............................................................................................................................................. IX KEY ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................................... XI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 12 1.

The Potential of Mobile-based and Pattern-oriented Concordancing for Assisting Upper-intermediate ESL Students in Their Academic Writing

A mobile application running on a mobile device offers a novel, fascinating solution to assist children develop their reading skills. However, a number of existing mobile applications in the market have less attributes of appropriate application for young children. The weaknesses of these applications are due to absence of specific framework dedicated for this area. Therefore, this study is focused to propose a framework of a mobile application for kindergarten early reading by analyzing and synthesizing existing frameworks and guidelines. This study proposed a framework of mobile educational application for kindergarten early reading constructed by three main pillars and 16 elements.

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A Framework of Mobile Educational Application for Kindergarten Early Reading

In recent years, the emerging trend of mobile learning (hereinafter “m-learning”) has obtained increasing attention from educators and higher popularity among students worldwide. Partly due to its short history, there seems to be a lack of comprehensive and in-depth understanding on the distinctiveness of m-learning. It is maintained in this paper that m-learning should be described and researched in three intertwined aspects: the mobility of devices, learners and materials. The multi-faceted mobility may help achieve highly portable and genuinely personal learning, which distinguishes m-learning from other forms of technology-enhanced education. This paper also reports an empirical study on m-learning for academic English. With a total of 60 participants (and six in the pilot study) over three progressive phases, the data obtained from mixed methods of automatic logging, questionnaire and interview were used to assess multidimensional learner engagement in the self-directed process of m-learning. The triangulated data can reflect and highlight some known features of m-learning, and they may also imply learners’ expectations towards m-learning. Based on the literature review and data analysis, this paper aims to contribute to the (re)conceptualisation of “m-learning” and also provide some technical and pedagogical implications on future and further development of m-learning. 

Distinctive mobile learning: where it is different and how it can make a difference

I report on the provisional findings of an ongoing research project investigating the pedagogical affordances of mobile learning in combination with Web 2.0 tools for the learning of English for English as Second Language (ESL) learners. Using Design Based Research (DBR) as an approach to conduct this study, this paper presents the finding from an iteration that has completed so far. The initial design framework for the study was developed from the literature. It was tested and developed through a series of iterations and the impact of each iteration was evaluated using interviews and qualitative data analysis. One of the most important finding reported in this paper is the impact of a sense of social obligation whereby participants felt under pressure from their peers to post and to participate. This social obligation effect can have both positive and negative consequences for learning. Future research will focus on exploring ways in which pedagogical designs for m-learning with social networking can take this social obligation effect into account in order to avoid its negative consequences and make best use of its positive consequences.

Nurhasmiza Sazalli

Papers

Pedagogical Affordances of Smart Mobile Devices Integrated with Web 2.0 Tools to Enhance English Language Teaching and Learning