LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:1 January 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2014
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

The Effect of Short Message Service (SMS) on
Learning Phrasal Verbs by Iranian EFL Learners

Parvin Pirasteh, M.A.
Vahid Reza Mirzaeian, Ph.D.

Abstract

Despite the enormous potential of mobile assisted language learning (MALL) in teaching and learning foreign languages, no serious attention has been paid to develop this phase of education at schools and universities in Iran. This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of SMS as a subset of MALL on learning phrasal verbs among university students in Iran. Also, the role of gender in learning phrasal verbs by SMS was investigated. A group of 75 students were selected from 90 students who were studying different engineering fields at Arak University of Technology. They were assigned randomly into two experimental and control groups. During the study which lasted 25 days, participants in control group received 25 phrasal verbs in a booklet and participants in experimental group received 25 phrasal verbs via SMS. The pre- and post-test scores of two groups were compared using ANCOVA. The results of data analysis showed that experimental group outperformed control group. But there was no relationship between gender and learning phrasal verbs.

Key words: language learning, mobile assisted language learning (MALL), short message service (SMS), phrasal verbs, gender

Introduction

In 2001, Marc Prensky warned teachers, “Our students have changed radically. Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach” (p.1). He intended to describe how these "digital natives" are exposed to more gadgets, tools and technology than was ever thought possible. This has a deep effect on the ways through which children learn. They are more engaged in learning when using the latest technological gadgets, because it is what they are most used to interacting with. Students do not just want mobile learning; they need it (Wylie, 2010).

In recent decades, we have witnessed a slow shift in the trends of language learning theories from behaviorist to communicative, contextualized and constructivist approaches (Chuo 2004). The progress in Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and mobile assisted language learning (MALL) balances these shifts. While the behaviorists focused on vocabulary acquisition and grammar drilling, those embracing the communicative use of technology stressed the use of language in simulations and text reconstruction (Warschauer& Healey 1998).With the increasing interest in comprising authentic learning and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) into the area of language learning (e.g. Goodman & Goodman 1990; Hobbs 2001), it is expected that the emerging of CALL and mobile learning can become a suitable solution to combine learners’ learning environment into their real-life contexts.

Popularity of English in Iran’s Current Educational System

In Iran’s current educational system, English is mainly considered to be the first foreign language (Kassaian & Chalak, 2010). English is taught at different levels in educational systems in Iran, varying from primary schools to high school as well as in private language schools. Therefore, knowing and learning English has increasingly become more common and more popular, particularly among high school and university students.

Importance of Phrasal Verbs

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of the English language is also one of the most important aspects: Phrasal Verbs.

Phrasal verbs are really important for EFL Learners to study because they are used all the time by native English speakers, and are a key factor in speaking “natural” English. Despite the importance of phrasal verbs in learning English, no serious attention has been taken to learning them in language textbooks at universities in Iran.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Parvin Pirsteh, M.A.
Department of English Language
College of Humanities
Arak Isalamic Azad University
Arak
Iran
pirastehp@gmail.com

Vahid Reza Mirzaeian, Ph.D.
Arak Islamic Azad University
Arak, Iran

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.