Integrating Flash Cards with Narratives for Mobile Learning of English Vocabulary

Abstract

The world has seen a rapid development in mobile devices in recent years. Mobile devices have the advantage of immediacy and convenience. Their uses are not restricted to desktops and classrooms. Many assisted learning systems run on mobile devices. These systems give students the opportunity to learn anytime and anywhere. Language learning is one of the key research issues underlying the development of such systems. There are many ways to use mobile devices to teaching English. This includes the use of pictured flash card to learn English vocabulary, a teaching approach that has been shown to be effective. In the current research, an assisted learning system was developed for learning English vocabulary. It combines pictured flash cards with stories. The goal was to see whether the addition of stories to pictured flash cards for learning English vocabulary could have a significant effect on learning motivation, learning achievement, and anxiety. As the result of an associated educational experiment showed, students generally agreed with the use of such a system to help them learn English vocabulary, and they also made use of leisure time to learn. Compared to students using “plain” pictured flash card for learning, students using pictured flash cards with stories had a significantly lower level of anxiety, and they also learn better as far as learning motivation and achievement were concerned.