Students' Attitudes and Perceptions towards using m-learning for French Language Learning: A case study on Princess Nora University.

Abstract

This research aims at understanding students' attitudes and perceptions towards using mobile phones as a learning tool for additional reading practices within a course. The study is conducted to address how mobile phones are used in grammar and vocabulary learning, inside/outside French language classrooms, for undergraduate students at Princess Nora University. This can be achieved by answering the questions: what is the appropriate method that achieves best students' interaction and understanding; and is there a difference between students' performance before and after using mobile phones. Hence, a mixed methodology (quantitative-qualitative) was used. The data was collected via a questionnaire for students' attitudes to use m-learning and their perceptions about it. The study examined the use of mobile phones as a(n): repository of assignments/exercises; tool for reading via multimedia features; and email- based learning/instant messaging voice-over-Internet protocol applications. The analysis focused on examining the attitudes and perceptions of students towards m-learning by conducting pre-test and post- test experiment. The quantitative data analysis showed that students' attitudes are high, while students' perceptions are moderate. Results indicated that the utilization of m-learning improves students' learning performance inside and outside the classroom. The main advantage of m-learning is it can be used anywhere-anytime; and it can be adopted to enhance students' interaction and learning experiences.