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Mobile-technology-induced learning strategies: Chinese university EFL students learning English in an emerging context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2020

Chuan Gao Open the ORCID record for Chuan Gao [Opens in a new window]  and
Hui-zhong Shen Open the ORCID record for Hui-zhong Shen [Opens in a new window]
Chuan Gao
Affiliation:
Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Australia ([email protected])
Hui-zhong Shen
Affiliation:
Sydney School of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Australia ([email protected])
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Abstract

This article reports on findings regarding the learning strategies used by a group of Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in a mobile-technology-assisted environment. The research design is a context-specific case study using Dörnyei’s (2005) categories of learning strategies as the conceptual and analytical framework to guide data collection and analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire from a sample of 75 Chinese EFL learners and a small-scale follow-up interview of five participants who completed the questionnaire. Data showed that a mobile-technology-assisted environment effected changes in Chinese EFL learners’ ways of adopting a particular set of learning strategies, which differed in type and frequency from those typical of a teacher-led and examination-oriented language classroom. Metacognitive and commitment control strategies were most frequently used by the respondents in this study. The frequency of student use of metacognitive strategies moved ahead of commitment and environmental control strategies. Satiation and emotion control strategies, rarely used by Chinese students in a teacher-fronted language classroom, were also observable. These findings have implications for the understanding and designing of mobile-technology-assisted learning for EFL learners to develop appropriate strategies for autonomous learning.

Keywords

mobile technologylearning strategiesEnglish as a foreign languageautonomous learningexamination-oriented pedagogyChinese university EFL learners
Type
Regular papers
Information
ReCALL , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 88 - 105
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Copyright
© European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2020

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