Improving students’ creativity in familiar versus unfamiliar mobile-assisted language learning environments

ABSTRACT

Fifty-one learning strategies were developed and validated in this study to make language learners more knowledgeable about unfamiliar environments. The study tested the effectiveness of the strategies in improving the creativity of students. 75 university students participated in the study and they were divided into three groups: (1) students who learned in unfamiliar learning environments without familiarization strategies; (2) students who learned in unfamiliar learning environments and used familiarization strategies; and (3) students who learned in familiar learning environments. All students learned vocabulary, grammar, sentence patterns and how to write descriptive essays in class. After class, they applied newly learned knowledge by describing people, objects and situations in the real world using mobile devices. The content of students' essays was compared across three groups and the results showed that students in Group 2 and Group 3 had better creativity scores than students in Group 1. The results indicated that students' creativity is affected by their familiarity with the environment. Therefore, it is suggested that student familiarization with learning sites needs to be considered when designing learning activities in the real world. Educators should provide familiarization strategies to students when learning in unfamiliar learning environments.

KEYWORDS:

• EFL learning
• mobile technology
• familiarity
• unfamiliarity
• familiarization strategies
• creativity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rustam Shadiev

Rustam Shadiev is a professor at the School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University (PRC) and a distinguished professor of Jiangsu province (PRC). He is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Senior Member of IEEE. His research interest includes advanced learning technologies to support language learning and cross-cultural education.

Xueying Wang

Miss Wang Xueying is Master degree student at School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University (PRC). She is currently involved in research on technology-supported cross-cultural learning. She recently published a few papers with results of her research in international conference proceedings.

Taoying Liu

Miss Taoying Liu is a teacher of Informatics at Nanjing No.1 Middle School, Jiangbei New Area (PRC). Her research interest covers technology-assisted language learning.

Mengke Yang

Miss Meng-ke Yang is a teacher of information technology at Shengli No.1 Middle School of Dongying (PRC). Her research interest covers technology-assisted language learning.