Exploration of university students’ lived experiences of using smartphones for English language learning

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the nature of learning English in the digital age from students’ personal ‘learning lives’. Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology’s principles, this study conducted conversational interviews and obtained reflective reports from students over 5 months. The findings reveal that students’ English learning experiences are sociocultural processes involving a complex interplay between learner agency, other agents, the cultural practices using smartphones, and the wider context. Furthermore, learning English using smartphones facilitates an approach to it or Computer Assisted Language Learning that embraces ‘anytime’ and ‘anywhere’ learning and involves a seamless integration of personal, social, formal, and informal learnings. Therefore, we propose smartphone-assisted English language learning (SAELL), addressing smartphone use for learning English, based on qualitative data and recent trends in the field. Future research should include rich qualitative evidence to support the SAELL framework in practice in multiple empirical settings. Empirical studies are mostly applied within university settings; however, the practical implications have more relevance to students, teachers, educators, and policymakers who may be involved in shaping novel smartphone learning spaces for formal and informal contexts.

Keywords:

• Smartphones
• lived experiences
• mobile-assisted language learning

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the journal reviewers for considering the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

• The manuscript contains anonymised data and abides by the British Educational Research Association’s guidelines.

• The authors confirm there are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yujuan Luo

Yujuan Luo is a Doctoral Researcher at Brunel University London. Her research interests include mobile learning, second language acquisition and collaborative language learning.

Mike Watts

Mike Watts is Professor of Education and Director of Internationalisation at the Department of Education, Brunel University London. He has been teaching and writing about science education for many (many) years.