Mobile learning in foreign language education with educational games

The use of mobile devices becomes increasingly wider and the age range of the individuals using these devices also expands. It is known that the elementary school students have their own mobile devices or it is observed that they continuously spend time with the mobile devices of their parents. When the relevant literature is examined for the study, the importance as well as the challenges of foreign language education is seen. It is observed that different techniques and applications are developed every day in foreign language education with the use of technology and this brings solutions for difficulties in learning. The importance of games in education is significantly high. It is obvious that digital game based learning, following the computer age, has taken an important place in the game based learning. The digital games installed to the mobile devices as well as the mobile phones offer entertainment at any time and any place. It is observed that various educational applications are being developed for turning this entertainment into educational entertainment. The aim of this study is to measure and evaluate the effects of the educational mobile games, which are independent from time and place and more flexible in terms of learning when compared to the educational computer games, on the success of the elementary school students. This study was carried out on 82 students in total, who are studying at 5th grade of Şeker Elementary School, Private Mustafa Sabuncu Elementary School and Yunus Emre Elementary School located in Elazığ province. A Flash Lite based educational mobile game, ?I am Learning English with Sponge Bunny? (Sünger Bunny ile İngilizce Öğreniyorum), was developed by receiving the opinions of the students with the survey prepared for the study and by considering the characteristics of the students. The study has focused on foreign language education and English language has been chosen as the foreign language targeted for education. The English teachers of the relevant schools were asked to determine English words complying with the curriculum. Before applying the mobile game designed for evaluating the degree of perception of the students by listening to and reading English through the mobile game, a preliminary test was applied to the students and then a 1-week practice period was granted to the students. The application has been completed with the final test. The data collected has been analyzed by using Average, Standard Deviation, t-Test, Variance Analysis, Chi-squared Test, Two-Way Anova Test, KMO and Bartlett?s Test, Tukey HSD, Frequency and Percentage Techniques in a statistics software. It is observed that the educational mobile applications increase the success level of the students in English education. It can be stated that the education games installed to the mobile devices will increase the lesson motivation and success of the students and these games can be used as a useful educational material.