An investigation of Chinese EFL learners’ acceptance of mobile dictionaries in English language learning

Abstract

The enormous importance of second language learning, paired with the rapid development of mobile-assisted language learning, has led to the increasing use of mobile dictionaries by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at Chinese universities. Although many studies have explored the role of dictionaries in English language learning, few have investigated mobile dictionaries (MDs) from learners’ perspectives. This study aimed to explore Chinese EFL learners’ acceptance of three types of MDs: monolingual, bilingualised and bilingual. A total of 125 participants used mobile dictionaries in various English learning contexts, especially in reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model and the mobile technology evaluation framework, the questionnaire in this study addressed three key themes: (1) perceived ease of use, (2) perceived usefulness, and (3) behavioural intention to use. Analysis shows that the bilingualised MD group reported the most positive perceptions, especially compared to the bilingual MD group. A total of 101 participants participated in semi-structured group interviews to further explore the reasons underlying their perceptions. Several factors impacting learner acceptance, from the micro to the macro level, are proposed and discussed. As an interdisciplinary study, this research fills theoretical and empirical gaps in investigating mobile-assisted language learning. It offers application designers and language teachers insights into learners’ acceptance of MDs. Moreover, it provides recommendations concerning making MDs more personalised, attractive and effective.

Keywords:

• Mobile dictionaries
• English language learning
• Chinese EFL learners
• perceived ease of use
• perceived usefulness
• pehavioural intention to use

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the students who kindly donated their time to participate in our study and our colleague who contributed to the inter-coder reliability exercise. We are also grateful to the anonymous peer reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

There is no potential conflict of interest.

Notes

1 TEM-4/8: Test for English Majors Band 4/8

2 CET-4/6: College English Test Band 4/6

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danyang Zhang

Danyang Zhang is an Assistant Professor and Postgraduate Supervisor at the College of International Studies, Shenzhen University. She obtained her PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge and holds two master’s degrees from the Institute of Education, University College London. Danyang has published her work in numerous SSCI journals, including Applied Linguistics, Computer Assisted Language Learning, and Language Teaching Research. She currently serves as the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (SSCI and SCI) and is a journal reviewer for ReCALL, Language Learning & Technology, Virtual Reality, and Interactive Learning Environments. Her research interests include second language vocabulary acquisition, technology-enhanced language learning, and teacher development.

Sara Hennessy

Sara Hennessy is Professor of Educational Dialogue and Pedagogical Inquiry in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. She is a Research Director of the EdTech Hub, investigating the potential for using educational technology to raise outcomes for marginalised learners in low-and middle-income countries, focusing particularly on teacher development. She has been researching EdTech use in classrooms for over three decades and is an Editor of the British Journal of Educational Technology.

Pascual Pérez-Paredes

Pascual Pérez-Paredes is a Professor in Applied Linguistics and Linguistics at U. Murcia. His research interests include CALL, learner language variation, corpora in language education, and corpus-assisted discourse analysis. He is currently an assistant editor of ReCALL and Register Studies. Pascual has published in international peer-reviewed journals such as ReCALL, CALL, Language, Learning & Technology, System, Journal of Pragmatics, and English for Specific Purposes.