This study aimed to examine the predictive role of digital literacy skills on mobile English learning attitudes. It was conducted with 135 university students studying in the school of foreign languages of a state university in Turkey, and the data were gathered using digital literacy scale and English mobile learning attitude scale. This study showed that university students' digital literacy skills and mobile English learning attitudes were high and their digital literacy skills have a moderate and positive relationship with their mobile English learning attitudes. Besides, it was concluded that university students' digital literacy skills significantly predicted their mobile English learning attitudes and they together explained 50% of the total variance on their mobile English learning attitudes. Also, university students' scores on the attitude subscale of the digital literacy scale presented the largest effect on their mobile English learning attitudes.
TopIntroduction
With the quick advancement in mobile technology, integration of mobile technologies in teaching and learning processes has become a vital factor to enhance the quality of education (Almaiah, 2018; Sophonhiranrak, 2021), and hence, mobile learning (m-learning) has gained importance, especially in higher education. Thanks to m-learning, learning, and teaching activities can be extended beyond a traditional classroom because most people have portable devices today (Wu, 2014). Potential benefits of m-learning make it an attractive topic for many researchers, and it has become to be used in many different fields (Almaiah et al., 2020).
Language learning is one of these fields because m-learning makes these portable devices potentially beneficial tools in language-learning environments. Researchers have agreed on the positive effect of m-learning on language learning (Darmi & Albion, 2014; Bano et al., 2018; Elaish et al., 2019; Tommerdahl et al., 2022; Viberg & Grönlund, 2012; Kim & Kwon, 2012). A plethora of studies has revealed that mobile language learning is effective to facilitate various language skills like listening, writing, reading, etc. and language components like grammar and pronunciation (Kondo et al., 2012; Çavuş & İbrahim, 2017; Hwang & Fu, 2019; Hwang et al., 2014; Li, 2022; Read et al., 2021; Özer & Kılıç, 2018; Shadiev et al., 2018; Yu et al., 2023). Also, previous meta-analysis and systematic review studies have revealed that m-learning significantly enhances academic achievement in language learning environments (Chen et al., 2020; Sung et al., 2015; Mihaylova et al. 2022; Mahdi, 2018; Cho et al., 2018; Taj et al., 2016).
It can be said that successful implementation and use of m-learning largely depend on teachers’ and learners’ willingness and acceptance to use m-learning and their beliefs on how this technology would be beneficial in education processes for them (Al-Shehri, 2014; Alowayr, 2022; Al-Rahmi et al., 2022; Al-Seghayer, 2014; Aytekin et al., 2022; Padmanathan & Jogulu, 2018; Su & Chao, 2022; Abu-Al-Aish & Love, 2013). Although there are a lot of studies concluding the positive effect of m-learning on learning outcomes in language classrooms, little is known about the possible variables that can affect learners’ and teachers’ willingness to adopt m-learning and their attitudes towards it (Akour, 2009; Almaiah et al., 2016; Tsuei & Hsu, 2019). Several studies have been conducted to investigate the factors that can be effective on willingness to adopt m-learning and attitudes towards it and they concluded that some variables like parental involvement and parents’ attitudes (Kong, 2018; Tsuei & Hsu, 2019), usefulness and the effort needed to learn how to use m-learning (Montrieux et al., 2014; Odiakaosa et al., 2017; Sarrab et al., 2016), perceived enjoyment and compatibility of m-learning (Sánchez-Prieto et al., 2019), ICT literacy (Mac Callum et al., 2014b) play a vital role on accepting m-learning and attitudes towards it.