Mobile learning of English speaking and listening skills via smartphones

Download Statistics

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Goktas, Yasin (2023). Mobile learning of English speaking and listening skills via smartphones. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Goktas2023PhD_Redacted.pdf
Text - Redacted Version
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

This PhD thesis aims to develop and implement mobile teaching interventions that help a group of Turkish university students improve their general English listening skills, speaking fluency and specific problematic English sounds (/ð/, /θ/ and /ŋ/) for Turkish learners by utilising the affordances of smartphones. In this direction, a mobile application called SpeakingPal, specifically designed to improve students' speaking and listening skills, and WhatsApp, a popular instant messaging application, were employed. This study designs teaching interventions on WhatsApp using some principles of social constructivism and collaborative learning.

It investigates which designed WhatsApp teaching interventions are valued by the students. It also examines how SpeakingPal lessons and WhatsApp teaching interventions affect this group of students and the effects of teaching these problematic sounds separately on these students. Another aim is to examine how students' perceptions of mobile learning of English and a set of skills necessary for effective mobile learning, referred to as mobile literacy in the thesis, change as a result of the study.

This study targets to achieve affective, perceptual and performance-related changes in students through collaborative teaching interventions on WhatsApp. Students' overall listening skills, speaking fluency and pronunciation, especially targeted problematic sounds, are expected to improve due to their improved motivation, self-confidence and changed perceptions of English through mobile learning.

It was observed that the study contributed positively to these students' speaking fluency and pronunciation of problematic sounds. In addition, the students' attitudes towards mobile learning of English continued to be positive, and it can be argued that the skills necessary for the effective use of mobile learning also improved. At the end of the study, the students reported that they were more confident and experienced less anxiety while speaking English.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):