Investigating the Impacts of Mobile Assisted Reading on EFL Learners' Vocabulary Knowledge Development

Abstract

In recent years, the proliferation of mobile technologies is transforming educational practices around the world. In this regard, students are attending classes with their mobile or tablet devices, on which they do most of their reading and writing activities. This has resulted in new understanding of literacy as being multimodal, fluid, sociocultural, and dynamic social practices. Within this growing body of knowledge, mobile assisted language learning (MALL) developed exponentially, and its implementation has been reported to be generally effective in language education compared to traditional materials. Following this line of research, the current study investigated the impacts of mobile assisted reading on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' vocabulary development. The participants were 52 adult language learners divided into experimental and control groups. The participants in the experimental group used mobile devices for reading some selected and simplified news reports, while the control group used traditional materials for reading the same materials over the course of 10 weeks. The results of pre- and post-tests revealed that both groups improved their vocabulary knowledge, but the experimental group outperformed the control group and learned more vocabulary items. The findings highlighted the potentials of mobile devices in teaching second language reading with associated impacts on vocabulary development. The study has some implications for EFL teachers and materials developers.