Using Smartphones in Language Teaching

1. Smartphones
and Language
Teaching
Uğur SEVER

2. Outline
 General Introduction
 How to use Smartphones in Education?
 Pros of Usage of Smartphones in Education
 Cons of Usage of Smartphones in Education
 Pedagogical Implications
 Useful Smartphone Applications for Language
Learning&Teaching

3. General Introduction
 Let’s take a moment to reflect on what the
following things have in common:
 newspapers,
 books,
 cameras,
 pictures,
 videos,
 games,
 MP3 players,
 radios,
 notepads,
 phone calls,
 text messaging…

4. And the common link?
• They are all potentially useful
language learning tools,
• They can all be carried out or
accessed through modern
smartphones

5.  As you can see, these phones can potentially
offer our learners a whole host of multi-
sensory learning opportunities and a chance
to become more autonomous in their learning.
 What’s more, the portability of smartphones
means that, not only can these learning
opportunities be exploited in the classroom
and at home; they can also be used during
free time on public transport, in a queue, in a
cafe … wherever and whenever an
opportunity arises.

6. How to Use Smartphones in
Education?
 1. Use smartphones for vocabulary
exercises with Google image search.
 A picture is worth a thousand words. Have
your students use their smartphone to look up
specific nouns on Google images or another
search engine. All of us know that a visual
dictionary can greatly improve vocabulary
retention. With smartphones, we have visual
dictionaries on hand.

7.  Use smartphones for communicative
activities using apps.
 We all communicate with our smartphones in
different ways depending on different apps. In
other words, texting with a messaging app is
bound to be different than writing an email on
your computer. Take advantage of this and
promote activities that are specific to a given
context. One example might be to have
students text each other to complete a given
task.

8.  Use smartphones for help with pronunciation.
 For example, focus on suggestions. Ask students
to open a recording app. Read five different ways
to make a suggestion aloud. Pause between each
suggestion. Have students go home and practice
mimicking your pronunciation in the pause
between each suggestion. There are many, many
variations on this theme.
 Another great use for pronunciation is to have
students change the language to English and try
to dictate an email. They'll have to work really
hard at word level pronunciation in order to get the
desired results.

9.  Use smartphones instead of a thesaurus.
 Have students search on the phrase "words
like ..." and a host of online offerings will
appear. Encourage students to use their
smart phones during writing class in this
manner while focusing on developing a wider
range of vocabulary. For example, take a
simple sentence such as "The people spoke
about politics." Ask students to come up with
a number of versions using their smartphones
to find substitutes for the verb "speak."

10.  Use smartphones to play games.
 I know you think that this is something we
shouldn't encourage in class. However, you
might encourage students to write down
phrases they experience while playing games
to bring into class to discuss in more detail.
There are also a number of word games such
as Scrabble or word search puzzles that are
actually instructive as well as fun. You can
make room for this in your class as a "reward"
for completing a task, just make sure to tie it
to some sort of report back to the class.

11.  Encourage students to use smartphones
to keep track of vocabulary.
 There are a wide variety of MindMapping
apps available, as well as a lot of flash card
apps. You can even create your own flash
cards and have students download your set of
cards to practice in class.

12.  Use smartphones for writing practice.
 Have students write emails to each other in
order to complete a specific task. Change up
the tasks to practice different types of register.
For example, one student might write a
product inquiry with another student replying
to the inquiry. This can help motivate the
students to complete the task.

13.  Use smartphones to create a narration.
 Have students choose photos they have
taken and write a short story describing the
photos they have chosen.

14.  Use smartphones to keep a journal.
 One more writing exercise for the smart
phone. Have students keep a journal and
share it with the class. Students can take
photos, write descriptions in English, as well
as describe their day.

15. Some Practical Ways to Enhance
Learning
 Camera: The camera function of a smartphone or
function phone can be used in a variety of ways.
 For example, to save time, learners could take
photographs of information that they may
otherwise have had to copy down in their books.
 Learners could also use the camera function to
take photographs out of class time which can then
be used in class activities.

16.  Camcorder: Learners can use this to record
(and later analyze) class-work such as
discussions, role plays, interviews and
presentations. Furthermore, learners who
have pronunciation difficulties can video their
teacher saying certain words and then video
themselves saying the same words to analyze
and correct their mistakes using both audio
and visual cues.

17.  E-Books / newspapers / magazines:
Learners can download and read a variety of
different types of text on their phones, many
of which are free or inexpensive.
 Useful applications are: Kindle, Quick Reads
and Oxford Bookworms

18.  Podcasts and videos: Learners can download
language learning podcasts or videos onto their
smartphones to listen to at their leisure.
 In class, learners could listen to podcasts and
complete the corresponding activities, after which
they could consolidate their learning by
downloading the podcast to listen to again in their
own time.
 Alternatively, learners could be set the task of
listening to the podcast and completing
comprehension exercises before the lesson, and
come to the class prepared to discuss it.

19. Pros of Usage of Smartphones in
Education
 One can access lessons, video clips and audio
libraries from anywhere, including public places
and moving buses and trains.
 Interaction with fellow students and instructors will
be a great help. It is an accepted fact that learning
is made easier when information is shared and
questions answered through a sort of combined
study. This helps several students to work
together on assignments even while remaining at
far-flung locations.

20.  Portability is a very big plus, as a smartphone
is compact and very lightweight, and enables
a student to take notes or enter all types of
data directly into the device.
 There is a psychological factor; owning
handheld devices increases student
motivation and deepens the commitment to
using and learning with them.
Pros of Usage of Smartphones in
Education

21. Pros of Usage of Smartphones in
Education
 Flexible hours of learning are indeed a great
advantage as students can access the system
anytime 24-7 and from any location. What is
more, teacher support can now be expected
even outside classrooms and other learning
environments.
 Each student can learn at his or her own pace
- some student may be slower learners.

22. Cons of Usage of Smartphones
in Education
 There is the definite inconvenience of size, as
the student has to learn while hunched over
the small screen of a smartphone.
 Short battery life and frequent changes of
batteries are big problems.
 The absence of a common hardware platform;
this makes it extremely difficult to develop
content for use by all.

23. Cons of Usage of Smartphones
in Education
 Devices may become outdated quickly.
 Can create a feeling of isolation.
 May require media to be reformatted or
offered in multiple formats.

24. Pedagogical Implications
 Learning will center on the individual learner's
environment rather than the classroom.
 Learning will involve learners making meaningful
connections to resources and other people.
 The ability to instantly publish their observations
and reflections as digital media will empower
learners to become investigators of their own
environments.

25. Pedagogical Implications
 The ability to easily capture and record life
events will assist learners in recall and
collaborative reflection.
 Distributed collaboration and mobile team
opportunities will be greatly enhanced.

26. Apps for Language Learning and
Teaching
 1. Duolingo – Free

27.  Duolingo – Free
 The interface is remarkable and the app never
hinders the user with needless menus and
options.
 Simply select the language you want to learn and
the app will do the rest for you.
 There are even two difficulty levels for both
beginners and those who are somewhat familiar
with the language.
 Supports Spanish, French, Italian, Irish, Dutch,
English and many more.
 It is some kind of translation-based app but it also
includes listening and pronunciation activities.

28.  Learn Languages: Rosetta Stone

29.  50 languages

30.  Memrise

31.  ESL Podcast- Unofficial

32.  The Phrasal Verbs Machine

33.  Learn English, Speak English

34.  MyWordBook 2