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Students' meaning making in a mobile assisted Chinese idiom learning environment

2010-06, Wong, Lung Hsiang, Chin, Chee Kuen, Tan, Chee Lay, Liu, May, Gong, Chen

In recent years, we witness the rise of communicative and contextualized language learning approaches that is concomitant with developments of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). Im this study, we present a pilot study in MALL that emphasizes "creative learner's output" and contextualized meaning making. In learning Chinese idioms, students used smartphones on a one-device-per-person basis to capture photos of the real-life contexts pertaining to the idioms, and to construct sentences with them. Subsequently, in-class or online discussions took place, which would enhance the students' understanding in the proper usage of the idioms. The learning design is grounded in the seamless learning model that encompass in-class formal learning and out-of-class informal setting, and personal and social learning spaces. The students' ongoing, open-ended, personal-to-social meaning making process and artifacts have indeed shown some indicators of "seamless language learning" that has the potential of transforming language learning into an authentic learning experience.