MALL Instructional Course Design: Constructing Out-of-Class Experience

Abstract

Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is a new channel of learning languages. The usage of MALL instructional design integrates mobile devices with educational scenarios of teaching foreign languages. The study explores the central issue of how MALL instructional course design could help students to construct an out-of-class MALL experience. The research investigates the practical characteristics of MALL instructional design, which lead to foreign language acquisition. The study had three objectives: to explore the perceptions of students and needs in MALL; to create a conceptual framework of MALL instructional course design; to summarize the results in pedagogical implications to the course. The data came from an exploratory study of employing MALL in instructional course design at the tertiary level within the first semester of 2021. This study analyses the feedback of 32 students about the effectiveness of the MALL activities and students’ satisfaction. The research shows how student feedback stimulates investigation into MALL instruction and evaluation of its design. The researchers used qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results of the study, conducted in three stages, helped to develop a design framework. The research proved that designing the MALL activities supported interaction, communication, access to resources, and people within the network community practice. MALL course design promoted active collaborative learning that helped students to construct the MALL experience in the real-world environment. The researchers provide recommendations on combining various MALL facilities and channels of communication that mobiles afford.