Mobile and Adaptive Learning Application for English Language Learning

Introduction

At the beginning of the 21st Century, the society world knows several new features, characteristics and needs such as: rapid rate of technological and social change rapid lifestyle and the people are occupied the most time. These technological advancements allow fast communications and information processing that support new social patterns. Therefore, the researchers and communities have to take into account the new interest and preferences, work patterns, and opportunity.

According to the Global Digital report, almost two-thirds of the world’s population currently has a mobile phone, and more than half of this uses smartphones; in addition, over half of the world’s web traffic currently comes from mobile phones (Wearesocial, 2017). So, the authors are experiencing the huge spread of the mobile devices (smartphones, tablets …etc) around the world (low-cost of mobile phone) (Mostafa and Said, 2017). Also the spread of portable information and communications technology (ICT) with the relatively recent advent of small, portable mobile devices that provide telephone, Internet, and data storage, mobile telephony, removable memory chips, diaries, email, Web, basic word processing and spreadsheets, and data input, storage, and transfer.

The new social structure is deeply influenced by the mobile information and communication technologies. In the domain of Learning, the researchers have exploited the new technologies: Mobile technology, wireless networks (WiFi access in all public sectors schools and companies ...etc), information and communication technology (ICT) as a mean to improve deeply the ways of communication and learning. These technologies are the key to strengthening and facilitating learning and teaching in the 21st century. As a result, this emerging technology and mobile devices reveal a new way of learning known as Mobile learning (M-Learning) (Mostafa and Said, 2017). In M-learning environments, the learning process becomes more sophisticated, faster and efficient with a minimum of problems: gain of time, economy of transport costs and accommodation, always available, no specific schedule of learning, flexibility, interactivity... etc (Jenni, 2013).

Using a mobile learning process, the learners are isolated and sometimes disoriented. In addition, the learners are generally heterogeneous so that they have different abilities, preferences, cultures, characteristics, intellectual capacities…etc. Thus, Mobile learning system should provide a set of features to be adaptable with new methods: ease of use, reuse and adaptation of the learning content, take into account the needs and levels of learners (backgrounds, objectives, levels of abilities…etc), personalized content, contextual representation of user's information (Ramya and Madhumathi 2017).

Learning English language is a difficult process especially in the case of the absence of human teacher (learners will deal with an application in their mobile devices). English language has spoken side, written side and grammatical side. Therefore, every application for learning languages must cover all these sides efficiently. In addition, Listening plays an important role in communication and it is considered as the first skill to be acquired early before other skills, especially with children who are a good listener and grasp the language even before they start to speak. Learners need to improve their listening skills in order to understand natural English speech. In this paper, the authors aim to define a new approach for M-learning and develop the M-learning system in the Android operating system for English learning. Then the authors test this mobile application on a group of students of computer science department, second year license.