Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:20:40.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A social and self-reflective approach to MALL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2010

Cristina Ros i Solé ,
Jelena Calic  and
Daisy Neijmann
Cristina Ros i Solé
Affiliation:
University College London, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Andrew Huxley Building, University College London, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, Gower Street, LondonWC1G 6BT (email: [email protected])
Jelena Calic
Affiliation:
University College London, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Andrew Huxley Building, University College London, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, Gower Street, LondonWC1G 6BT (email: [email protected])
Daisy Neijmann
Affiliation:
University College London, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Andrew Huxley Building, University College London, School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, Gower Street, LondonWC1G 6BT (email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a growing recognition that learning is increasingly taking place on the move and located beyond educational environments, ‘in the gaps of daily life’ (Sharples et al., 2007). And yet, language learners have mostly been perceived as being fixed in particular contexts, whether in the educational environment, abroad, or in their homes and communities. As several authors have pointed out (Castells et al., 2007; Okabe & Ito, 2006; Sharples et al., 2007), mobile devices allow learners to capitalize on the multiple sites that they travel through, whether they be public or private spaces, formal or informal ones, and reflect on their social practices and their learner selves. This paper investigates whether such a context-sensitive and social-oriented approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) can be applied to the language learning context and how it is manifested. In order to carry out this investigation, we will be drawing on literature on the development of identity in second language learning (Norton, 2000; Kramsch, 2006; Phipps, 2007) and the use of ethnographic approaches to data collection and interpretation. We will be reporting on two case studies, involving learners of Icelandic and Serbian/Croatian, conducted over two years at a UK university. The paper concludes that the use of mobile technology enables language learners to use these devices as ‘a prosthesis of the self’ (Kress & Pachler, 2007) which allows them to explore the perception of their L2 selves in a variety of day-to-day scenarios.

Keywords

identityselfsocial approachesmobile learningMALLMP3s
Type
Research Article
Information
ReCALL , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 39 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Block, D. (2003) The Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Block, D. (2008) Spanish-speaking Latinos in London: Community and Language Practices. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 7(1): 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byram, M.Dervin, F. (2008) Students, Staff and Academic Mobility in Higher Education. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Castells, M. (1991) The Power of Identity. The Information Age – Economy, Society and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Castells, M., Fernández-Ardévol, M.Linchuan Qiu, J. (2007) Mobile Communication and Society: a Global Perspective. London: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Mackay, H.Negus, K. (1997) Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. Milton Keynes: Open University.Google Scholar
Kramsch, C. (2006) The multilingual subject. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16(1): 97–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kress, G.Pachler, N. (2007) Talking about the ‘M’ in Learning. In: Pachler, N. (ed.), Mobile Learning: Towards a Research Agenda. WLE Centre. Occasional papers. http://www.wlecentre.ac.uk/cms/files/occasionalpapers/mobilelearning_pachler2007.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kukulska-Hulme, A.Shield, L. (2008) An Overview of Mobile Assisted Language Learning: from Content Delivery to Supported Collaboration and Interaction. ReCALL, 20(3): 271–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naismith, L., Londsdale, P., Giasemi, V.Sharples, M. (2004) Literature Review in Mobile Technologies and Learning. Futurelab http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/lit_reviews/Mobile_Review.pdfGoogle Scholar
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity, and Educational Change. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Okabe, D.Ito, M. (2006) Everyday Contexts of Camera Phone Use: Steps Towards Techno-Social Ethnographic Frameworks. In: Höflich, J. R. and Hartmann, M. (eds.), Mobile Communication in Everyday Life: Ethnographic Views, Observations and Reflections. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 79–102.Google Scholar
Pachler, N. (ed.) (2007) Mobile Learning: Towards a Research Agenda. WLE Centre Occasional papers. http://www.wlecentre.ac.uk/cms/files/occasionalpapers/mobilelearning_pachler2007.pdfGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (2002) Post-structuralist Approaches to the Study of Social Factors in L2. In: Cook, V. (ed.), Portraits of the L2 User. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 275–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, J.Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2006) Going with the Grain: Mobile Devices in Practice. ASCILTE Conference, Sydney, October 2006.Google Scholar
Phipps, A. (2003) Languages, Identities, Agencies: Intercultural Lessons from Harry Potter. Language and Intercultural Communication, 3(1): 6–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phipps, A. (2007) Learning the Arts of Linguistic Survival: Languaging, Tourism, Life. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters/Channel View.Google Scholar
Roberts, C., Byram, M., Barro, A., Jordan, S.Street, B. (2001) Language Learners as Ethnographers. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ros i Solé, C. (2007) Language Learners’ Socio-Cultural Positions in the L2: a Narrative Approach. Language and Intercultural Communication, 7(3): 203–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ros i Solé, C. (2009) The Fleeting, the Situated and the Mundane: Ethnographic Approaches to Mobile Language Learning (MALL). In: Vavoula, G., Pachler, N. and Kukulska-Hulme, A. (eds.), Research Methods in Mobile and Informal Learning. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 137–149.Google Scholar
Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2007) Top of the Pods – In Search of a Podcasting ‘Pedagogy’ for Language Learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 20(5): 471–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharples, M., Taylor, J.Vavoula, G. (2007) A Theory of Learning for the Mobile Age. The Handbook of E-learning Research. London: Sage.Google Scholar