MALL
As David Crystal mentioned during one of his lectures
in Armenia “Internet Linguistics” worldwide web is only 20 years old. As far as
I remember mobile phones are even younger but they have developed so rapidly,
they have been involved in our lives so smoothly that even young children now
would hardly do without it, not to mention those who are busy solving problems
lying. It was 1990 ies when mobile phones appeared in Armenia for the first
time. I was nearly 14 years old and was so much surprised to see that
extraordinary phenomenon as I would be now if I were to see walking mobile
phones, who are instructed by their owner to go to a certain place.
You may wonder (as I did) what MALL could be when you
see it for the first time. I’ll tell you at once that it’s Mobile Assisted
Language Learning.Yes, not only have mobiles established themselves in this
flat world as a means of communication but they have also become a very
useful technological tool to be used in
Foreign Language Classes. I would personally replace my laptop with a mobile at
least not to carry that heavy device with
me to my classes at AUA. However my mobile is still unable to function
in a way I would need him to as it doesn’t have certain apps. Also internet access via mobiles is quite expensive
in Armenia so synchronous use of mobiles at Language classes is not so
realistic yet. But students could use their cameras, record players or emails
to do certain assignments. Also they could download podcasts to their mobiles
and listen to them extensively simultaneously travelling by bus, walking in the
street or doing the washing up.I liked all the projects suggested by my peers
via mobiles: shooting a film on environmental issues, interviewing and
recording people, taking some pictures to write on them later in class.
Even with certain disabilities mobile phones in
Armenia could still be used as an
effective technological tool giving learners to be as creative as they become
with other tools such as blogs, digital video cameras, power point, second life
and so on.
picture taken from:
No comments:
Post a Comment