A Study Of University Students' Intention Of Mobile English Learning

With the rapid development of mobile technology, mobile learning is getting more and more attention. Compared with traditional classroom learning, mobile learning breaks the obstacles of space and time, which enables learners to obtain learning resources anytime and anywhere through the use of mobile devices and wireless internet(Hwang & Tsai,2011). In recent years, as cell phones and internet technology develop, smart phones are getting more and more popular. As the combination of traditional cell phones and computers, smart phones become the most widespread and convenient devices in mobile learning.Among all the disciplines, mobile learning is more suitable for language learning like English(Huseyin, 2014; Muhammed, 2014). For English can not be learned only in classroom, it has to be learned and practiced in spare time. In China, the importance of learning English is self-evident. Owning to the development of technology and the great demand of English learning, smart phone is becoming an important tool for learners to learn English(Pilar et al., 2013), especially for university students.(Liu, 2012). Effective English learning, however, can not be guaranteed only by the popularity of smart phones and their peculiar advantages in language learning. Cheon et al.(2012) has pointed out that only when learners accept mobile learning psychologically, can the strengths of mobile learning be realized. Therefore, in order to carry out mobile English learning better, it is very important and necessary to assess students' intention of mobile learning. Most studies in the past emphasize the importance of mobile learning, but pay little attention to mobile learning intention. In view of this, this thesis explores university students' intention of mobile English learning on the basis of smart phones in order to provide empirical evidence for the implementation and development of mobile English learning. Research questions are presented below:(1) What's the general situation of university students' mobile English learning intention in terms of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control?(2) Are there any gender differences in mobile English learning intention?(3) Are there any differences in mobile English learning intention among different disciplines?In order to answer the above questions, both quantitative and qualitative approach were employed. One hundred and sixty seven undergraduate students(88 male, 79 female) in Shandong Agricultural University were selected through random cluster sampling. The participants came from three disciplines, which are arts, science and engineering. Majors of the three disciplines were respectively secretary, materials chemistry and geomatics. All of the participants have their own smart phones and can use it freely. All the empirical data for this study were collected by questionnaires delivered by teachers before having English classes. Then the data was put into computer and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS 16.0). In addition, after obtaining the results of questionnaire survey, twelve participants were interviewed to get more qualitative information for the better understanding of students' intention on mobile English learning.Results of the present study indicate that 1) Students show relatively high intention on mobile English learning. With regards to the three dimensions, students displayed slightly high score on attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control; 2) Gender produces significant differences in university students' overall intention on mobile English learning. Concerning the three dimensions, significant gender difference was only found in subjective norm, and there was no significant gender difference in terms of attitude and perceived behavioral control; 3) Discipline difference was found both in the overall intention and the three dimensions. To be specific, arts students demonstrated significantly higher score than those majoring in science and engineering in terms of both subjective and perceived behavioral control. Regarding attitude, significant difference was only found between arts and engineering and no significant discipline difference has been found between arts and science.