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The Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Learning (FRAME) model (Koole, 2009) is highly commensurate with the sociomaterial perspective. The model can help teacher educators and teachers-in-training understand how the material and the human are inherently intertwined. The SMS Story project (Kaleebu, Gee, Maybanks, Jones, Jauk, & Watson, 2013; Kaleebu, Gee, Jones, & Watson, 2013; Gee & Jones, 2013) will be used as an example. The SMS Story project took place in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with the goal of using a seemingly simple mobile technology (SMS) to provide training content to English teachers in remote areas. The analysis of the SMS Story project through FRAME model demonstrates the complexity of the entanglement of technology, culture, and individuals in the learning process.
In this paper, the author will draw upon Karen Barad’s (2003, 2007) agential realist perspective and other sociomaterialist writers to argue that the recognition of non-human actors in teaching and learning is an important issue with ethical implications. The first half of the paper is highly theoretical offering a discussion about sociomaterialism, agential realism, and the FRAME model. The second half provides a concrete example (the SMS Story Project) to illustrate the theoretical. In closing, the author will review the entanglement between the local, sociomaterial processes and Western pedagogical and technological approaches. Localization of mobile learning content and practices in teacher training emerge as a significant issue.