The Views of Efl Preparatory Students on the Use of Mobile Devices in Language Learning

Abstract

The use of technological devices in language education is a necessity because it is almost impossible to perform listening and speaking skills independently of technology. In this study, the answers of 25 students studying at the School of Foreign Languages in the 2021-2022 academic year at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University to a questionnaire which is prepared with Google Forms and contains five open-ended questions were analysed with the MAXQDA 2020 program. As a result of the analysis made, in line with the opinions of the preparatory students, it is concluded that the use of mobile devices in language education accelerates language learning and thus saves time, the learned information is more memorable, these devices are a significant source of resources, they make learning fun, they enable practice, and they enable ubiquitous learning. In addition, it has been understood that the students mostly use the Tureng dictionary which is from Turkish to English and English to Turkish in the classroom, followed by applications of Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries. Despite the fact that none of the students use a paper-based dictionary in the classroom, it is a surprising result of this study that nearly half of the participants state that the printed dictionary is more advantageous than the online dictionary. Furthermore, it was found that outside of classroom, students who are studying a foreign language spend the majority of their language-developing time using dictionary apps, followed by YouTube, Cake, and Duolingo.