Investigating the impacts of using a mobile interactive English learning system on the learning achievements and learning perceptions of student with different backgrounds

Abstract

Many scholars have highlighted the importance of motivation and anxiety in language learning. They have also indicated the advantages of integrating learning content into a mobile-assisted English learning system environment. Meanwhile, a few studies have explored the impacts of a mobile-assisted English learning system on the motivation and English anxiety of elementary school students. This study explores these factors in the English learning achievement of elementary school students by using a mobile-assisted English learning system that includes interesting and interactive games. This study also tries to improve students' learning motivations and decrease their English anxiety through the mobile-assisted English learning system. This quasi-experimental design required 6 weeks to collect the data from the participants. A total of 79 students participated in the experiment, and they were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The students in the experimental group used a mobile-assisted English learning system to learn. Then, they filled out a questionnaire and evaluated whether the system’s operations and their motivation, English anxiety, and perceived usefulness affected their learning achievement. The experimental results indicate that the mobile-assisted English learning system benefits students' learning achievement. Moreover, students with lower levels of English anxiety have better learning achievement than those with higher levels of English anxiety, and higher levels of perceived usefulness result in better learning achievement. These findings could be used as a reference for relevant instructors to find better assisted learning tools and improve students' learning achievement.

Keywords:

• Mobile-assisted English learning system
• English anxiety
• perceived usefulness
• learning motivation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ching-Hsue Cheng

Ching-Hsue Cheng received his Bachelor′s degree in Mathematics from the Chinese Military Academy in 1982, his Master′s degree in Applied Mathematics from Chung-Yuan Christian University in 1988, and his PhD degree in System Engineering and Management from the National Defence University in 1994. Now he is a Professor of the Information Management Department in the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. His research is mainly in the field of Healthcare quality, Medical knowledge discovery fuzzy time series, and soft computing. He has published more than 200 papers (including 134 significant journal papers).

Chung-Hsi Chen

Chung-Hsi Chen received his PhD degree in Information and Management from the Department of Information Management National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in 2018. He has been teaching in elementary school for more than 29 years. His research interests include mobile learning, information security management, and electronic commerce. E-mail: [email protected].