Vocabulary and Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL): A Survey on ESL Undergraduate Learners of Punjab

Abstract

The incorporation of technology in education has become a dire necessity of the current era, and mobile phones are the most portable and affordable technology of this current period, due to which their usage in education has gained much importance over the years. To gain an understanding of the practice and integration of MALL in English vocabulary learning, the researcher designed a quantitative survey study. The research was based on the “Input Hypothesis” of the Monitor model and the five-step vocabulary learning model. The study aimed to understand the perceptions of undergraduate ESL learners concerning the usage of MALL for vocabulary learning, MALL-based techniques that they considered effective for learning vocabulary and the role of MALL in improving the lexical competence of the learners. A questionnaire with Likert scale responses from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” was designed by the researcher to collect responses from the participants. The researcher recruited a sample of 200 undergraduates through purposive sampling from a public university in Punjab, among which 140 responded to the online questionnaire being administered for data collection. Microsoft Excel and SPSS were utilised to analyse data by calculating the mean and standard deviation of the response. Cronbach’s alpha was also calculated to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire along with the chi-square test, which was utilised to find the association between the variables. The study concluded that the usage of MALL was positively perceived among undergraduate ESL learners of Punjab, and they considered it highly effective for enhancing their lexical competence.