Research Seminar: Smartphone Assisted Language Learning (SALL)

We are delighted to present our September Research Seminars.       

Smartphone Assisted Language Learning: Shila Panadgoo (PhD Candidate, School of Education, University of Adelaide)
An investigation into the effectiveness of the use of smartphones for English language teaching and learning from pedagogical and attitudinal perspectives

Abstract: The fusion of the three aspects of mobility, computing, and ubiquity has turned the new generation of mobile phones (smartphones) into a powerful and affordable educational technology and has made them the selected technology in almost all Mobile Assisted Language Learning studies in the current decade. There are still, however, important gaps in the research field which need to be addressed. With the aim of addressing two significant problems - the scarcity of sound theoretical reasons for the implementation of Smartphone Assisted Language Learning (SALL), and the inadequacy of investigations on teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards its use in a classroom setting - four separate, but interrelated studies form the body of this PhD research project.

The first and second studies look at the efficacy of SALL from a pedagogical perspective. The first study deals with theory and aims to shed light on the ambiguities which exist in relation to the theories in the field. The second study, which is of an interventional nature, aims to put theory into practice by examining the practical use of smartphones for enhancing students’ vocabulary and pronunciation learning through action research. The third and fourth studies look at the efficacy of SALL from teachers’ and students’ perspectives by studying their pre- and post-use attitudes. The whole project design is impacted by Expectation Disconfirmation theory, investigating perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived playfulness, relative advantage, satisfaction, and facilitating conditions as the most significant determinants of attitudes and intentions.

Biography:  Shila Panadgoo (PhD Candidate) Shila is a PhD candidate and is completing her study under the supervision of Dr Julia Miller, A/Prof Edward Palmer and Dr Walter Barbieri in the School of Education at the University of Adelaide. Shila obtained her MA Degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and her CELTA Certificate in Manchester, England in 2013. She has 5 years of EFL/ESL and EAP teaching experience in her working history and she was a university lecturer in the Department of Languages at Islamic Azad University in her home country before commencing her PhD study. Shila’s main research interests are English language teaching, adult education, educational technology, mobile learning, and technology acceptance which she has tried to bring them together in her PhD research project, an investigation into the effectiveness of SALL from pedagogical and attitudinal perspectives.

Date: 23 September
Time: 11:00am - 11:30am
Venue: School of Education, Level 8 Room 812, Nexus Building, 10 Pulteney St, Adelaide.