Text Input and Editing as a Bottleneck in Mobile Devices for Language Learning

The introduction of mobile telephone technology has been accompanied by a surge of activity in MAL (Mobile Assisted Learning) and MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning). The convenience, access, ubiquity, and flexibility of mobile devices is starting to have an impact not only on the provision of technology-enhanced language learning, but also on the materials which it generates, including JIT (Just In Time) learning, undertaken for short periods as opportunities present themselves during the course of the day. The situation has recently been compounded by the release of a number of tablets, which are situated between mobile phones and laptops. The multimedia experience of MALL, especially its capability to handle authentic audio and video, have made it an attractive and potentially powerful component of the language learning experience. However, the benefits of MALL are-as with other mobile technologies like the tablet-emphatically on the access and consumption side. Mobile phones have some, but restricted, usefulness for practising speaking. But most of all, they have complex and somewhat compromised capacities for writing (for text input and editing). This chapter examines the technical, ergonomic, and cognitive implications for MALL for text input and editing with special reference to the mobile phone, but also in relation to tablets where they are relevant to the argument. It examines a number of options and their implications, and it presents a set of specifications which, if met, will allow mobile devices and MALL to play a fuller role in the writing aspect of language learning.

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