Mobile-facilitated Time and Place among Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract

Language learning is changing in a mobile technology-rich landscape and under the influence of new learner practices stemming from personal perspectives on the best places for learning and from evolving uses of available time. The key aim of this study is to conceptualize the relation between the focus of language learning and the dimensions of time and place among Iranian EFL learners. The study aims to assess what effect this might have on language learning in terms of curriculum or the design of learning activities. It draws on a survey study led by the authors, investigating how Iranian EFL learners use mobile technologies to support their learning, and particularly on interview data from the most recent project, which has focused on learners’ experiences with the use of mobile devices to support language learning. Learning activities undertaken by the interviewees were wide-ranging, with evidence of the importance of both easy learning and challenge. Specific findings relating to time and place of learning are reported. As mobile technology developments and the availability of mobile services and applications accelerate, educators and researchers need conceptual frameworks to enable them to interpret emerging learner practices. New language learning activities and services can be designed on the basis of this understanding. By reviewing individual learner experiences in learner-determined contexts, researchers and the language teaching community can work together to build up a picture of emergent practices and formulate the implications for the design of language teaching and learning now and in the future.