A Study on Applying Mobile Assisted Language Use for Korean University EFL Students

The aim of this study was to reveal the extent of mobile assisted language use (MALU) in a Korean university and the resulting second language learning enhancement potential. A small-scale quantitative study was conducted on participants' use of electronic devices in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages in both academic and non-academic settings. A total of 47 male and female students voluntarily answered a self-report questionnaire, which was administered online via Facebook. Aimed at gauging learner perceptions of the extent to which L2 usage facilitates conscious and sub-conscious language learning in varying contexts, the questionnaire items consisted of close-ended questions and statements requiring responses. The results of this study indicated that MALU is occasioned by much non-academic electronic device usage, particularly with respect to smartphones, and furthers L2 understanding. The findings maysupport the contention that conceptualization of contemporary smartphone-based learning through the computer-centered apparatus inherited from CALL is redundant. Accordingly, this paper posits that potential language learning enhancement facilitated by digital device usage is best understood using MALU models. Results reveal widespread non-academic English language interaction, indicating a need for significant shifts in traditional theory and pedagogy, such that informal and sub-conscious learning of this sort can be both better understood, and facilitated in teaching contexts.