Abstract
During the COVID-19 quarantine period, mobile technologies have been greatly promoted to be used by students to assist their learning. Although mobile learning has been well researched, studies investigating rural school students’ intentions were not enough. This study investigated rural secondary school students’ mobile technology uptake and their perceptions of using mobile technologies in informal English learning during the COVID-19 epidemic. Results suggested Chinese rural school students held positive attitudes towards mobile assisted English learning, and they most tended to use smartphones, followed by portable electronic dictionaries, tablets and laptops in informal English learning. Rural secondary school students’ behavioral intentions (BI) were significantly influenced by perceived usefulness (PU), facilitating conditions (FC) and attitude towards use (ATU) of mobile devices. Innovativeness (INNO) and perceived ease of use (PEU) did not significantly influence students’ behavioral intentions. These factors explained 83.1% of variance of students’ behavioral intentions. Based on the findings, the study offers suggestions that teachers, governments and educational policy makers take measures to pay attention to students’ mobile learning in informal English learning.
Highlights
Influenced by the COVID-19 epidemic, people in many countries have been quarantined which brought about unexpected inconveniences in many aspects of their life
This study examined students’ perceptions of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), attitude towards use (ATU), facilitating conditions (FC) and innovativeness (INNO) to investigate influences on their behavioral intentions (BI) to use mobile teaching technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic
As for the types of mobile devices they used in learning English, smartphones, laptops, tablets as well as portable electronic dictionaries were suggested by students (Table 2)
Summary
Influenced by the COVID-19 epidemic, people in many countries have been quarantined which brought about unexpected inconveniences in many aspects of their life. Schools were closed and governments in many countries issued policies to promote online teaching and learning. The Chinese Ministry of Education issued a notice in early 2020 requiring teachers and students at all educational levels to use long-distance educational technologies to ensure the teaching and learning during the suspension of classes. Students’ perceptions of using mobile technologies in informal English learning during the COVID-19 epidemic: A study in Chinese rural secondary schools.
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