DEVELOPING ENGLISH SKILLS BY MEANS OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Modern technologies appear to be gaining in popularity, and affect every sphere of human activity, including education. Thus, ICT (Information communication technologies) have become an inseparable part of the learning process. This article examines the possibilities of learning English by means of mobile applications. Three mobile devices have been selected for the purposes of this research, namely the smartphone, tablet, and smartwatch. Altogether 38 Slovak participants completed a questionnaire, which contained questions concerning the types of mobile devices as well as places and frequency of the devices used. Furthermore, identifying which skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing), and what type of mobile applications are used were also the focus of this research. The research findings indicate that it is the smartphone which is used the most. The most probable place of using the mobile applications is the learners’ home, and when it comes to the frequency, the acquired data illustrate a diverse range in relation to how often the mobile applications are used for the purposes of learning English. As far as the language skills are concerned, it can be concluded that the learners predominantly focus on listening, followed by reading, writing, and speaking. Exploring the preference for language systems, the research results reveal that the participants concentrate on vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation respectively. Finally, it was found out that it is the dictionary applications which are used the most. It can be concluded that mobile applications represent a powerful and popular educational tool whichis worth attention of teachers, researchers, and academics worldwide, and further investigation into this matter is necessary, and it will certainly prove useful to both language teachers and students.

Keywords

• Mobile applications
• MALL, EFL learner, Language skills, Language systems