A Study On M-learning Of University English Learners Based On Mobile Devices

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of mobile subscribers and mobile learning is no longer a new term for the Chinese people.Mobile learning(M-learning)is a new path for education development in the new era.As an important innovation of education and training,mobile learning has attracted researchers’concerns and interests at home and abroad,leading the way of future internet learning.Overseas M-learning research domain covers definition,theoretical basis,practice projects and development prospects,but there is no complete research system in this field.Domestic research on M-learning began in the early 21st century,with relatively lower levels and smaller scale.Although there are some achievements over the past decade,the research depth is not desirable.Researchers mainly come from college EFL teachers,Ph.D candidates,or Master graduates,with studies focused on present situation,learners’ demand and learning strategies.Up to now,there is still few M-learning studies on this topic in Southwest China.This study is on university EFL M-learning with questionnaires and interviews as research instruments.The respondents were from different majors and different grades in China West Normal University.A total of 483 valid questionnaires were collected,including 133 boys and 350 girls.The study mainly focuses on the following research questions:Question one:What is the present situation of mobile learning for university EFL learners?Question two:What are the facilitating effects of mobile learning on university EFL learners?Question three:What are the hindrance factors of EFL mobile learning? Below is a list of major findings of the study:Ⅰ.The intelligent mobile device penetration is quite high among university students,with diversity of M-learning styles.More than 40% of the respondents have more than one year’s experience in EFL M-learning,but 13% of them still have no experience.Most students have positive attitudes towards M-learning,who believe M-learning will be the main learning mode in the future.Ⅱ.M-learning plays a positive role in promoting learners’language proficiency,enhancing their interests and acquiring EFL strategies.Mobile learning can improve learners’ EFL listening,speaking,reading and writing skills,especially facilitating listening and speaking.In addition,M-learning provides a richer and more economical learning resources for learners.Ⅲ.The hindrance factors of EFL mobile learning includes the inherent defects of M-learning,such as easily-disturbed,unclear learning goals,as well as two other causes:learners themselves and learning environment.Learners’ own reasons include wrong ideas,attitudes or habits.There are still a number of students who are against M-learning.Learning environment can also become a hindrance factor in M-learning,for instance,poor campus network construction,lack of teachers’ guidance.These factors will prevent learners from utilizing M-learning and they can hardly benefit from it.Through the research findings,this paper puts forwards pedagogical implications for practice:The educational administration should increase investment in Smart Campus construction and increase educational technology awareness and invest more in teachers’ training.University EFL teachers should be skillful in utilizing the latest teaching technologies and learning strategies.Innovation of the New Teaching Model with M-learning is strongly recommended.They should provide sufficient guidance to students on mobile learning,so as to effectively promote university EFL learners’academic performance.