With the development of mobile technology, the use of smart phones has increased immensely. It has become a necessity as well as an obsession. People use them for various communication and educational purposes. The use of ICT i.e., Information Communication Technology in Language classrooms has become the norm of the day. Language teachers can allow the students to use the mobiles in classrooms for various learning purposes. Mobiles have innumerable apps like you tube, social networking sites such as twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram; google search engine, voice recording facilities, apps to receive and send audio, video files, images, pictures, downloadable podcasts, books in pdf formats etc. All these online tools can be used constructively by the teachers to develop teaching materials and the learners to improve their language skills. This paper addresses the effectiveness of learning language components such as Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Vocabulary skills through mobile applications and online tools. The various discussions, debates, presentations and activities done by the learners based on the online content i.e., videos, web links, you tube links and materials designed by the teacher stand as testimonies to this. The study was conducted on 24 language learners of engineering program and this paper is based on qualitative research to investigate the views learners hold about using mobiles in classrooms. It critically examines the factors responsible for the usefulness of mobiles over the conventional modes of teaching and learning. The study shows that learners have learnt better through mobiles.
Key words: ICT, podcasts, Learning environment, Mobile applications, teaching materials.
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