What Language to Teach with Mobile Devices

Abstract

Mobile devices, as we’ve seen, may be drafted into the service of a variety of language learning approaches (from behaviourist through communicative to sociocultural approaches), linked to a series of MALL types (from content and tutorial to creation and communication MALL), and used to dish up a range of materials and activities (from ebooks and grammar apps through to multimodal blogging and complex gaming). Having considered how language can be taught with mobile devices in the last chapter, we turn now to what aspects of language can be taught. In the process, we’ll draw together numerous examples of successful MALL projects. But before considering what language to teach through technology, we need to consider how technology changes language3 itself.