How teachers can guide students towards the increased use of contextualised MALL in target and non-target countries: The case of L2 Chinese adult students

Abstract

Contextualised mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has been greatly discussed (Pegrum, 2014); however, its potential has not been reached in either target or non-target countries, and this calls for teachers’ attention. This study recommended a way for teachers to guide their Chinese second or foreign language students towards increasing their contextualised MALL, by relying on a framework proposed by Cohen and Ezra (2018) and based on the learners’ existing activities.’s contextualised components include real-world and real-life contexts (a measuring index is proposed), as well as device mobility. The study recommended the following: teachers in target and non-target countries should focus differently on generic and dedicated activities; content factors for dedicated activities should be taken into account; teachers should guide students to relate to the real world and real life, including objects and other core activities. The findings may encourage teachers to guide students without worrying about the extra time spent in an overcrowded curriculum.