LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN A NEW ERA: DO MOBILE PHONES HELP?

LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN A NEW ERA: DO MOBILE PHONES HELP?

Bekleyen, Nilüfer
Hayta, Fatma

Learning a language is a long and demanding process that requires a great deal of perseverance as learners need to be actively involved in all stages of it. In their search for finding ways to alleviate the difficulty of this process, which may sometimes be extremely challenging, many students use some language learning strategies (LLS), namely, the behaviours, steps, or techniques that learners apply to facilitate the language learning process. Studies have shown that using effective LLSimprove language students’ academic performance. The present study aimed to examine the role of mobile phone technology in the employment of LLS. For the purpose of the study, the students of a state university in Turkey were selected. The participants consisted of first and second year undergraduate students majoring in English Language Teaching. Quantitative data analysis methods were employed to find out the answers to the research questions.The results indicated that the students exploited mobile phones to improve their English language proficiency levels by using different types of language learning strategies. Affective strategies were found to be favored by the research participants, and these were followed by Compensation, Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Memory strategies, whileSocial Strategies were the least preferred strategies. The findings also suggested that the students’ use of mobile phones to employ LLS did not exceed their computer use for the same purpose. However, in the future, this may change if all the students are given the opportunity to use mobile phones withmore advanced features.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2014

3516