Evaluating ELT Materials: A Comparison between Traditional Materials and Mobile Apps

Subject Areas :

Saeed  Taki ¹ (English Department, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza, Iran)
Neda  Amini ² (English Department, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahreza, Iran)

Received: 2017-02-14 Accepted : 2017-06-21 Published : 2017-03-01

Keywords: ELT materials, mobile apps, educational applications, mobile learning (MALL), evaluation of materials,

Abstract :

This study attempted to evaluate and compare language learning apps and the related traditional books on the same subject. The apps included Murphy’s English Grammar and Cambridge Discovery Readers and the traditional materials were English Grammar in Use and Developing Reading Skills. The study, thus, aimed to do a comparative analysis between traditional ELT materials and the digital versions. In doing so, it aimed to evaluate ELT mobile apps and consider their effectiveness for English language learning. The analysis was conducted based on the frameworks adapted from Hubbard (2006) and Reinders and Pegrum (2015). Based on these frameworks, the overall features and functions of the selected applications were analyzed in terms of three categories: ‘content and design’, ‘L2 approaches’ and ‘technology’. The analysis demonstrated that these ELT apps seemed to be effective in that they could provide a personal and learner-centered learning opportunity for learners as they would make them independent from any time and any place. Needless to say, by realizing mobility as a more situated, field-dependent and collaborative form of learning, the effective design and use of ELT mobile applications should continue to be studied in order to suggest the right direction to effective MALL.