iPadding Sixth Graders to Impact Language Learning: An Empirical Mobile Study

Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical study in mobile language learning,with the purpose of exploring how mobile technology affects thelearning of a foreign language.Mobile devices possess fundamental properties, such as portability,individuality, interactivity and connectivity, that are essential tolanguage learning, in that they enhance exposure and noticing,promote interaction and calibrate corrective feedback.The mobile device adopted for this study is the iPad, which can fulfillthe functions of a computer with the additional plus of beinglightweight and therefore easily portable. It has a wide high-resolutiontouch screen, which enhances input as well as learners’ attention,making them focus on key language features and raising theirawareness. Furthermore, the iPad is compatible with the most recentapplications for the development of interactive skills.The author investigated the impact of iPad on a class of sixth gradersin their first year of learning Italian and compared their learning to anon-iPadded class over two years’ time, first in sixth grade and then inseventh grade. Results show that, thanks to mobile technology, theiPadded sixth graders generally progressed better than the noniPaddedsixth graders, but, remarkably, even better than the noniPaddedseventh graders in oral interactive tasks.