Digital Storytelling and Augmented Reality-Based Scenarios for Foreign Language Teaching

Introduction

The evolution and popularity of mobile devices as mediums of communication and access to information among users of all ages attracted academics who quickly explored their potential as educational tools. Mobile devices have been used for educational purposes, with their benefits such as portability, social interactivity, context sensitivity, connectivity, and personalization being exploited by educators (Klopfer et al., 2002). Thus, mobile devices have been incorporated into any teaching and learning (formal, informal or distance). Thanks to these features, but primarily their portability and affordability, mobile devices offer the possibility of learning without spatiotemporal limitations. They also use the possibilities for easy access to information, promote digital literacy, and offer possibilities for independent learning (Zaranis et al., 2013). Therefore, a new approach for technology enhanced learning has been generated called mobile learning (m-learning). Certainly, m-learning would not have been evolved without wireless communication technologies (Crompton, 2013). In present, mobile devices offer a spectrum of educational opportunities for teacher–technology, student–technology and teacher–student partnerships (Churchill & Pegrum, 2017). Research findings have demonstrated that mobile devices offer unique possibilities for learner-centered approaches to teaching and implement innovative teaching practices that are not usually experienced in other learning tools (Arvanitis & Krystalli, 2020). Furthermore, mobile technologies are an excellent way to offer and extend educational possibilities to learners who do not necessarily have access to good quality education (Unesco, 2013). The definitions of mobile learning in the literature vary with a common point of reference, the concept of mobility in concerning technology but mainly of mobility about the learner. Winters (2007: 7) in his attempt to define this type of learning, at a time when this term had not yet been fully clarified, proposed the following conceptual perspectives of m-learning:

• •

  Technocentric as this perspective dominated the literature until then.

• •

  Relationship to e-learning, because m-learning was considered an extension of e-learning.

• •

  Augmenting formal education, as he believes that m-learning can enhance all types of traditional learning and not just the learning in the classroom.

• •

  Learner-centered, because as he argues, many researchers define m-learning with learner’s mobility and the need to access learning from any place any time.

M-learning can be regarded as a type of learning that is ubiquitous, spontaneous, and personalized, and adequate for the development of critical thinking and initiative (Karsenti et al., 2013, Miangah & Nezarat, 2012, Unesco, 2013).