DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVITY-BASED mLEARNING IMPLEMENTATION MODEL FOR UNDERGRADUATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

The purpose of the study was to develop an activity
�based mLearning implementation
model for English Language learning among undergrad
uates. The development of the
model was aimed at how mLearning could be used to s
upport formal learning in aiding
students to achieve both learning needs and target
course outcomes through networking of
language learning activities. Professional Communi
cation Skills course, an undergraduate
language course offered in a private tertiary insti
tution was selected as an example to
develop the model.
The study adopted the Design and Development Resear
ch approach, which was
introduced by Richey & Klein (2007) to develop the
model. Based on the approach, the
study was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 invol
ved needs analysis using survey
questionnaire that was conducted among 220 undergra
duate students to investigate the need
to adopt mLearning and consequently the development
of the model. Data for this phase
was analyzed using descriptive statistics via Stati
stical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS) software. Interpretation of the needs analy
sis was based on the values of mean and
standard deviation. Phase 2 adopted the Interpreti
ve Structural Modeling (ISM) method to
develop the model via a panel of eight (8) experts.
Interpretation of the data was based on
the model generated by ISM software and the classif
ication and relationships of elements
(learning activities). Phase 3 involved another pa
nel of experts of 48 members to evaluate
the model using a modified Fuzzy Delphi technique.
The evaluation was based on their
responses to a seven�likert linguistic scale survey
questionnaire. The ‘threshold’ value (d)
was calculated to determine the experts’ consensus
for all questionnaire items while the
defuzzification (A
max
) values for the items would register the agreement
(decision) of the
experts.
The overall findings for Phase 1 indicated that the
students owned at least one
mobile technology device (98.6%, n = 217) with 82.2
% (n = 181) of their devices were at
least Level 2.This concluded that the students have
the necessary technology access for the
incorporation of mLearning in their formal learning
. They also showed high acceptance
level and intend to use mLearning in their formal E
nglish Language course. Thus, the
findings necessitated the need for the study to dev
elop the model. Findings from Phase 2
resulted in the development of the model that consi
sted of 24 formal and informal learning
activities determined by a panel of experts. The e
xperts also viewed that the activities
could be divided into three learning domains and fo
ur activity clusters to facilitate the
interpretation of the roles of the activities. Fin
ally, findings from Phase 3 of the study
showed consensual agreement (d = 89.9%) among the e
xperts in terms of the selected
language activities (A
max
= 42.03), relationships among them (A
max
= 43.05), the
classification of the activities (A
max
= 42.05), and the overall evaluation of the model (
mean
A
max
= 41.59) as the values exceeded the minimum value o
f 33.6. The model proposes how
formal and informal learning could converge practic
ally through the incorporation of
mLearning activities in formal learning settings in
aiding the students to fulfill their
language learning needs and target course outcomes