Mobile phones and tablets are excellent but sometimes overlooked in helping and encouraging students to learn foreign languages. They offer a set of powerful tools to support language-learning activities. Textbooks, references, online dictionaries, and language-learning games are all available online. By integrating e-textbooks and mobile devices, students get the best of both worlds: portability and accessibility. Here, we look at a few ways how mobile learning games, apps and other resources are perfect for teaching and learning foreign languages.
In order to maximize the use of mobile learning resources in foreign language instruction for students, teachers must learn how and when to best incorporate them into the curriculum. The key is not to think of mobile devices as a substitute for classroom materials but rather as an optional tool that supplements traditional learning materials.
Educational games
Games and game-like elements are potent tools that can be used to focus on learning. Mobile devices can be infused with online educational games and educational apps. Games and apps may be used by students not only as means of direct communication and entertainment but also as a way to facilitate structural learning of the target language. Games can be used to make language learning enjoyable rather than a tedious process. Many educational mobile applications and games are especially effective in foreign language education, making it more exciting and interactive.
You can find far more examples of mobile learning content available than just individual apps. Games allow for the interpersonal interaction that will help learners get the most out of their apps or online programs. The use of mobile learning games is a promising resource in foreign language education. M-Learning allows students to become more actively engaged with the material and motivates them through recognition, curiosity, control, cooperation, challenge, and competition.
Flexibility and convenience
Mobile learning is useful because it offers a relatively fluid schedule to engage learners anytime, anywhere. To meet students’ varied learning styles and approaches, M-learning activities are individually-tailored. Learners can focus on skills they find challenging without getting bored. They tend to engage in the activity when the material is relevant to their lives. Depending on students’ success criteria, mobile learning can accommodate a range of instructional materials like podcasts, video blogs, automatic assessments and interactive exercises.
Better vocabulary learning
The vocabulary in the mobile learning apps is accompanied by pictures so that the learners get a better understanding of the new words and their usage. It also enhances their enthusiasm to learn more. Additionally, online dictionaries help in improving both one’s vocabulary and pronunciation, since the learner can hear each and every word and how they are pronounced correctly.
Voice recording
Students can listen to audio simultaneously, either through their phones or through sites on the internet. They can create podcasts on topics that interest them and they can record information through the Voice Memo feature on their phone. They can do these types of activities either in class or at home. The use of mobile devices has opened doors for language students to receive information about their new language. They are able to receive audio instructions for different topics and also practice their skills in listening comprehension.
Fun grammar learning
Learning does not always mean memorizing rules. Through using pedagogical programs for different language concepts, learners can truly understand the grammar of the language they are learning. To that end, the use of specially designed grammar apps on mobile devices is one of the most important aspects of mobile learning.
The best grammar learning programs are quite interactive and include multiple-choice activities from fill in the blanks, true or false, quizzes to games, cloze tests, etc. And they’re designed to produce instant feedback, which helps to keep students interested and more appreciative of the learning process. Mobile learning apps with their immediate actions and reactions get learners hooked to the course till the end.
Storytelling
After your students have successfully passed a few levels, they’ll see that some mobile learning apps introduce storytelling exercises that can determine how many skills a student has acquired. After reading a story, students usually have to take a comprehensive quiz or test about it. When done well, these can be a fun way to test how much they can remember, and also properly employ what they learned in previous levels.
In sum
In short, mobile learning resources have made foreign language learning a lot more fun than generic monotonous classroom learning. Thanks to phones and tablets, most people around the world can now easily find great mobile apps and other resources to help with learning foreign languages. And for teachers, there are plenty of techniques and curriculums for mobile foreign language teaching and learning that can make the learning process even smoother and more enjoyable.
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