MALL: Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

Mobile phones and tablets are very popular nowadays especially with young people. Taking this fact into account, we as teachers should think how we can use these tools in English language teaching. Of course incidental language learning already occurs while we use the mobile phones and tablets. But there is a need to introduce them in teaching in a more structured and organized way. MALL is gaining more and more popularity, and there are scholars who suggest attractive ideas on how mobile technologies can be used in the language classroom. Hayo Reinders suggests twenty practical ideas for using mobile phones in the language classroom. Particularly useful are the ideas of using the notes feature to gather everyday language, using a voice recorder for recording language they might hear on TV or that used in the classroom. The availability of free programs that make flashcards for mobile phones is interesting. This could be very useful for teachers as making vocabulary flashcards is time-consuming and quite expensive. This way teachers can also share the flashcards with students. Mobile phones are also suitable for microblogging, of course if we decide to use the latter tool in our teaching. Reinders also offers to use mobile phones for text messaging. Frankly speaking, I don't think this is going to be a usef

ul learning experience for students as you as you can never control it and students will most likely communicate in their mother tongue. Even if they do message in English, it's questionable whether this will offer any linguistic benefits.

Apart from the ideas suggested by Reinders, mobile phones and tablets are comfortable for listening to podcasts or extensive reading purposes in that they are mobile by definition. Perhaps tablets and Kindle are more suitable for the latter. 

Another important feature of tablets is that you have the possibility to subscribe to different blogs and websites which will recommend readings for you. This has been my personal experience, and I just love turning on my tablet and seeing the recommendations for me based on my preferences. 

There are also some dangers we should be aware of. if we use mobile phones in class, there is a danger of students getting distracted during class. One solution could be trying to use them for out-of-class assignments mainly. Besides, before planning any activities with these technologies, we should make sure that all the students have one of the above-mentioned mobile technologies. Otherwise, we might leave those students outside our teaching and discourage them.