Actualizing Affordances of Audiobooks for Elective Readings in a University Course

Introduction

Sound and voice are considered to be the most profound affordances of audiobook - enabling listening, and distinguishing audiobooks from print and ebooks (Have & Pedersen, 2013; Rubery, 2016). Affordances for download or streaming, enabled by digitalization of audiobooks, in combination with ubiquity of smartphones among university students and adults, have vastly improved affordances for mobility (Have & Pedersen, 2012, 2013; Have & Stougaard Pedersen, 2016; Marchetti & Valente, 2017; Rubery, 2016; Wittkower, 2011), and thus generated new potential for mLearning in higher education and lifelong learning. This potential is being further strengthened by the continuing boom of audiobook markets (Have & Pedersen, 2020; Clark & Phillips, 2019), where publishers offer a growing number of non-fiction audiobooks to audiobook readers with varied disciplinary interests.

Coalescence of the above-mentioned factors and various other properties of audiobooks and capabilities of learners, invites inquiry into audiobooks’ potential for mLearning in general, and mobile seamless learning in particular. Mobile seamless learning (Chan et al., 2006; Looi et al., 2010; Wong & Looi, 2011) frames an opportunity and a challenge to more fully explore and actualize affordances of technologies for mobile learning practice – for learning anytime, anywhere. Looi et al. (2009, 2010) highlight the affordances for personalized learning (Looi et al., 2009), and focus on enabling learners to learn whenever they are curious, so that they can seamlessly continue learning across formal and informal contexts and switch between individual and social learning, and by extending social spaces in which learners interact with each other (Looi et al., 2010).

Parsons et al. (2016) identified a set of mobile affordances from literature on mLearning, namely - portability, data gathering, communication, interaction, contextual and outdoors learning. Have & Stougaard Pedersen (2016) pointed out that the digital audiobook, as a medium, is adapted to diverse individual needs and mobile uses, with interactive possibilities still largely latent (Have & Stougaard Pedersen, 2016). Learners however can leverage other applications present on their mobile devices to engage in an array of online and offline learning activities – before, after or during listening. In this way, mLearning with audiobooks can draw on a broad range of affordances typical or expected for mobile learning.

The potential for use of digital audiobooks in mLearning, has not yet been fully investigated by research. The present study intends to offer some insights into actualization of affordances of audiobooks within the Higher Education context, by exploring students’ attempts to leverage audiobooks while engaging with elective readings in second language learning (L2), alongside peers within an mLearning course module.

Theoretical Framework

Gibson (1979; 2015) developed the theory of affordances from the perspective of ecological psychology, introducing an affordance as potential actions and interactions that the environment offers to an individual. Norman (1999, 2013) leveraged Gibson’s affordance theory in the field of design, focusing attention on the aspect of affordance referring to the relationship between an object and an interacting agent (e.g. a person). According to Norman (1999, 2013), affordance is a possible relationship between properties of the object and capabilities of the agent. Affordances determine how the object can be used by a person (Norman, 1999, 2013). When describing a lack of affordance, Norman (Norman, 2013, p. 13) again highlights that affordance is not a property, it is a relationship - whether an affordance exists depends on the properties of both the object and the agent. Hence the lack or non-existence of an affordance can be due to lacking properties of the object, or lacking capabilities of the agent, or both. Importantly, affordances can be improved or created, where objects can be accordingly altered and/or the capabilities of users can be developed.