailing knowledge on PVs to complete the test. For the post-tests, traditional classroom instructions were given to the controlled group within one hour and the experimental group was guided via a selected mobile application. Forty popular PVs were used here. The 1-way ANOVA found that the mean marks of the students of the post-test in the experimental group is significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the students in the controlled group. A significant correlation (p< 0.05) was found between the pre-test marks and the post-test marks irrespective of the two methods. Thus, 1-way ANCOVA was also carried out taking pre-test marks as a covariate and found that the adjusted mean marks of the students in the experimental group is significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the students in the controlled group., Thus, it is recommended that the use of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) in the English Language Teaching (ELT) for ESL setting is an effective, innovative and a novel resource to use as a method of instruction.