“EFFECTIVENESS OF VOCABULARY LEARNING VIA MOBILE

PHONE” AND “USING MOBILE-ASSISTED EXERCISES TO SUPPORT

STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY SKILL DEVELOPMENT”:
A COMPARATIVE SYNTHESIS

Technologies have begun to change the way that English is taught and learned in
the classroom. With the rapid development of mobile phone, numerous research
has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of applying mobile phone to
teaching and learning. Two articles “Effectiveness of vocabulary learning via
mobile phone” by Marina Minhui Lu in Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
Volume 24, Issue 6 December 2008 and “Using mobile-assisted exercises to
support students’ vocabulary skill development” by Ornprapat Suwantarathip and
Wiwat Orawiwatnakul in The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 14, Issue 1 January 2015 discuss the effectiveness of employing SMS
(short message service) to improve students’ vocabulary learning in Taiwan and
Thailand respectively. In addition, students’ attitudes towards the impact of mobile
phone on vocabulary acquisition are inferred from questionnaires. The results
drawn from these two articles in two Asian countries may be appropriate to apply
in Vietnam with the aim at improving students’ vocabulary.

First of all, all authors briefly touch on the definition of m-learning and the
effectiveness of applying mobile phone to teaching and learning. They share the
same ideas on the meaning of m-learning, which is “learning assisted by / through
mobile technologies”. In terms of the benefits that mobile phone brings to
vocabulary learning, the two articles summarize several previous researches in the
field and agree that m-learning provides learners with not only greater exposure to
vocabulary but also more flexibility when it comes to learning time and place. It is
the fact that nowadays, even in Vietnam, almost all students have at least one
technological device with them and they spend considerable time using mobiles.
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We teachers could make use of it to boost students’ vocabulary learning autonomy
by employing mobile applications or services such as SMS, Quizlet, and Quizizz.
Hopefully, these applications could increase learners’ motivation in acquiring
lexical items.

Secondly, both articles follow the format of experimental research, in which control
group is given paper-based vocabulary tasks while experimental group is given
SMS-based vocabulary exercises. The results drawn from the comparison between
pre-test and post-test reveal that the application of mobile phone to vocabulary
learning and teaching has positive effect on enhancing students’ vocabulary skills.
In other words, students of experimental group who are taught with the support of
SMS-based exercises perform much better than students of control group who
simply obtain lexical items via printed documents. Lu concludes that mobile groups
acquire more new words than paper-groups students. Moreover, the more frequent
they access to SMS lessons, the more lexical items they gain and remember.
Ornprapat and Wiwat also reach the conclusion that there is an enhancement in
students’ vocabulary knowledge thanks to the support of SMS-based tasks. In my
experience, students are more motivated when it comes to new smart phone
applications, which support them in the acquisition of new words by providing
interactive user-friendly interface. In addition, several smart phone applications
allow teachers to track students’ progress after they learn a unit or take mini-tests.
Therefore, mobile phone could be the assistance for not only students but also
instructors.

Moreover, students’ attitudes towards m-learning are reported to be positive

according to the questionnaires. Lu states that students find it easier to learn and
memorize new lexical items in SMS lessons, which are considered “convenient and
interesting”. Since m-learning provides students flexible learning environment
where they are able to learn anytime they want, students are impressed by the
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convenience and effective time management in learning vocabulary through mobile
phone. Ornprapat and Wiwat agree with Lu that students appreciate the flexibility
in learning brought by m-learning. However, Lu points out several challenges when
applying m-learning, including the small screen of mobile phone and the lack of
technology skills. The later matter is remarkably similar to the Vietnamese context.
It takes time to instruct students whose technological skills is limited. They may
find m-learning useless and ineffective if they cannot manage the mobile phone –
the main tool. Besides, I have seen that lots of teachers are not willing to make use
of modern technological tools in their teaching because they lack confidence in
controlling these tools.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of m-learning is clearly illustrated in the two

articles conducted in two different contexts: Taiwan and Thailand. One of the most
remarkable benefits that learning vocabulary via mobile phone brings is the flexible
learning environment allowing students to study whenever and wherever they want.
Students’ perspectives on m-learning are reported to be positive in both articles
according to the results drawn from questionnaires. Mobile assisted language
learning could become more and more popular in the future. In the 21st century,
technology skills is one of the key skills and modern technology applicable to
teaching is changing second by second. We teachers need to be up-to-date in order
to improve our teaching and not to be left behind.

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REFERENCES

1. Lu, M. (2008), Effectiveness of vocabulary learning via mobile phone.

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24 (6), 515-525.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2008.00289.x
2. Suwantarathip, O. & Orawiwatnakul, W. (2015). Using mobile-assisted
exercises to support students’ vocabulary skill development. Turkish Online
Journal of Educational Technology, 14(1), 163-171.