Exploiting the Pedagogical Potential of MALL

Jack Burston
MobLang Coordinator
University of Cyprus
Abstract
The purpose of this talk is to demonstrate that Mobile-Assisted Language Learning
(MALL) in general, and mobile phone usage in particular, is capable of supporting
applications based on a variety of learning theories and methodological approaches. As
will be shown, behaviorist, teacher-centered, vocabulary and grammar tutorial programs
have proven well suited to the mobile environment. Constructivist, collaborative, learnercentered pedagogical approaches have also inspired a range of MALL applications that
include vocabulary acquisition, listening, speaking, reading, and translation activities as
well as collaborative learner-learner interactions. Given the ubiquity of mobile phone
ownership worldwide, the ever improving functionality of these devices and their
pedagogical adaptability, MALL is bound to be increasingly called upon to provide
support for foreign language instruction, for which language teachers need to be
preparing now.
Efforts to develop Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) programs have been
going on now for over a decade, based on three hand-held technologies: MP3 players,
Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), mobile phones. The i-Pod (and other similar portable
MP3 players that it spawned) offered audio playback and recording facilities. The PDA,
or palm-top computer, provided basic computer programming capability and access to the
Internet. The mobile phone supported communication, both voice and text.
One critical observation emerges from all published MALL research: students
overwhelmingly view the use of mobile technology very favorably owing to its
anywhere, anytime convenience. Positive student attitudes towards the use of mobile
technology has provided a major impetus to those attempting to implement MALL. The
ubiquity of mobile phone ownership among the student-aged population in particular has
made the mobile phone the technology of choice among MALL developers. Moreover,
the technical sophistication of mobile phones has now reached the point where even entry
level models incorporate functionalities earlier found only on MP3 players and PDAs:
high quality audio recording & playback, graphics and video playback, programmability,
large data storage capacity, access to the Internet. Digital still and video cameras are
likewise commonly found on most mobile phones these days. In effect, mobile phones
have replaced MP3 players and PDAs (and for casual users at least, still and video
cameras as well). As a consequence, MALL has now essentially become synonymous
with mobile phone applications [31, 20, 21, 53].
This rapid improvement of mobile phone functionality has provided numerous
possibilities for pedagogical exploitation in MALL, which is the focus of my talk today.
To date, the emphasis in MALL has been on content delivery within an implicit
behaviorist, teacher-centered, transmission model framework [45, 22, 31, 26]. Text-based

tutorial applications have been the norm. The learning of vocabulary has figured
prominently [24, 66, 67, 2, 39, 42, 50, 26, 33, 69, 72, 64, 8, 27, 36, 60, 62, 63, 5, 6, 18,
34, 9, 35, 65, 71, 28, 38, 73], as has simple true/false/multiple choice quizzes [42, 68].
While the use of tutorial drill paradigms is not without pedagogical justification, its
predominance stems rather from practical considerations: vocabulary and grammar drills
are relatively easy to program and they can be self-correcting. Short and simple exercises
also lend themselves well to the very fragmented kind of learning that typifies mobile
conditions [3, 39]. Anywhere, anytime most often equates with brief time periods
squeezed between other activities.
There are qualitative constraints as well on the nature of what can be learned in a mobile
tutorial environment that basic drill exercises can address. Outside distractions (e.g., on a
bus, in a train, in a doctors waiting room, etc.) are not conducive to concentrated
attention. For this reason, tutorial MALL has been largely devoted to the review and
practice of what is already known. New content can be presented, but only to the extent
that it can be packaged in small, self-contained units, that require minimal cognitive
processing.
Small screen size and cumbersome text input methods impose constraints on the amount
of data that can be displayed to users and what can be expected by way of learner
response [3, 19, 23, 29, 37, 41, 61, 40]. Tutorial MALL applications adapt to these
constraints by limiting the amount of text displayed and restricting learner text input to
clicking options (true/false, multiple choice) or dragging objects.
The constraints of screen size and text input, though intrinsic to mobile phone usage, can
be circumvented through the use of images and sound. It must be said, however, that
MALL applications have been slow to exploit these multimedia functionalities. Owing to
technological constraints, multimedia applications were initially based only on handheld
computers [54, 59]. A handful of prototype mobile-phone based multimedia programs
have been developed for pilot studies [19, 68, 55, 70, 1, 28, 53], but until recently only
the Anspear platform that underlies MobLang has made extensive use of graphics, video
and audio for language learning on mobile phones. This is, however, now starting to
change with commercial producers (e.g., Rosetta Stone, Byki, Babbel.com, hello-hello)
making their web-based language learning programs accessible to i-Phones [20].
Aside from overcoming technical constraints, the use of audio for content presentation
and learner input has its own obvious pedagogical justification. Hearing the target
language spoken, associating the written form of a language with its proper
pronunciation, and being able to record and compare a learner response with a nativespeaker model are all important for language learning. However, the pedagogical
exploitation of mobile audio is not without its own practical constraints since it requires
the use of a headset (or otherwise quiet surroundings) and an environment in which
learners do not feel self-conscious about speaking out loud. The use of mobile audio is
most definitely not anywhere, anytime.

Although the use of mobile phones has proven to be an effective means of content
delivery, MALL tutorial applications continue to face the pedagogical challenge of
providing feedback and monitoring. Response feedback essentially remains limited to
displaying a correct answer or indicating a Right/Wrong evaluation. Except for ex post
facto effectiveness testing, the instructor monitoring of student performance has been
virtually non-existent.
A number of factors contribute to the one-way teacher-to-learner directionality of most
tutorial MALL applications, but the most fundamental has been the lack of the
infrastructure, technical and human, required to support two-way interaction between
learners and instructors in a mobile environment. As a consequence, very few projects
have attempted to address the issue of providing systematic feedback and student
monitoring. The earliest attempt [3] linked learners to instructors who were available to
answer student questions by phone. More recently [12, 52, 14] some teachers have used
a server-based system to track student performance. This involved the use of an entirely
audio-based system (Learnosity) that targeted speaking and listening skills. Students
dialed into a telephone answering service and left spoken responses to pre-recorded oral
prompts. Student recordings were saved to a central server, from which they could be
retrieved by instructors for correction and commenting that was sent to a website for
student retrieval. While these pilot projects have shown that it is possible to provide
effective teacher-learner interaction in a MALL application, given the costs in technical
and human resources, their scalability for widespread use remains to be demonstrated.
Though the great majority of MALL applications have adhered to the behaviorist,
teacher-centered, transmission model paradigm, this is certainly not the only pedagogic
approach that mobile learning can support. Situated learning theory has underpinned
programs developed on server-based systems to adapt content delivery to the physical
location of students. In the TenseITS project [13], students indicated where they were
when logging into the program, which determined the duration and complexity of
instruction received (e.g., a short review module while waiting for a bus, a longer more
complex lesson while in the library, etc.). Using Global Positioning System technology to
exploit the mobility of the learner, the CLUE system [43, 44] provided vocabulary
information according to location (e.g., food vocabulary was provided if the student was
in a market). The PALLAS prototype [49], PCULS initiative [9] and MicoMandarin
program [17] have similarly sought to personalize language learning taking location into
account.
Mobile technology can also be exploited within more learner-centered, constructivist,
collaborative frameworks. A task-based learning approach served as the theoretical basis
for paired student vocabulary practice using mobile phones [29]. Tablet computers have
been used in conjunction with Skype to support peer-assisted pronunciation correction
[32]. Collaborative learning through learner-to-learner interaction has likewise been
supported through the linking of mobile phones to websites where students could share
their learning discoveries via text contributions [15, 16] as well as photos and audio
recordings made on their mobile devices [10, 25, 46, 71]. Similarly, group blogs
accessible from mobile phones have been created to support study-abroad students [48,

47, 11, 57] as well as to foster the integration of foreign students in a home-stay country
[58, 57]. Mobile phones (as well as PDAs and early tablet computers) have also been
used to support learner-to-learner collaboration for listening comprehension [40], reading
[32], and translation activities [7].
Constructivist learning theory, linked specifically to the Noticing Hypothesis [56], has
motivated the proposed use of the multimedia facilities of mobile phones to create
language learning diaries in which text, images and audio can be exploited to allow
students to reflect individually and collectively on their language learning [30, 4]. The
theory of Input Enhancement has similarly provided the foundation for extensive
listening practice using audiobooks on mobile phones [51].
To conclude, I hope to have shown that MALL in general, and mobile phone usage in
particular, is capable of supporting applications based on a variety of learning theories
and methodological approaches. Behaviorist, teacher-centered, vocabulary and grammar
tutorial programs remain the norm, though they have yet to adequately address the issue
of response feedback and learner monitoring. While very much in the minority,
constructivist, collaborative, learner-centered pedagogical approaches have inspired a
range of MALL applications that include vocabulary acquisition, listening, speaking,
reading, and translation activities as well as collaborative learner-learner interactions.
Given the ubiquity of mobile phone ownership worldwide, the ever improving
functionality of these devices and their pedagogical adaptability, MALL is bound to be
increasingly called upon to provide support for foreign language instruction. Hopefully, a
number of you will be part of that future because technology can only ever be as good as
the pedagogy behind it, and for that there is no substitute for the expertise and creativity
of language teachers.

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