The Impacts of Guided and Unguided Mobile-Mediated Concept Mapping on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Learning and Strategy Awareness

Although several studies have provided positive evidence concerning the impacts of technology-mediated language learning on learners’ vocabulary acquisition, few studies have investigated concept mapping in this field. This study intended to examine the impacts of guided and unguided mobile-mediated concept mapping on learners’ vocabulary acquisition outside of English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. Moreover, the vocabulary acquisition strategies of students were examined. Sixty EFL learners in three intact classes were assigned to guided and unguided mobile-mediated concept mapping conditions as well as one control group. The participants in the guided mobile-mediated concept mapping group were provided with fill-in-blank concept mapping of words, and they were asked to fill in the nodes through their smartphones. The participants of the unguided mobile-mediated concept mapping group were asked to draw concept maps of words via their mobile phones without receiving fill-in-blank concept mapping. The control group's participants were required to understand and memorize the words given to the experimental conditions conventionally, and they did not receive mobile-mediated concept maps. Analyses of the learners’ post- and also delayed posttests indicated that both guided and unguided mobile-mediated concept mapping were equally beneficial for increasing EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. Moreover, findings revealed that guided and unguided mobile-mediated concept mapping promoted learners’ vocabulary learning strategy awareness outside of EFL settings.