Students learn English idioms through WhatsApp: use of smartphones outside the classroom context

Sahan, Ozgur, Çoban, Mustafa and Sahan, Kari Elizabeth (2015) Students learn English idioms through WhatsApp: use of smartphones outside the classroom context. 18th Warwick International Postgraduate Conference in Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick , Warwick, United Kingdom. 23 - 25 Jun 2015.

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the effect of a mobile application—WhatsApp—on teaching English idioms to EFL students. The data were collected from 40 intermediate level students who were enrolled in the English Language Preparatory Program of a state university in Turkey in the 2014-2015 academic year. The students were placed in three WhatsApp groups, an online platform through which they could interact with each other, the teacher and the content. The researchers provided the students with three idioms per week for five weeks via WhatsApp. The participant students were expected to explore the meanings of idioms by analyzing sample sentences from different online sources. They shared the sample sentences in their WhatsApp groups and had discussions in
English regarding the use and meaning of idioms. Additionally, they kept idiom journals to write down the idioms and sample usages to enhance learning. In order to see the effectiveness of this application, students were given an achievement test and a sub-sample group of students were interviewed. The results revealed how students benefited from WhatsApp as a learning tool and their reactions to mobile learning outside the classroom context. The findings are important in the development.

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Contributors

Author: Ozgur Sahan

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