A potential affordance or an obligation? : teachers' perspectives on mobile learning in second language acquisition

Abstract

The rising role of mobile technologies draws people’s attention to its use in the educational field. This qualitative case study is an exploration of how mobile learning affects language learning from teachers’ perspective by addressing how teachers conceive mobile learning and position its role in practice. The data includes interviews with three experienced language teachers focusing on their conception and their practices in Finland. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the teachers’ conception of both second language teaching and learning and mobile learning and what they have experienced and practiced with the use of mobile technologies. The findings suggest that all participants connected the affordances and constraints of mobile learning to their pedagogical thinking in order to implement the technology in language learning. The discussion addresses the meaningfulness of mobile learning is augmented by the teachers, but not the tool itself, and the need of identifying the pedagogical purpose behind the implementation of mobile learning.