University students' perceptions of mobile assisted language learning

In the realm of foreign language education there have been numerous methods and trendy techniques intended to better teach a foreign language. Not only the attitude of teachers, but also technology have changed the way students learn a foreign language. Recently, second or foreign language learning has benefited a great deal from technology via usage of media sources. After the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) approach, Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) was introduced to students and teachers. This study was carried out to reveal the perceptions of English as Specific Purpose (ESP) students towards MALL in their foreign language learning. The data was collected through a 5-point Likert scale survey and a semi-structured interview conducted with some of the volunteering participants. 195 university students studying in the majors of engineering, logistics, economics, and psychology at a private university in Mersin participated in the current study. The results obtained through analysis of the survey and the interviews revealed that most of the (ESP) learners strongly believe that using mobile devices is highly effective in their foreign language learning as these tools provide instantly accessible input in the target language. Moreover, the female participants have displayed even much more increased interest in utilizing mobile phones in learning English as a foreign language than their male counterparts. To conclude, the participants' common media usage habits, types of media preferences and the usage frequency of mobile phones clearly indicated high positive attitudes towards the contribution of mobile phones in their foreign language development.