Adoption of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in Saudi Arabian EFL Classrooms

Abstract

This study aimed to examine EFL teachers' concerns about the adoption of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in Saudi Arabia. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) was used to analyze the participants' stages of concern (SoC) about MALL. The study also investigated whether some specific demographic and technographic variables (gender, age, teaching experience, and professional development) had any statistically significant effect on EFL teachers’ stages of concern about MALL. The participants in this study were (130) Saudi EFL public school teachers. The results revealed that the participants had high concerns at the Informational, Personal, and Management stages and minimal concerns at the Awareness, Refocusing, Collaboration, and Consequence stages. The MANOVA analysis revealed no significant difference among EFL teachers in terms of their MALL stages of concerns in relation to their gender, age, and teaching experience. Such findings indicate that Saudi EFL teachers' gender, age, and teaching experience have no effect on their concerns about using and implementing MALL. However, The MANOVA analysis yielded a significant difference among EFL teachers in terms of their MALL stages of concerns in relation to their professional development. These results entail that Saudi EFL teachers' professional development has a significant effect on their concerns about MALL. The study concluded that technology-related professional development could help decrease teachers’ self-concerns and increase their impact-concerns. The study recommended providing EFL teachers with technology-related professional development to ensure successful MALL adoption.