Akbar Gurmani, Muhammad Taimoor Ali (2023) The impact of mobile-assisted vocabulary input on l2 students’ vocabulary knowledge at a tertiary Institution in Pakistan. Doctoral thesis, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia.

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Abstract

This study aimed to show how mobile phones, especially smartphones, can be used to help second-language learners improve their vocabulary for academic purposes at the tertiary level. In the development of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), it is often said that language-related technology is developing and will help students improve their future learning. These common tools (mobile phones, smartphones, mobile applications), which are widely used, could help teachers and students learn new words. However, these tools have not been properly integrated into the curricula of schools and other higher education institutions. Moreover, there is a dearth of research on how smartphones could be utilised for teaching and learning L2 vocabulary from word lists. This study, therefore, investigated the impact of mobile-assisted word lists input on L2 students’ test performance and perceptions in a Quasi-experimental study. Seventy undergraduate students from the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Pakistan, participated in the study; 35 students were part of the control group, and the other 35 were part of the experimental group. The data collection instruments were Nation and Beglar’s (2007) Vocabulary Size Test (VST), survey, and interviews. VST aimed to measure the impact of the mobile-assisted vocabulary word lists input on the students’ vocabulary test performance, while the survey and interviews were utilised to investigate the perceptions of the students from the experimental group regarding their experience of using the mobile-assisted vocabulary input. Interventions were only given to the students of the experimental group, while students in the control group continued their learning from the textbooks that were based on conventional methods. The interventions were in the form of vocabulary items chosen from Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Wordlist (AWL) and Nation and Beglar’s (2007) Vocabulary Size Test (VST). Intentional learning approach embedded in Behaviourism was used to send the interventions. The interventions were given through WhatsApp text messages. A total number of 500 vocabulary items were sent to the students during 10 weeks period of intervention, while 10 items per day during the 5 working days (10 x 5 = 50) of the week were sent to the students of the experimental group. The results were triangulated based on the instruments. The research procedure was composed over a semester. Independent and paired sample t-tests were run on the vocabulary test scores to assess if there were significant results due to the interventions. The survey was analysed using descriptive analysis, and content analysis helped identify emerging themes in the qualitative data. The findings from the independent t-test showed that there was a significant impact of the intervention on the experimental group, and the post-test results of both groups showed a significant difference in the mean scores (control group, M= 72.14 (SD = 10.47); experimental group, M = 82.37 (SD = 17.14). A significant improvement of M = 10.23 scores, p < .05 was observed in the mean scores, while paired sample t-test results of the experimental group showed pre-test M = 68.94 (SD = 10.86) and post-test M = 82.37 (SD = 17.14), p-value = 0.00 with a differential increase of 13.43 mean scores. In addition, the survey results indicated that the students perceived mobile-assisted vocabulary learning to positively affect their vocabulary achievement, while the emerging themes from qualitative data corroborated the survey findings. The research found that mobile-assisted vocabulary input improved students’ vocabulary acquisition, with the experimental group outperforming the control group. The outcomes of this research may have pedagogical implications for language teachers, curriculum developers, and policymakers. The study suggests using mobile-assisted vocabulary input to help L2 students improve their language proficiency. This strategy may also encourage self-study and overcome time restrictions for vocabulary development in L2 classrooms. Keywords: mobile-assisted, WhatsApp, vocabulary, word lists, vocabulary measurement, vocabulary size, perceptions.

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