These are the slides from my IATEFL 2014 conference workshop on how mobile devices are changing our students' study skills and whether these changes are effective or ineffective, with suggestions on teacher intervention.

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Effective learning: the when and how of mobiles
Lindsay Warwick

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Discussion
Do you agree that mobile phones are
changing the way that students learn and
approach their studies today?
If yes, how? If no, why not?

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Today’s session
Research skills
Note-taking skills
Attention/Retention

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Research skills: using a dictionary
80% use a dictionary on their
mobile.
62% use only a mobile.
43% use a translator.
31% use only a translator.

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Google Translate

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Dictionaries: discussion
What information do you think students need from a
dictionary? Why?
Do you think a translator is sufficient for language
learning? Why/Why not?

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Dictionaries: research
Better retention comes from deeper and more
elaborate processing of words. (Hulstijn, 1993)
The greater the attention paid to the multiplicity of
information available, the better the retention. (Laufer
& Hill, 2000)
Electronic dictionaries do not affect word retention or
reading comprehension significantly but may result in
less use of inference. (Kobayashi, 2007)

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Dictionaries: raising awareness
Olha, que coisa mais linda, Mais cheia de
graça, É ela, menina, que vem e que
passa, Num doce balanço, a caminho do mar.
Moça do corpo dourado, Do sol de Ipanema, O
seu balançado É mais que um poema
É a coisa mais linda Que eu já vi
passar

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Dictionaries: raising awareness
Look, what more beautiful thing, full of More
grace, she's girl that comes and
goes, In a sweet swing, the way the sea.
Girl of the Golden Body, From the sun of Ipanema, The
It swung its more than a poem
It's the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen
pass

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Dictionaries: raising awareness
Class research:
• Group 1: dictionary; Group 2: translator.
• Students complete same reading comprehension
task.
• An hour later, give the students a vocabulary test.
• Share the results.

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Dictionaries: raising awareness
Which tool when?
• A word appears frequently in your coursebook.
• You need a word to explain an idea you have to someone.
• You don’t understand a word on a shop sign.
• Your teacher wants you to try and use a word you don’t
understand.
• You’re writing a text about your everyday life and don’t know
a word you need.
• There’s a word you don’t know in a text but it’s not important
for meaning.

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Dictionaries: raising awareness
Justify yourself!
“I think that using [insert dictionary type here] is
best for me because...”

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Note-taking: my research
97% of students take notes by
hand.
Only 6 students of 61 use their
phone to take notes.
64% have used their camera
phone to take a photo of the
board.

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Note-taking: discussion
How have you taken notes during this conference?
What will you do with them?
What do you consider effective note-taking in your
classroom? Is taking a photo of the board
effective?

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Would you
consider
these
student’s
notes
to be
effective?
Why/Why
not?

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Note-taking: research
Taking notes is an important part of memorising
information and results in better immediate and
delayed recall. (Kiewra, 1987)

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Note-taking: research
A later review of notes helps information move into
long-term memory. (Slotte & Lonka, 2001)
Rewriting notes to summarise them is more effective
than highlighting which is more effective than simply
re-reading them. (Kiewra et al, 1995)

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Note-taking: research
Students who took notes using their cameras
retained information as well as students who took
notes by hand at the end of the lesson.
(Anzai, 2014)
Students who took notes using their cameras
retained information better after one week.
(Anzai, 2013)

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Take a pic!

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Note-taking: training
First
conditional
Second
conditional
Two
clauses

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Note-taking: training
In class or homework review tasks:
Graphic organisers: Venn diagram/Table/Spidergram
Highlight the key points
What’s similar/different to your language?
What’s easy or difficult for you?
Spot the mistakes in the summary
Summarise the ‘rule’ yourself

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Attention/Retention: discussion
Are your students
distracted by their
phones?
How do you deal with
that?

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Attention/Retention: research
The average US college student checks their
mobile phone 11 times a day in class.
80% said phones interfere with learning.
Less than 5% said it is a big distraction.
(Huffington Post)

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Attention/Retention: my research
48% have sent a text or chatted
online in class.
41% believe that this can stop
you from learning.
28% say that this doesn’t stop
them learning because they don’t
do it at important times.

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Attention/Retention: research
Dr Larry Rosen:
Students are distracted every two – three minutes. Distractions
include technology.
The more students used technology, the worse their grades.
One visit to facebook every 15 minutes resulted in a worse
grade.
People get anxious if they can’t check their phone.

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Attention/Retention: research
In one
study, students who
didn’t use mobiles
took 62% more
notes and got a
grade and a half
higher on a test.
(Kuznekoff &
Titsworth, 2013)

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Attention/Retention: the solution?
A technology break!

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Effective learning: the when and how of mobiles
lindsay.warwick@bellenglish.com