Post-Secondary Students Using the iPad to Learn English: An Impact Study

2. Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is a relatively young field of study that emerged in the mid-1990s and focused on the use of mobile devices for teaching and learning languages. The field has often been criticised for its lack of consensus in defining what constitutes a ‘mobile device’ making the field appear “volatile, inconsistent and haphazard” (Traxler, 2009, p.6). Regardless of its shortcomings, MALL remains a popular field of research and study given that learning with mobile technologies is seen as “central to the educational landscape of the twenty-first century” (Pachler, Bachmair & Cook, 2010, p.72) and mobile devices are heralded as enablers of “just-in-time, just-enough, on-demand personalized learning experiences, seamlessly integrated within our everyday activities” (Vavoula & Karagiannidis, 2005, p.534) and having the potential to redefine knowledge, learning and education (Traxler, 2007).