1. “Open Educational Mobile Application Development and Implementation for Teaching
English based course.”
1.0 Introduction
The chief aim of any educational institute is to enable students to meet with their preplanned
goals. In doing so they need to communicate in a language that is widely used i.e. English. In
order to achieve institutional goals, teachers have to play a very vital role. Generally in formal
system of education the process of getting education takes place between teachers and learners.
In this process language functions as a medium of transmitting knowledge from one person to
another. Thus, the language, that teacher practices in the classroom should be error free and
should meet with linguistic competence. In order to achieve the above said technology can
assist a lot.
(Dewey 1) has very aptly pointed out that “Education is development from within and that it is
formation from without;” It seemly puts focus on the hidden notion, that Education needs
continuous up gradation, development; and successive enhancement which can be achieved
through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors. Use of technology is one of such things which
provide extrinsic motivation which gradually becomes intrinsic one. Hence, the use of
technology in pedagogy should be given courage and voice. As (Krashen 6-7), a prominent
Linguist has rightly said that Language learning takes place in the atmosphere of ease:
“Language learning takes place with comprehensible input in low anxiety situations.” Such low
anxiety situations i.e. conducive climate can be created with the help of technology. Computers
have been acting as a medium to get conducive climate. (Levy and Stockwell, 199) “CALL has
the potential to enrich a language – learning environment, effective use of CALL in the same
classroom requires practitioners to be aware of the constraint that the choice of certain
technologies brings constraints.” In the present century teachers have to come out from the
conventional way of teaching and have to accept the rapid growth of technology in pedagogy. In
a way as mentioned above, the teachers are using computers, however, it is not feasible to
everybody, hence there is a very high need do find out alternative to it. The use of mobile to
assist pedagogy is a great option to computer. The advantages of it, is that it is generally
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2. available with everybody. The only constraints are that majority of people are unaware of its
proper use. If the teachers are techno savvy and if they make use of it in proper progressive way
it has the capacity to bring positive results.
The present paper talks on a study which was carried out at Babaria Institute of Technology on
10 selected students to assess the efficacy of MALL i.e. Mobile Assisted Language Learning in
learning of language.
1.2 Open Educational Resources:
In its simplest form, the concept of Open Educational Resources for mobile (OER) describes any
educational resources that are openly available for use by educators and students, without an
accompanying need to pay or license fees. Underneath Open Educational Resources, Mobile
Development in learning English is undergoing rapid evolution. Since learning English is very
popular in non English speaking countries like India, developing modern assisted-learning tools
through mobile that support effective English learning is a critical issue in the English-language
education field.
1.3 Mobile Assisted Language Learning:
Mobile Assisted Language Learning i.e. MALL has been in existence for a very long period of
time. MALL has evolved to support students’ language learning with the increased use of mobile
technologies such as mobile phones (cell phones), MP3 and MP4 players, PDAs and devices
such as the iPhone or iPad. With MALL, students are able to access language learning materials
and to communicate with their teachers and peers at any time, anywhere.
It has many advantages and positive outcomes. (Facer, B. and Abdous, M. 96) During the year
2004-2005 academic year Duke University achieved fame for its “I Pod First Year Experience”
In which 1600 entering students were given an iPode and over 40 courses were reported to have
integrated some academic use of the devices (Belanger 2005, b). Students projected positive
feedback about the project, with 85 % rating the project 5 or higher on a scale of 1-10, but many
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3. commented that they like the iPods for personal reasons. The programme evaluation noted that
75 % of the students reported some academic use of their iPode, and about 50 % were not
enrolled which formally integrated the iPods.
Current Trends and Use:
MALL currently serves not only as a primary source of language education for students but also
supports the retention and utilization of newly-acquired language skills—however they were
acquired. Through mobile participation in short exercises and tasks, learners are able to keep
their linguistic talents sharp while reducing the risk of degradation of valuable knowledge, skills
and abilities.
Future of MALL:
Consensus among the limited literature and studies available specifically about MALL indicate
that the demand for it will only increase—along with the demand for second language
acquisition and learning flexibility. Predicted growth is reinforced by the overall decrease in free
time. With people working longer hours, the time necessary for formal, traditional classroom-
based or even standard online courses will decrease. MALL will be an ideal solution to busy
students and professionals seeking to acquire one or more new languages.
What mobile devices lack in capability (regarding sound and video quality and screen size) they
make up for in portability. In the future, however, we can expect mobile devices to deliver better
quality than is currently available among most mobile devices. It is expected that designers will
capitalize on this increase in quality—designing MALL programs that employ student-focused,
media-rich, flexible and collaborative learning strategies. Additionally, changes in the cost and
availability of wireless service—a luxury to most in the not-too-distant past—will make MALL
available to a far wider and diverse audience.
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4. Motivation or Statement of Problem:
With the accelerated growth in wireless and mobile technologies, mobile learning using mobile
devices such as PDAs, tablet PCs, and cell phones or smartphones has gradually become
considered effective because it inherits all the advantages of e-learning and overcomes
limitations of learning time and space that limit web based learning systems.
The future of mobile learning in India
New Delhi: The number of mobile subscribers in India increased by 2.52% in January this year,
taking the total number to 771.18 million.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Posted: Saturday, Mar 05, 2011 at 0032 hrs IS
Android E-Learning Apps:
In mobile OS development, Android (Google) has been available as open source since 21 st
October 2008. Before Android, there were many other Mobile OS were available but impact on
leading learning development started through Android in 2008. The market is full of English
learning open apps like ESLPod ensider, VOAPod ensider, Learn English Elementary, Test
Your English Vocabulary, ESL Daily English, English Study Podcast, Learning English Online
BBC Podcast Radio Big City –British Council etc. plenty of other freebies grammar applications
too and myriad of associated apps.
Android E-Readers:
News apps are some of the most popular apps used by the average Indian. In fact, this can be
further validated by the massive number of News channel apps available on Android Market.
Newspapers have made conscious effort to be available at least in one other platform than
Android. If we count the numbers of readers who read online through mobile the following
conclusion can be made:
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5. India- The Android first Nation:
Android remains the top marketplace of choice for the Indians. It caters to almost all the needs of
a typical Indian and does it brilliantly. It is mainly because of the easier availability of many free
E-learning apps via marketplace. The growth of the Android marketplace along with the
presence of cheaper smartphones will continue to propel the growth of English learners too.
Click on link below to know more about the future of mobile development:
http://androidos.in/2012/03/the-future-of-android/
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6. Survey: Mobile learning for English language teachers
The survey was carried out during June and July of 2010. The survey was answered by over 500
English language teachers. The results of this survey were collected online using a web based
survey site called SurveyMonkey.com conducted by Nik Peachey | Learning Technology
Consultant, Writer, Trainer. The role of the survey was to ascertain the level of awareness and
openness to mobile learning among English language teachers.
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7. Summary conclusions:
• A large percentage of teachers already have access to mobile internet services.
• Many teachers are already attempting to exploit mobile resources and capabilities for teaching
and learning purposes.
• Most teachers have confidence in the role mobile learning will play in the future of language
teaching and learning.
• At present there is a scarcity of appropriate learning and teaching content for language teaching
and professional development.
Summing up:
“I believe this survey shows that there is a clear and commercially viable opportunity for any
ELT publisher wishing to invest in the development of mobile teaching and learning content.”
- Nik Peachey
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8. 1.4 Procedure:
Note: Students were selected such that they already possessed Android device and knew how to
operate it, as a pre-requisite skill.
They all had been instructed to download the app from the message which had been sent to them
on their mobile. They had to click on hyperlinked web to download the app. The instructions
were already given to them to study the content and after it, they had to go through sample
exercises given in the app only. After all the procedure got completed they had been called for
final test of multiple choice questions as an evaluation to what they had learned through mobile
based application.
Followings are the screenshots captured of the developed application for the students:
App on my Smartphone Galaxy… Very first Menu Page of App…
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9. Overview of the course… Introduction about the chapters…
Content Index of the Chapters… Explorations on the Contributor…
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10. In order to find out the results of use of MALL to assess its efficacy on language learning the
researcher created one mobile application which was made feasible in the selected sample for the
study.
The researcher has prepared one application based on Android Platform. The Application
contains the study materials at very first update of it. After it has been updated the researcher had
provided the sample assessment where students have to go through multiple choice questions.
They were given proper assistance in getting competent with its use. At later stage the learners of
the study were introduced with the actual learning process. They were to make use of the
application which was installed in their mobile and thereby they were to answer the multiple
choice questions. The sample i.e. learners of the study were introduced with selected chapters of
the syllabus of Contributor Personality Development of Gujarat Technical University. Initially it
was a little difficult for the learners to get acquainted with it. Hence, out of 10 learners, 5
learners answered till the end of study whereas 3 learners were in need of constant assistance
from the researcher and 2 learners did not show interest at all.
The result of the study shows the positive impact of technology on the students so far. But it has
to be used with proficiency in technical skills. Students were mismanaged in terms of providing
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11. the input of it through Mobile App Learning as it was very first time. The conclusion of this
would be that if one is provided with Mobile App he/she can learn with the mobility of use,
anywhere and anytime. There are many more advantages of making app development in terms
of learning and teaching.
1.5 Conclusion:
Research has shown the benefits of language learning through mobile but the limitations have
not allowed it to reach to the goals.
If the students are provided with more mobile based applications with the details of effective use
of it, they will sure to take interest to learn. This research has not been successful because
students were not sure with learning with such kind of procedure. This research will be helpful
for assisting other research in area of Mobile Based Learning. If time will permit the researcher,
he would again focus on the uplifting the language of the learner by assisting through mobile
based learning.
Referential Web:
Wikipedia. Open Educational Resources. Web 23 May 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources
The Next Web. Official Indian mobile users. Web 10 May 2012, from http://thenextweb.com/in/
2011/05/04/official-india-has-only-500-million-mobile-users-not-800-million/
Financial Express. India has million active subscribers. Web 15 May 2012, from
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/india-has-548.66-million-active-mobile-
subscribers/758063/
Indian droid. Facts about Android. Web 21 May 2012, from
http://indiaandroid.com/2010/08/25-facts-about-android-must-read-for-android-users/
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12. Kalinago Blogspot. Mobile Assisted Language Learning. Web 25 May 2012, from
http://kalinago.blogspot.in/2012/05/mobile-assisted-language-learning.html
https://sites.google.com/site/mallandroidapps/
Bibliography:
Dewey, John. Experience and Education. 60th anniversary ed. New York:
Touchstone. 1997. Print.
Krashen, Stephan D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition.
Reprinted. London: Prentice-Hall International, 1987. Print.
Levy, Mike., and Stockwell, Glenn. CALL Dimensions: Options and Issues in
Computer Assisted Language Learning. United States of America:
Cambridge University. 2006. Print.
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