The Future of Education

Most students nowadays carry wireless mobile phones, small computers graphics, iPads and many other technological aids. Many of the students panic of the writing tasks especially when such tasks are pen and paper task because of the linguistic complexity of these tasks.  Moreover, some of the students frequently complain that as  soon as they pick up their pencils, their minds go blank. Also some of them fear of the mistakes that they might make in spelling, grammar , mechanics or vocabulary when start writing their tasks. Now it is chance for the students to enjoy ungraded  classroom writing in English using their small electronic devices i.e. mobile phones. A teacher of language should encourage his/her students to SMS each other formally and informally.

This research aims at investigating the value of using their mobile phones ( MP)  in language classroom. It also seeks to find answers to the questions which are raised to examine the actual utilization of the mobile phones in teaching and learning writing in the language classroom .

1-     Do students find the technique of using mobile phones (hereafter MP) as good learning tools  in writing?

2-     Can the use of the MP in the language classroom enhance students' academic writing skill?

The subjects for this study were native speakers of Arabic. They were  not studying English as a major subject of specialization. They were third year university students, studying economics at Alsmaria University, during the academic year of (2013/2014). The total number of the subjects was (30) students.

The tool used in this study was an open questionnaire . This questionnaire consisted of two questions. The mode of the questionnaire used in this study was  of two types: a paper-and- pencil questionnaire administration and a mobile phone devices.  In the first type of the questionnaire, the students were asked to write their messages on their mobile phones. Then, the students were asked  to read what they have typed . For peer correction, students were asked to write what they have typed on the white board; whereas, in the second type of the questionnaire, students were requested to  answer three questions designed by  the teacher to know whether  the technique of using MP beneficial or not .

The results showed that  such techniques help students overcome their anxiety about writing, particularly at the initial stage. It also revealed that using mobile phones in writing ungraded tasks help students to use English in both inside and outside classroom. Findings have also indicated  that 70% of the students find this technique(SMS) more helpful and  it makes them enhance the linguistic features.