The attitudes of high school students and teachers toward mobile apps for learning English: A Q methodology study

Abstract

This study aims to find out the attitudes of high school students and teachers toward mobile apps for learning English and how the opinions of the two groups relate to or differ from each other. As there is an E-learning trend worldwide, the findings of this research can help English learners gain a broader view of language learning, identify their own demands, and choose applications in a wiser way. Meanwhile, with the support of our findings, it is believed that application developers could review and polish the existing functions of their apps and develop new ones to meet the needs of student users. The research adopted the Q methodology to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the attitudes varied in different subjects. Interviews were conducted among students and teachers in Chinese high schools. Our study investigated three prominent opinions from the students and two from the teachers. PQMethod and Ken-Q Analysis were used for data analysis. Three factors of attitudes were found among students: 1) learning outcome-oriented; 2) function-oriented; 3) motivation-oriented. Two factors of attitudes were found among teachers: a) learning outcome-oriented; b) platform-oriented. This study is a new attempt to apply the Q methodology in related language research. Remarkably, the Q methodology offers comprehensive and deep insights into the subjective attitudes of students and teachers. Based on the findings, it is recommended that mobile application developers attach more importance to the achievement and encouragement of students in the design; students should take advantage of the mobile apps to achieve their expected outcome under the suggestions from their teachers; English learning apps can be promoted as a helpful auxiliary tool for language learning.