supplementary resources for learning English
All participants used mobile devices as tools to aid in their English learning, and they identified favorite features through which they learned English. While all participants used different apps, they most frequently used the recording and camera features.
Participants’ Use of a Recording App. Cindy, Kaye, and Anna used a recording feature on their mobile phones, and all four participants used the camera feature in their high school classes. Although these features are not necessary novel to the population at large, the ability to capture a class lecture as a whole greatly appealed to participants. Participants in this study used these features primarily for keeping up with classes. Cindy, Kaye, and Anna considered their English “not enough” to successfully complete their required coursework. In their class, they had to understand the lectures, complete essay assignments, and sometimes do oral presentations. Thus, they appreciated the help of the recording and/or camera features of the smartphone to keep up required assignments. Especially for Anna, the recording feature was one that she used most frequently:
R: When you have words that you don’t know during the class, do you search for them in a smartphone or just leave them as unknown?
A: Um…I am not fluent in English. I record them or write down every word that the teacher said and re-read when I get home. Then, I search for words at home.
R: What device did you use for your recording?
A: My phone.
R: So how often do you use that recording feature a day?
A: Um… I have two important classes, so I use it when I take these classes. Also, I use it when there is a review session for a test or something.
R: 수업시간에는모르는단어가나오면핸드폰으로바로찾아보는편이야아님 듣고넘기는편이야? A: 어저는아무래도영어가부족하니까녹음을하거나선생님말씀을아니면다 받아적고집에와서다시읽어보고모르는단어나오면그때이제찾아보거나 하는편이에요 R: 녹음은그럼뭘로해? A: 핸드폰으로요 R: 핸드폰을그럼하루에녹음기능을얼마나쓰는거같아? A: 음저는어수업이그렇게중요한거는두개밖에없어서그두개할때그리고 다른반은시험전날에리뷰세션을한다던가그럼녹음을하고 (Anna, 2nd interview, 2017)
R: So, for these two classes [World History, Chemistry], when do you re-listen to them after you recorded them?
R: Then you spend doubled time compared to others. What about the words that you don’t know? You wouldn’t know the spelling if you don’t know the word you hear. A: I just type the word as I listen then Google usually gives choices of correct words that
might work.
R: What if you still can’t find it?
A: Then I just leave it as blank.
R: 그럼이거두개는너가녹음을하면언제들어? 집에와서? A: 네집에와서한번더들으면서정리해요 R: 집에서들을때그럼결국 2번시간을쓰는거잖아학교에서듣고집에와서듣고 그런데들으면서단어같은거는모르는거는스펠링을모르잖아그런건어떻게 찾아? A: 그냥대충이거일거같다이러고치면유사단어로많이나오니까 R: 안나올때는어떻게해? A: 그냥넘기고 (Anna, 2nd interview, 2017)
For Anna, the recording feature of the smartphone helped her regularly organize her learning, supported her English vocabulary development, and helped her review for tests. Because she “…[was] not fluent in English,” the recording feature helped her maintain the good grades she had in Korea. In her second and third interviews, she mentioned that her smartphone was helpful when she needed to record her classes and review her sessions to earn better grades.
With her smartphone and Google, Anna was able to support her English language learning as well as content area learning. In any content area class, English learners must navigate a number of different modes (Angay-Crowder, 2016; Shin, Cho, & Albers, 2016), aural (listening), visual (e.g., notes on board, PowerPoint presentations), movement (gestures), and written (e.g., book chapters, study notes). Thus, for English learners, they must have a means by which they can more easily access these modes—the recording feature allows them to do so and keep up with what they must know for tests and assignments. Further, her smartphone supported what she considered her lack of “fluency” in English by spending extra time to re-listen to teachers’ lectures and take notes to prepare for her classes.
Like Anna, Kaye considered that a recording feature on her smartphone was also critical to follow her university instructors’ lectures. During this interview, I shared my experience of recording classes when I first started a master’s program in the US. We talked about how academic English listening can be difficult.
R: I did the same thing [recorded lectures] when I first started. How often do you record?
K: Frequently. Every class, every day.
R: Every class? Still now?
K: Just for his class [film class], not for others, because I will just record something I think is useful, because some professors just--…I don’t even know what he’s trying to say and he, I don’t think, even knows. They just don’t prepare anything for a class and they just talk random things. But for that class, because I like that professor and like that class very much, I feel like each sentence he says is really useful and important.
R: When you recorded his session, did you listen again right after the session or you just kept recording and just save it on your computer?
K: Uh, for the first half semester, I just accumulated the files and listened to them right before the mid-term, but I study from this experience, I cannot expand myself to finish all of it. It was really once. In the next half of [the] semester, I recorded each class and probably collected information during the weekend.
(Kaye, 2nd interview, 2017)
Similar to Anna, Kaye found that the recording feature was essential to her learning. The recording feature enabled her to capture information that her film professor (and other
professors) presented. Further, the recording feature helped Kaye in that her professor spoke quickly and was not always organized with his information. Also, like Anna, the recording feature helped Kaye organized her notes before mid-term exams and subsequently over the weekends when she was not in classes.
Cindy also frequently used a recording feature on her smartphone.
C: I often record the chemistry class, for example, when we have a presentation, I record how other group members present their projects. I review them when I got home and prepared for my own presentation [based on that recordings].
R: So that you could see how others present a project?
C: Yes.
R: What kinds of things do you carefully listen when you listen to the project presentations?
C: I honestly don’t know how to smoothly connect sentences or how I can start or finish my projects, so when I record others and listen to them, I get an idea that how I can start my project naturally you know. How I can naturally finish my presentation.
C: 케미스트리수업같은거발표있으면다른애들하는거녹음해서 듣고준비해요. R: 다른애들이어떻게하는지보려고? C:네 R: 어떤부분을주로봐? 다시들을때. C: 솔직히문장같은거어떻게연결하는지시작할때끝날때어떻게 하는지잘모르니까그런거많이봐요. 어떻게자연스럽게 끝내는지이런거. (Cindy, 3rd Interview, 2017)
Unlike Anna and Kaye who recorded class lectures, Cindy used the recording feature to prepare for her classes and to check her pronunciation for presentations. When I asked how she prepared her presentation. She stated:
I usually write a script ahead because I can’t really improvise sentences. So, I write a script and then if I don’t know how to pronounce certain words, I type words in Google so that I can have a correct pronunciation or I record other classmates’ pronunciation because those are technical terms [such as terms in biology] that we use in class.
저는 미리 스크립트를 쓰는 부분이 많아요 왜냐면 바로 잘 안나올때가 많으니까 그럼 말은 먼저 그렇게 쓰고 그럼 말은 편한데 혹시 발음이 문제가 되는 부분이 있나 그럼 구글에 물어보고 그렇게 해요. 아니면 다른 애들 발음하는 거 듣거나 대부분 그냥 수업 에서 쓰는 용어들이 많으니까요.
Cindy’s mobile practice of recording her voice could be related to her natural curiosity about English and her motivation to assimilate in class. During the interview, Cindy expressed her curiosity about learning everyday colloquial English, such as how to order in restaurants, pronounce unfamiliar dish names, and how to express her frustrations in some situations. She also stated: “Friends are the most important thing” for her and also “[making a friend is] the most struggled part in the US” (Cindy, 1st interview, 2017) as she could not speak English well in the
beginning when she started school in the US. She stated:
[Making a friend is] the most struggled part in the US. Because in Korea, you would just use Korean so it was so easy to make friends and I was the one who always approached kids first, but here, because of my English [being limited], I can’t just go and talk.. so, I got very timid and I hated seeing me timid.
제일힘들었던거는친구. 왜냐면은한국에서는 그냥한국말로하는거니까애들이랑
사귀기도너무편하고그냥저도원래먼저다가가는스타일이라서그랬는데제뜻대로
모든게안되고.영어떄문에소심해지고..그소심해진모습이너무싫었어요. (Cindy, 1st interview, 2017)
Cindy also stated that she was very concerned about her accents and how she was
portrayed to others. She shared this anecdote with me how she became aware of her accents and her limited English impacted on her personality and making friends in school.
You know, we were in middle school. Some kids understood my English, but most of the times, it hurt when I talked to them because they just didn’t understand my English and also didn’t want to understand that there is a person who has an accent or who can’t speak English well. So, it hurt me a lot. Sometimes I experienced something similar to racism as well. [R: What kinds?] Some thought that they were way better than others because they speak English. Well, I don’t see these kids that often in high school but the middle school I felt passive racism when they just ignored me. So that kind of thing was very difficult to overcome. I tried to learn English and hoped to speak it without an accent, you know.
중학생이잖아요. 영어가안되는데어떤애들은그냥이해해주는애들도많았고근데그렇게
못하고하려고 안하는 애들도 많았기 때문에..그런건 진짜 상처많이받았죠.. 인종차별도
있고 (어떤?) 인종차별이요? 백인애들이 자기자신이 잘났다고 생각하는 애들이 있어요.
영어좀한다고. 그런 애들은 high school 와서는 안그러는데 middle school 때는 은근히
무시한다고 해야하나? 그런게 있었던거 같아요. 대놓고 하는게 아니라 약간..은근히
무시해요. 그냥 그런게 좀 힘들고 그래서 영어 좀 잘하고 액센트없이 그러고 싶었고,
공부했죠.
(Cindy, 1st interview, 2017)
Cindy’s personality, including concerns about finding caring friends and how she would be portrayed to others, motivated her to assimilate with others. As her interview excerpt
revealed, she was concerned about her English and her accent. In order to assimilate with others, she used her smartphone recording feature to capture others’ presentations before hers. As she indicated, she could practice and see how to connect sentences and start openings. Thus, she was able to produce a native style of speech. As she could speak English well, she stated that she was able to make some friends.
R: How did you solve the issue of making friends?
C: I think once I could express myself in English, and once kids noticed that I could speak some English, it was not hard to make friends anymore.
(Cindy, 1st interview, 2017)
Unlike the other three participants, John stated that he rarely used the recording feature of his phone.
R: Do you record something with your phone?
(John, 2nd interview, 2017)
Participants’ Use of the Camera Feature. The camera feature was also popular among all four participants while they were in class. Anna discussed her use of this feature.
A: I found a feature that I use it often.
R: What [is it]?
A: Usually when teachers provide answer keys, I don’t really use a surface [tablet] or laptop, I would rather use my smartphone. I take a photo. So, I use my phone when I check my answers or edit my answers.
R: For every subject?
A: Yes, teachers tend to give one or two answer key print-outs and tell us to take a photo so…
R: …so teachers encourage students to take a photo [for the answer key]? Are there any teachers who do not like taking photos in class?
A: Usually, they just tell us to take a photo.
R: What about students who do not have a smartphone? Is there any friend you know who doesn’t have a phone?
A: I don’t see a single friend who doesn’t have a smartphone. R: Not one? Any student in class?
A: Yes.
A: In that case, friends send a photo to them or record the class for them and send it later… when I have a low battery, I asked them to record it for me.
A: 저제가자주사용하는거하나발견했어요
R: 어뭐?
A: 보통선생님들이 answer key같은거줄때사진을컴퓨터나 surface(tablet)로잘
안찍고핸드폰으로찍으니까그거가지고정답적거나답고칠때는그거 핸드폰으로계속보고쓰는거같아요 R: 음~ 모든과목을? A: 네선생님들이정답보통반에한두개정도가져다놓고사진찍어가라고 하셔서그런거할때 R: 그럼선생님들이직접찍으라고하는편이야? 싫어하는선생님들은? A: 어근데보통은그냥찍어가라고말씀하세요 R: 그럼핸드폰이없는학생은어떻게해? 친구중에핸드폰이없는친구도있어? A: 지금까지는못본거같은데 R: 지금까지는한명도없어? 반에그냥있는애들도? A: 네 R: 그렇구나그럼핸드폰놓고온친구도있을수도있잖아 A: 보통사진보내달라하거나녹음같은거도대신해주고보내주고그런경우도 많아요. 배터리가없을때는친구한테부탁할때도있고요. (Anna, 3rd interview, 2017)
This interview excerpt with Anna captured how she used the camera feature often for note taking and sharing. While the photo-taking feature helped Anna record notes, other students
in her class also took notes through their phones. For Anna, the camera feature supported her learning content presented in English by capturing answer keys written in English through photos. Kaye mentioned that she assumed that not many university students--other than international students--would take photos or record classes.
R: Do others, too, [take notes with their camera]? Do you notice that other students [record] or is [recording] just for you?
K: It’s not like only for me, but I don’t think a lot of people do that, like taking pictures, because more often they just type [notes] really fast.
R: Was that helpful for you because you need more solid pictures?
K: Yeah, and also for one of my film class because [the] professor talks really fast and I just record it.
(Kaye, 2nd interview, 2017)
Kaye also mentioned that she was not good at reading and typing English as quickly as others: “Because I can’t type as fast as Americans, so if there are really important PowerPoint and the professor just switches to one another very quickly, I will just take photos and I use this
method pretty frequently.” (Kaye, 2nd interview, 2017). Unlike how high school participants
saw other students taking photos of notes in class, Kaye reported that not many university students used the camera feature. Specifically, she noted that she used the camera due to her unfamiliarity with the English keyboard and summarizing a professor’s speech in class. The camera feature provided Kaye with support as she studied content presented in English. Not only did her professors speak “really fast,” but she thought that her native-English-speaking
classmates could keep up with the professor’s speech. Thus, the camera allowed Kaye to also “take notes” quickly through this feature.
John frequently used a camera to capture the lectures and assignments given.
J: I take a lot of photos [of the class notes]… I take a photo for required assignments. R: You do that too?
J: Yes, that helps me a lot. Because teachers erase the board very quickly especially for AP classes. They move at very fast speed so I take a photo. Except my math teacher, who is weird, I guess he doesn’t like students to take photos. But except for him, all teachers permit students to take pictures, so I take a photo for given assignments.
J: 사진많이찍어요. 숙제같은거 R: 너도그래? J: 네, 도움이많이돼요. 왜냐하면 AP같은경우는막빨리 지워버리고진도도빨리나가니까.. 수학선생님이좀이상한데 그분만빼고는사진찍는거뭐라안하세요. 그분은사진찍는거 좀싫어하는거같고. (John, 2nd interview, 2017)
Like Kaye, John used the camera feature to capture notes in the class. However, he shared feelings about why his math teacher did not permit students to take photos, with the implication that John had to take notes on every assignment and lecture by hand in his math class. In this excerpt, what seems clear is that teachers, like John’s math teacher, do not always understand the language needs of English learners. John needed to take photos of notes to have time to review them and to capture them as precisely as possible. English learners, unlike
teachers like John’s math class, take it upon themselves to use their smartphones to learn content presented in English. John also wrote about the benefits of using his phone to study English:
I watched many American TV shows by a phone with Netflix. I call my friend to develop my English-speaking level. I research English vocab with my phone to study.
(1st participant journal, originally written in English, John)
Participants’ Use of Other Apps and Websites.In addition to the aural and visual
recording features of a smartphone, participants used custom downloaded apps on their mobile devices as tools to learn a language and to engage in social online spaces. The three high school participants most frequently used the app ‘Quizlet’. Quizlet is an open-access flashcard app which is designed to practice and study vocabulary in various subjects from languages to