New Literacies and language learning

66 thoughts on “Mobile Learning: Small Devices, Big Issues”

1. 1. Yes, I do experienced mobile learning, most of which are delivered through the app called DingDing and Zoom as these platforms/apps provide us with opportunities to communicate in real time.
   2. I will not incoporate this into my teaching. The first reason is that my students are going to be those under 18, and have diffculities to be critical to information they received, so I don’t want to take the risk. The other reason is that, mobile teaching is acctually different from the classroom teaching, we need to pay attention to the course design and task design which is not included in the teacher training in my city so I don’t think I am qualified to incorporate mobile learning into my teaching.

   • Thanks for your sharing Tiffany! Zoom is a great example of mobile learning, and by using it we can continue having our lessons in this special period. As for your concerns, I have to admit that these problems do exist. Without proper guidance bu the teacher, young students may encounter many difficulties. And this new method may also become a burden to teachers because they have to get trained and have to change their mindsets. However, since we have already entered the digital era, mobile learning may become a trend and gradually gain legitimacy, institutions and teachers have to get prepared for changes in teaching. Therefore, my suggestion is that maybe you can make some minor changes at first, incorporate a small portion of ML in your class to see its effect.

2. Yes, I have experienced Mobile Learning. Actually, I use it a lot to learn English. I use Baicizhan to remember English words every day. I read English articles through Liulishuo Reading every morning. Besides, I also use Dangdang to read books and Himalaya to listen to books nearly every day. Mobile learning has become a part of my life. It is extremely convenient and effective. I can take full advantage of my time. For example, I can listen to books when I am doing exercises. I can also use the pieces of my time to read books and remember some words. It is free and I can have access to endless recourses. I really enjoy Mobile Learning.
   I will definitely incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching. Actually, I am doing that and I also think it is very effective. I usually recommend my students with some excellent English apps, for example, Liulishuo! They can practice their spoken English and they can learn more new words. There are many popular topics in this app which can arouse their interest in English. Many of my students like this app and practice English English in this app every day.

   • Thanks for your comment Betty! You have already found the treasure in Mobile Learning!
     The greatest asset of Mobile Learning is its flexibility, which means learning is not limited to anyplace or anytime. It seamlessly integrates learning into the daily routine of all learners, which can facilitate the retention of knowledge.
     Also, I am glad to hear that you have already adopted ML in your class, and it receives an overwhelming response from students. Maybe later you can share your teaching experience in detail with us.

3. Have you experienced Mobile Learning? If yes, what devices, apps, or platforms do you most frequently use and why?

   Yes I do have experienced Mobile Learning a lot these days. For example, I often use apps like Everyday English Listening, IELTS Bro, Xiaozhan IELTS and TOFEl to improve my English learning and teaching as I can always find unlimited amount of learning and teaching information in those apps. I also use the TED.com and Bilibili.com to watch some interesting and well-made English learning videos for self-learning. Kindle is another kind of device that I often use to read for pleasure. Using these different kinds of devices and apps allow me to learn whenever I want and wherever I am and what’s more important is that I can always choose whatever interest and suit me to learn, which is very stimulating.

   As an English teacher, will you incorporate Mobile Learning into your teaching? If yes, how? If no, why not?

   Yes, definitely. Since Mobile Learning is penetrated our everyday life, incorporating it into my teaching seems to be unstoppable. I will probably use Mobile Learning to supplement my in-class teaching by asking my students to read extensively about related topics they can find in their mobile phones, computers and other devices available. Or they can tele-cooperate with their peers during the summer and winter vacation to finish a group project by putting together the information they find in different learning apps, devices and platforms.

   • Thanks for your sharing Daniel！
     Good to hear that you have already get invloved in Mobile Learning. There are many apps and devices which be used by learners to facilitate their learning process. And they can learn almost everything at their own pace, thus they may feel empowered and then are more willing to learn.

4. Yes, I do have experiences of mobile learning. Actually what we are doing now- having classes through Zoom is also a kind of mobile learning. The devices that I use most frequently for mobile learning is Zoom because during this particular time, due to novel coronavirus, we have no choice but to have all our classes online. But to be honest, I think Zoom is very effective in having online class haha.

   Yes, why not? If I find some online courses or learning apps which are very beneficial to my students, I will recommend them to learn through these platforms after class. But one important thing is that I need cooperation with students’ parents. To be specific, when students learn at home, their parents need to supervise them so as to make sure they are really studying rather than playing online games.

   • Haha I agree with you. Zoom is definitely an effective online-learning platform, especially in this period. Teachers, us, and the system administrators are all connected by the Internet. We can communicate with our peers and the teacher, and if we want to review what has been learned in class, we can go to the recording section to see it again.
     Also, the suggetions you offer are reasonable. Since our students are young, screen time can be addictive. Therefore, Mobile Learning must be regulated and supervised in case that students might get distracted by other things or become addicted.

5. Mobile learning has benefited me a lot.

   The last time I received mobile classes is about German Learning. It can be learned wherever and whenever i am, since it’s recorded class not instant ones. The only task I need to do is to complete all those courses before its expiration date.

   I think such kind of classes is more suitable for those learners who own high learner autonomy, they know how to allocate time wisely and arrange their daily learning goals. Compared to LIVE classes, maybe the content of recorded classes might not be so new or updating, and interaction is rarely (merely for answering multiple choices answers). I prefer mobile learning since it offers me more freedom, avoid being pushed, and gaining sense of accomplishment if I complete the tasks given by myself .

   • Wow, I also learned German in the university, but the langauge learning was restricted to classes, never did I have a mobile class like you, maybe later you can tell me which app you use 🙂
     You mentioned that mobile learning is more suitable for the autonomous learners, which I think is reasonable. Because young students may easily get distracted. Without internal learning drive, together with the lack of supervision, they will deviate from the learning task. How to motivate young students and supervise them is a great task of teachers.

6. Yes, I have experienced Mobile learning. I used Shanbay APP to recite vocabulary and read English news in the postgraduate years. And I think it is very useful and can motivate me to maintain the learning plan because it requires you to punch time clock every day which seems like your friends and parents are your supervisor. Moreover, the learning plan that Shanbay offers is quite scientific because it adopts the theory of Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.
   As an English teacher, I would like to incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching and recommend students some useful APPs because they provide more learning materials and knowledge which may not be included in the curriculum. And compared to study in group, students can control his or her pace on language learning, which can be more suitable for individual language learning.

   • Thank you for sharing, Charlotte. Yeah, we can keep learning with the help of “daily attendance” in a lot of apps. The app you have introduced sounds excellent! And it’s great to hear that you are planning to incorporate Mobile Leaning into class teaching. I agree with you that students will benefit from those apps by gaining more related materials and can study in a more comfortable and suitable pace on their own.

7. Yes, because of the pandemic, we are now taking online courses through ZOOM. It is most frequently used at present. First, it is required by the university, we need to be present in the meeting to take the course. Second, because of its multimodal functions which support the instant and simultaneous communication, besides using it for taking courses, we sometimes also use it for group discussion.

   I will try to incorporate Mobile learning into my teaching. Some of my undergraduate classmates have already applied mobile learning into the class. In order to improve their students’ reading competence, they introduced their students some quick video editing apps like Vue and taught them with some basic instructions. Then they held a reading competition for students which required them to work in a team and use these apps to recite a poem they like in English and hand in the work in the form of the video clips. I think it increases their motivation to study English. And through the process of searching the poems they like, they were exposed to a large amount of materials in English. In addition, the reading competition also let the students be more serious about their work, so some students might first listen to the audio clip from native speakers and practice by themselves later. Therefore, I think it is practical and interesting as a part of the English teaching.

   • Hi Connor, thank you for your comment!
     Yeah, we are able to continue our curriculum with the help of Zoom during this period. And it’s great that you have already figured out the affordances of mobile learning! Mobile learning offers opportunities for students to study anytime and anywhere.
     The activity you have mentioned sounds excellent! The students will, of course, be more engaged in this kind of activity compared to a traditional class. It seems a good way to enhance students’ reading competence with the advantages you have mentioned.

8. Yes, I have already gained benefits from mobile learning. During the unusual time, taking our courses through ZOOM is an ideal choice for us. In my spare time, mobile learning has become an inseparable part. I memorize English words through Hujiang APP and listen to bilingual podcast to phrase my ideas more idiomatically every single day. Also, Tandem is a online platform I use frequently to team up with native speakers to practice language output. The emergence of these web-based platforms enable me to make full use of language learning materials and learn consciously in fragmented time.

   Definitely, as an English teacher, I will incorporate mobile learning into teaching. Based on my own experience of mobile learning, I would recommend some high-quality apps or platforms for students to satisfy their various demands of learning English. After all, it is not enough to only grasp knowledge from English textbooks. But for younger learners, it would be better if they can learn English on mobile devices with accompany of their parents.

   • Hi, Yvaine, thank you for your sharing!
     Glad to hear that you have gained benefits from Mobile Learning! We are able to carry out a lot of activities and gain knowledge as long as we can access to mobile devices.
     Yes, the knowledge from English textbooks is far from enough, and the suitable apps and platforms would function as perfect supplements. And I agree with you that young learners need extra companies. They need timely technology helps and supervision as well because of their low-discipline.

9. Before taking online classes on ZOOM, the most frequent Mobile Learning practice I experience is memorizing vocabularies through apps and e-dictionary. The biggest strength is its conveniency. I can learn vocabularies anytime everywhere. And also because of its multimodality. I can get the pronounciation of the word as well as its ralated pictures, which provide me a context to learn vocabularies.
   I may introduce it if my students are above 16. Actually it’s complicated to mulnipulate mobile phone for young children, and again its easy to be a distraction for them.

   • Hi Cathy, thx for your sharing! I also download many apps in my phone to remember vocabularies, and the most ferquently used one by me is Baicizhan, maybe sometime you can download it because I find it very useful.
     Moreover, I am glad to hear that you will incorporate Mobile Learning in your class. Students may find it very interesting and then are movitated to learn knowledge and skills in a new mode.

10. Yes. The most frequently app I used is Baicizhan, which helps me to memorize vocabulary in a graphic way and it has the function of reviewing and testing. You also remind me that when I was preparing for the drive license test, I used the app to practice the test for driving rules and regulations and I think it was very effective. The reason why I use these app is because they help me to acquire knowledge in a short time, and I can learn without the limitation of physical location as I can learn when travelling on the metro or waiting in line, which help me to save a lot of time too.

    However, I think the use of mobile leaning will depend on the level of the students. It is more suitable for university level students, as they have better autonomy in learning. For primary and secondary students, I think they will easily get distracted and may encounter the issue of phone addiction.

    • Thanks for your sharing Shanice! We share the same experience! I also use Baicizhan to memorize vocabularies and Jiakaobaodian to prepare for subject 1 and 4. Those apps are very convenient to use, are’t they? We can get access to them at any time and any place.

      I understand your concerns as well. Some mobile devices can be a distraction for primary and secondary students. Learning on mobile devices may be interesting to them, but games on these devices seem to be even more fun hhhhh. Therefore, teachers and parents have to supervise their learning from time to time.

11. Yes, I do experience mobile learning. The platform I used most is “italic” which is recommended by our classmate. Reasons for using it is as follows: first of all, the price for booking lessons is reasonable. Secondly, you can book a lesson at your convenience.
    I will not incorporate mobile learning into my teaching but mobile learning can be an add-on, because in school students still need to learn something to deal with exams.

    • Hi, Alex, thank you for sharing! It’s good to hear that you have benefited from mobile learning. I understand your concern as nowadays our education is still exam-oriented. Maybe we can select some suitable apps and platforms and use them in carefully designed ways to help our students grasp knowledge more effectively.

12. I think mobile learning has been taking place all the time. The situation we face nowadays is that the extent of mobility is greater. But if defined narrowly (e.g. learning that must involve electronic mobile device), I do engage in mobile learning. I use dictionary apps to look up words on my phone.

    I think I might incorporate short activities that involve the mobile phones, e.g. asking students to film themselves giving a mini-presentation. The MyArtSpace project in the article is very interesting and made me wonder whether I could implement it in one of the field trips that we already have in our curriculum. Surely students could use notebooks to take notes. But taking pictures would be very handy, especially if they are asked to give presentations after the visit.

    • Thank you for sharing!
      Yeah, it’s much more convenient for us to look up words using e-dictionaries.
      We are glad to hear that you are planning to incorporate mobile learning into your class. The activity you have suggested sounds great. And extra help is needed if we want to carry out the activities like MyArtSpace. For instance, sufficient digital devices should be available and technical support as well.

13. Actually, mobile learning should not be restricted to some apps and platforms designed purely for learning. Except for having a class through Zoom and looking for new words in e-dictionary as others have mentioned above, we can also acquire some knowledge through daily activities online, like browsing websites, commenting on others’ blogs, and watching interesting videos. All those can be ordinary practices maybe only for recreation, but some of them do have educational effects. We can engage those learning practices and at the same time gaining some pleasure.

    Personally speaking, I’d rather consider mobile learning as a supplementary tool for formal teaching. Systematically giving the lessons in a traditional way will contribute to a more convenient and concise evaluation of student’s learning practices, which cannot easily be achieved through mobile teaching.

    • Thank you for your comment, Georgina!
      Yes, as you mentioned, we can engage those learning practices and gaining some pleasure at the same time. We can learn and gain knowledge in a much more pleasant way with the unique affordances of mobile learning.
      And I think using mobile learning as a supplementary tool for teaching is a good idea considering the current educational situation.

14. 1.Have you experienced Mobile Learning? If yes, what devices, apps, or platforms do you most frequently use and why?
    Definitely yes. I do have experienced mobile learning these days. More specifically, I once read English novels through a platform called Mint Reading; additionally, I prepared IELTS on a website named IELTSspeaking. Also, I often use apps like e-dictionary to learn words and phrases; apps such as TED and KeKe English are also my favorite for language learning and improving.
    2.As an English teacher, will you incorporate Mobile Learning into your teaching? If yes, how? If no, why not?
    Sure. Since students nowadays are more open and willing to receive new modes, mobile learning would be a necessity for my future teaching career. I will recommend some apps to students for language learning. Also, students will be asked to search by themselves in order to do extensive reading after class.

    • Hi, Brenda, thank you for sharing!
      We are delighted to hear that you are planning to incorporate Mobile Learning into your teaching! I think the apps can enhance learning by sustaining learning across different learning contexts, and students would be more engaged in the learning activities.

15. I think mobile learning is an effective way to learn no matter what kind of subjects. The mobile learning allow us to make use of the separated time. Now with the smart phone or technologies like ipad, the mobile learning becomes extremely accessible. We can search and learn regardless of the space and time, for example during the way going to work by subway or bus. For me I always read some articles in Wechat, and I can subscribe to what I am interested in.
    As for the limitations mentioned in the blog, I only agree with the last one “hard to evaluate mobile learning outcomes”. For the mentioned technical issues in mobile learning, I think now with the 4G and soon 5G, the technical problems such as transfer latency and cumbersome use will be hard to encounter. At least I and my friends we hardly face this kind of problem. For the philosophical, social and ethnical issues, I think it’s too exaggerated to say that the technology may become an extension of human cognition and memory. For the third one, the mobile learning outcomes may be hard to evaluate, but if we regard mobile learning as an complementary learning and just be relaxed, this will be at meantime leisure and learning.
    As an English teacher, I would like to encourage my students to make full use of their fragmented time to try mobile learning, whether it’s on the way to somewhere or while eating something. I would not use mobile learning during the course time, but incorporate it in my students’ daily life.

    • Thanks for your comments, Daisy. I agree with you that mobile learning enables us to make use of separated time. I also subscribe some Wechat account for fragmented learning myself. As for the limitations, I think your argument makes sense to some extent. But I would say these limitations really hinder the use of mobile technologies. For instance, some applications are really difficult to use and some technical problems are hard to handle. Nuanced program mistakes can make cause technical issues and they are hard to be detected. Anyway, I agree that it is a good way to use mobile learning for students to learn.

16. I had experience about mobile learning. I used Baicizhan app for reciting vocabulary. I think it helps me to remember words in an interesting and effective way. I also used Bilibili app for watching videos in all kinds of aspects. There are many useful lessons in Bilibili and many people share their own experience of learning language.

    I think I will incorporate mobile learning into my teaching. I will recommend students some apps for their language learning. I may ask them to do dubbing via Qupeiyin to practice their speaking skill.

    • Thank you, Eva. I’m using the two apps you mentioned, and think they’re helpful as well. One thing I like the videos shared on Bilibili most is that they offer us much exposure to authentic use of particular languages which is absent in language classrooms.
      I agree with you that dubbing maybe a good way to engage learners in language learning. What we should also consider is that how we, as teacehrs, assign the task to learners, and the way they are engaged in dubbing is more effective.

17. Mobile Learning is definitely one of the most common ways for me to acquire knowledge and gather information. In terms of English learning, now I prefer using materials from authentic contexts, such as reading news on BBC or watching videos on Youtube, TED TALK etc. If we are talking not only about English learning, websites such as MOOC, Bilibili are helpful for me to learn something new from fields that I am not familiar with.

    As mobile learning allows more creative work, I would try to incorporate activities which promote students’ interactive learning and creative thinking abilities. For example, I want to set up online forums of discussion or online blogpost like this and invite them to share their comments on relevant topis, interesting ariticles, group projects etc.

    • Hi, Stefanie. I like your idea that mobile learning makes learning knowledge in other fields more accessible. This is about life-long learning everyone needs. Our passion and possibility of learning can be blocked because of limited learning oppotunities like technology.
      Online forums do allow our learners more space of learning and interaction. If the topics on the forums are attractive to them, they will indeed be more motivated. Of course, we should also think about the topics carefully and how to improve their learning autonomy.

18. Nowadays, the popularization of electric devices makes it possible for us to be exposed to a wide variety of useful information which we can learn from anywhere and anytime. I cannot deny that Mobile Learning has become the main theme of my study life recently due to the current situation. I read news through an app “English Liulishuo” everyday, recite words with the help of “Shanbay” (which you may be familiar with), look up new words and expressions using e-dictionary, and also find interesting and useful information through social media like Wechat Official Platform and Microblog. All of these can be done by the mobile phone in pieces of time, which help me a lot. I don’t have to mention our online learning platform “Zoom” which may be the most frequently used software for our classmates.
    As an English teacher, I will consider to incorporate mobile learning into my teaching as I have experienced that it is an efficient way to assist language learning process. I would prefer to apply it to my after-class activities but I have no idea how to apply it efficiently to my in-class instructions since it is an informal way and there are potential technical issues.

    • Thank you, Carina. Although we’ve exposed to mobile learning before, it’s the current situation that forces us to engage in it more frequently. On the one hand, mobile learning helps us make full use of the fragments of time to learn, as you mentioned. On the other hand, I’m not very sure whether this type of learning which may comprises fragments of time is effective. Perhaps we can think about it.
      Many people have the similar thought as yours that the acceptable solution at the outset is incorporating mobile learning as after-class activities. We should also consider how to make it possible to apply it in class efficiently. Potential technical issues are indeed problems, but I believe they can be overcome through training of both teachers and learners. Once we get used to this learning pattern, it’s very possible that we can improve language learning through mobile learning, like Zoom right now.

19. To be honest, I have been experiencing Mobile Learning since I entered the university, for the mobile phone is available for me since then. Normally every morning, I will read world news via apps like BBC, VOA or CNN etc, which helps me keep pace with what happens around the world. What’s more, through reading others’ comments towards certain news in Zhihu, I get to consider different events from different aspects, which to some extent improves my critical thinking. I think this is also the process of learning.
    As an English teacher, I will you definitely incorporate Mobile Learning, as a supplement, into my teaching. For there are a lot of apps that will exert a positive influence on their language learning. For example, they can use BAICIZHAN or SHANBEI to memorize new vocabularies repeatedly; or they can also utilize Daily Listening to improve their listening through various listening materials; or they can read English news through China Daily, which may improve their reading fluency gradually.

    • Hi, Jiaxin. The apps like VOA and BBC indeed provide us opportunities to get in touch with the world where the language is actually used by people. These platforms offer us, as learners, as well as our students extensive reading and listening to increase fluency and sharpen higher order thinking ability.

20. Yes, definitely, I have used mobile phones to learn before. I don’t have any particular choices, I basically go to the platform or choose the apps according to the recommendation from my friends or the public accounts of WeChat. I normally use mobile phones to do it because of convenience. BUT as an English teacher, I don’t think I am a big fan of mobile learning, especially when my students are just kids. Their attention span is so short, even if they can learn individually for some times, they still become distracted easily by other entertaining functions of mobile phones.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Phoebe. I totally understand your concern that learners can be distracted by digital media, espeically when it is incorporated as in-class activities and the target students are kids. What I’ve been thinking recently, however, is whether we can make the best use of mobile learning and limit the potential distraction. It may have something to do with the task design, the freedom the learners are given, and teachers’/parents’ monitor.

21. I do have experienced mobile learning like reading articles from WeChat public accounts and use apps to memorize vocabulary, but just from time to time not regularly. I guess people who can insist on doing mobile learning, which takes a lot of self-discipline, can really obtain a lot from it.

    I will encourage my students to do mobile learning in the future. In fact, I think nowadays students have already been familiarized with the mobile learning and used apps like Bai Ci Zhan and electronic dictionaries to assist their English learning. So teachers are advised to go a step further– leading students to bridge the gap between classroom language learning and language use in the real-life by mobile learning. Besides, though I think the use of the Internet and mobile phone may distract students from learning, it indeed creates many chances for incidental learning, which is both appealing and helpful. So personally, what matters for teachers is how to design the activities rather than to decide whether to use the digital technology or not.

    • Thanks for your comment, Chang. I agree that mobile learning also requires leaners to be self-disciplined as they need to monitor learning processes by themselves. And students need to get more systematic training at the same time. I think your point on mobile learning needs to be instructed and organized systematically rather than be avoided really makes sense.

22. 1) Yes, definitely. In this digitalized world, it becomes much more convenient to get access to learning materials and resources. As an English user, a frequently used tool is the e-dictionary. We don’t need to take a heavy paper dictionary with us as before and we can also look up the relating information of one word in different e-dictionaries within one digital device at the same time to make comparison.

    2) As an English teacher, I will incorporate Mobile Learning into the teaching process. The first reason is that in such a digitalized world, nearly no one can be excluded to use any digital technology, so digital literacies have become necessities both for individual improvement and future workplace purpose. The second reason is relating to the convenience and flexibility of mobile learning. Both teachers and students are not restricted to place and time. But this also causes my concerns. One is it seems that our work and personal life are more integrated into each other and sometimes this may cause the problem of how to keep a balance between the two parts. Since in a traditional way, we have been facing this problem, and now it might make it even more difficult to divide them and find the balance.

    3) I have one question for the content about the second one of five essential factors – ownership (owning the technology). From the definition of Mobile Learning, the mobility of technology refers to convenience brought by digital devices. And the first factor – access to technology- seems enough to implement to project. So why the ownership is emphasized here? What does it mean?

    • Thanks for your sharing and question, Lyla. Devices and technology are not the same, in my opinion. Obviously devices are visible and touchable objects such as ipads, phones, and laptops. Technology can of course refers to the skills that enable these devices to be produced, but it can also means the skills or codes that invent specific apps and functions. For example, we’re able to enjoy the current online learning because we have devices and Zoom supported by technologies.

23. Yes, I think mobile learning has been surrounded us for a several years. I have used several apps on mobile phones to learn different topics, such as Baicizhan, Youdao class and Bilibili. Though I do not use them very frequently butI think they are very convenient to use because we can get rid of the constrains of time and space and learn anytime and anywhere.
    I might recommend some of the apps for my students to do extracurricular learning. If it is possible, I will use some of the apps to make my in-class teaching interesting by introducing the mobile learning, such as dubbing. It would just be a tool in my class but not replace the teacher’s role.

    • Thank you, Ariel. I agree with you that mobile learning can serve a supplementary role in our language class, and I also understand your concern. I don’t think teachers’ role will be replaced, however, if we incorporate it into our classes as long as we make good use of it. Your point reminds me of what my former teachers say about the relationship between human teachers and technology, that only the teachers who fail to make use of technologies will be.weeded out.

24. As a learner, mobile learning does serve as my right hand when I encounter learning difficulties. For example, I use some apps for checking plagiarism and grammar mistakes after finishing essay writing, which saves time to do the proofreading tasks myself and provides me with expert suggestions. The google doc and zoom meeting break the boundary of the distance between learners and facilitate our group work to go as smoothly as face to face situations. By the way, I want to recommend my daily learning apps to you: notability for note-taking, Xmind for mindmaps, Oulu dictionaries for consulting authentic vocabulary uses, and Costudy for participating in study communities. You can try out some of the apps if you find it useful.
    I’m sure that I will incorporate mobile learning into my teaching. Actually, I had used it when I worked in New Oriental, in which I adopted mobile learning as a bridging activity to bring in their Yuanfudao app experience into the class. I can share the process to you: students finish the assigned homework first, and I give them the correct answers without the explanation. Then, they are going to search the question in Yuanfudao app to find out why his/her answer is not correct and understand the idea of that question. In the meantime, the students should choose at least one item he/she get right to upload their explanation to the app. The students will screenshot their efforts to me, and I will use it as the source to examine their understanding of the language points. In the next class, students are going to share their progress on their mistakes. The teacher is going to monitor their knowledge and give appropriate suggestions. In this process, students develop their learners’ autonomy to dig into their mistakes and not take for others’ answers for granted by exchanging information. For sharing their explanation, they are encouraged to take the question seriously and train their divergent thinking to link the learned knowledge.

    • Hi, Krystal. Thanks for providing so many useful applications. I can see mobile learning benefits you a lot. I also use some applications you recommend such as notability and Oulu dictionary. They are helpful indeed. And I really appreciate your sharing on your experiences of using mobile learning technologies. They sound really inspiring for students to develop self-leaning ability. I think I will try the same method in my future teaching.

25. I have experience of mobile learning. I usually use my phone, and there are some apps that I often use, such as some bilingual dictionaries, duolingo. Electronic dictionaries are very convenient because they are easily accessible. I also use duolingo to learn a new language, but just for the beginner level. I can use 10 min in a day to try to memorize some basic words. But it’s not suitable for advanced learners because there is no suitable materials. There are basically simple words and sentences. I still need to go to the textbook if I wanna learn deeper.

    It is difficult to some extent because it might not match with my teaching pace and content. I can consider to incorporate part of it as supplementary learning materials to give students more background information or extra practices if they have time.

    • Hi, Vanessa! Thanks for sharing your experiences of mobile learning. I agree with you that some applications for word memorization are merely oriented to beginners and they are not suitable for advanced learners. But I am not sure why you mention mobile learning cannot match your teaching pace because I think some adjustment on mobile technologies can work it out.

    • Hi Coco. I have no experience of how such adjustment could be made. I mean generally the learning materials are already preset as a series in some apps. It is quite hard to find one which matches with my teaching process in terms of content and objectives etc.

26. 1. Yes. When I was in high school, the app Baicizhan helped me a lot in memorizing vocabularies. I can check words anytime wherever I was. For example, I had to queue up at the canteen for a long time everyday and I can memorize vocabularies by using Baicizhan in the waiting time. This is really helpful and effective in the time we need to make full use of every minutes.

    2. Yes I will incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching definitely. Mobile learning is popolar today and quite mature in the market. I will recommend students apps or websites that can benefit their learning like Liulishuo, which is a app that designing a lot of reading activities. I also use this app to do extensive reading.

    • Hi, Erin! Thanks for your comment. It seems that Baicizhan had helped you a lot in high school. It is true that mobile learning helps us use fragmented time. I am glad that you are willing to include mobile leaning in your class. And I think you’d better provide students with some using tips when introducing these new technologies to students.

27. Yes, I have experienced varieties of mobile learning. For example, I will subscribe the channels of some bloggers in Bilibili and Weibo to learn It’s very convenient. I can do it on my cellphone, with my iPad or via computer whenever and wherever.

    I think I will suggest my students to use mobile learning as a supplementary way to expand their reading material and to explore the field that they’re interested in so as to stimulate their learning interest and learner autonomy.

    • Hi, Queenie. Thanks for your comment. Learning whenever and wherever we like is really an advantage of mobile learning. I agree with you that mobile leaning can engage students’ learning interest after class. But how about using them in class? I think it can also be motivated.

28. I have expereinced Mobile Learning. I most frequently learn through apps such as Baicizhan and youlinyouke on my mobile phone. It’s super convenient to broaden my vocaublary and learn about the most heated issues across the world using these apps. I will always make some notes when necessary, it helps consolidate my memory.
    As an English teacher, I will try to incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching. Nowadays, even primary shchool students have access to electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers or ipads, so I believe it’s ok to utilise students’ strong interest in them to facilitate English teaching. I will recommend students to use apps such as Baicizhan and Liulishuo, each aimed for enriching vocabulary and practising oral English.

    • Hi, Tina! Thanks for mentioning Youlinyouke. I have never heard it before, but I will try it later. I agree these apps can consolidate knowledge learned before. As you mentioned above, mobile learning is a current trend so we should adapt ourselves to include it rather than reject it. I agree that using mobile learning in class can be really helpful.

29. Have you experienced Mobile Learning? If yes, what devices, apps, or platforms do you most frequently use and why?
    Yes, of course I have quite a lot of mobile learning experiences. Like some apps installed into my mobile and I go through these apps on a daily basis, for instance, TED, BBC News, Podcasts, and YouTube. Because there are so many online learning tutorials, various online classes for free, real-time news feeds, and all kinds of learning materials, such as someone’s learning experience that you can draw on. For example, I will use Podcasts or YouTube to listen to or watch some talk shows or debates, or some ESP recorded courses. I can choose and filter the information I need based on my personal interests and it can be accessed to at anytime, anywhere as long as there’s stable WIFI.
    As an English teacher, will you incorporate Mobile Learning into your teaching? If yes, how? If no, why not?
    Yes, but I think I won’t allow my students to bring their mobile devices to my class, because I think that can be a distraction as well; But I will encourage this mobile learning process in the interest-oriented classes( or English elective classes) or after-class interest group, where students are supposed to learn with joy and their interests are elicited to the best extents.

    • Hi, Mira, thank you for sharing!
      Yes, I also use those apps you have mentioned~ We can gain knowledge more conveniently as long as we have access to mobile devices and stable WIFI.
      I understand your concern, the digital devices may distract those students at low-disciplinary, so it is quite reasonable and practicable to use mobile learning in the after-class interest group considering some potential problems. If it works well, then we can try to integrate these activities into formal teaching.

30. Thanks for posting!
    Yes. In the morning, I will listen to some English podcasts as a way to practice my English listening and obtain information. Then I used to memorize vocabularies on an app called Shanbaidanci. Besides, I will watch English videos and read English news on some apps, such as TED and Reddit. Personally speaking, I’ve learned a lot of language knowledge through the mode of mobile learning.

    Yes, I will introduce Mobile Learning to my students. Nowadays, students are already very familiar with mobile devices, so one of the things that I would do is to introduce them with some helpful apps.

    • Hi, Aria, thank you for sharing!
      Yeah, using those apps has already become one indispensable part of our daily life!
      It’s a good idea to adopt some useful apps to help our students learn knowledge outside textbooks. They would also be more engaged in the learning process compared to the traditional language class.

31. 1. Yes, in fact, I often do mobile learning after I graduated from college. I often use Baidu Documents, video websites, Baicizhan (an app used to memorize vocabulary). Since there are no teachers directly teaching me, if I want to do further learning, I need to take advantage of the online resources and learn more on my own.
    2. I think I will not incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching, because I am going to be a middle school teacher and the students are too young to control themselves not to play games or watch entertaining videos. In many cases, students take learning by using mobile phones as an excuse to have fun furtively. Besides, it is important to protect students’ eye sight. Long time use of mobile phone will affect their health.

    • Thanks for your sharing Christine! Mobile Learning is really fascinating, isn’t it? We can learn almost everything by ourself by using online resouces. Take the video websites as an example, there are many videos about how to learn English in Bilibili. If we type “how to learn English well” in the search engine, many videos will pop out and they are all accessible to us.
      I can totally understand your concerns. Teenagers are not mature enough, so easily they will get distracted. But since you have already noticed the values of ML,why don’t you give it a try in your teaching? Maybe your students will like learning English in this way. If you worry that they will turn to games or chats, I think a little bit supervision can help.

32. I do have experienced mobile learning for example YouTube and BiliBili. I remembered when I was in junior or senior high schools, I had some puzzles in some classes like physics and chemistry. Then I would turn to some videos to figure out. Sometimes the classes on the internet were more interesting and clearer than I took in schools. And online classes also provide one salient advantage that you can re-watch them as much as you like especially when you will take exams, you can review your notebooks and online classes together.

    As an English teacher, I think I will incorporate Mobile-learning because sometimes it is hard to include everything in a 45-min class. Time is limited. But if mobile learning assists, students will be able to learn more and dig out what they are interested in.

33. Yes, I almost experience Mobile Learning every day. Zoom, Canvas and YouTube are the apps that I use most frequently. Recently, we use Zoom to have online learning, and use Canvas to download course materials. And I like to watch some language learning videos on YouTube in my leisure time.

    For the second question, I will definitely incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching. For example, students can memorize words through some mobile apps anytime anywhere they want. I can create a small group for them to record their study process, so I can check how many words they memorize by using this app every week easily.

34. I would say that I am currently experiencing mobile learning via Zoom. For other plarforms and apps, I would use QQ meeting, Wechat group and DingDing. As an English teacher, I will definitely incorporate Mobile Learning into my teaching. The ultimate aim of education is to develop student’s autonomy to learn knowledge and acquire skills outside the classroom. Therefore, I would use online discussion platform for students to discuss and use video conferencing and give students a chance to talk to the native speaker. Also, I will teach students how to use the apps on the mobile phone such as English Fun Dubbing and TED and practice oral English and enhance their listening skills. With soem guidance for several sessions, I would include these out-of-class practice as daily assignment and have students get into the habit of practicing everyday. In this way, I can ensure student’s learning hours after class to consolidate their learning outcomes.

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