Exposing Rural Indian Students to Mobile Assisted Language Learning: A Case Study

Abstract

Mobile learning has huge potential for developing countries like India where mobile devices have greater penetration even in rural areas recently. There is a remarkable difference in the quality of education between urban and rural India. Rural Indian students being the first generation learners of English, they have poor facilities for learning English both inside and outside the class. Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) plays a vital role in India Proficiency in English is considered essential for employment and higher education opportunities for millions of rural youth. The present paper aims at studying how rural Indian students respond to MALL individually and as a group to different learning activities and benefit from the same. The study is based on the data collected through a questionnaire and focus group discussions and the assessment tests at the beginning and end of the study. Statistical analysis of the data indicates positive results for group learning activities like contests and debates using social media whereas individual activities like recording one minute speeches have shown mixed results. Some of the best collaborative learning activities based on flipped classroom methods have implications for the practitioners, course designers and future research.