The Impact of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in Developing the Listening Skill: A Case of Students at Dubai Men's College, the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Mobile technologies are one of the fastest-growing technologies in education. They offer an appealing opportunity to access multiple sources of information anytime and anywhere. Students who join Dubai Men's College in the Foundations program suffer from accumulative weakness in the language skills in general and in the listening skill in particular. The study aimed to confirm the positive impact of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) on English Listening Skills. It attempted to examine the effect of MALL on students' acquisition of English language Listening Skill at Dubai Men's College (DBM), the United Arab Emirates. The study also investigated teachers' perspectives on the effect of MALL on the students' listening skill. The research question was: To what extent students' listening skills have in the experimental group developed through the use of MALL compared to the students in the control group? A mixed-method approach composed of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis was used to answer this question. 66 students participated in a quasi-experiment of an experimental group, and a control group and 20 teachers participated. The findings indicated that there were statistically significant differences between both groups in favour of the experimental group. The research stressed the benefits of using MALL to improve the students' listening skills, especially those who seem to be demotivated. Finally, some teachers showed a lot of support for the use of MALL. Additional empirical research should be conducted to increase the generalizability of the findings.