2014 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Language apps for mobile learning
| Project/Area Number |
26370669
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| Research Institution | Kochi University of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
ダニエルズ ポール 高知工科大学, 工学部, 教授 (50307245)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
熊井 信弘 学習院大学, 付置研究所, 教授 (00248999)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | mobile / language / learning / CALL / speaking |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The first stage of the application development was successfully implemented. Four applications (VideoBoard, SlideShow, VoiceShadow & Speaking Assessment) were developed as Moodle plugins. In addition, a standalone Android app, a computerized speaking practice application, was developed as an experimental project. The applications are currently being tested with language teachers and learners, and bugs are being resolved. The most recent versions of these open source applications were made available to the public at GitHub https://github.com/spnova?tab=repositories. The researchers have also developed the applications to be accessible from mobile devices such as Apple iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Rather than developing native iOS or Android mobile apps, the researchers opted to develop web-based apps which are accessed via a standard web browser.
The applications are already proving to be useful tools for capturing and evaluating spoken language in the classroom. A preliminary investigation into Google’s Web Speech API has also been beneficial in capturing and saving live speech that can then be converted to text for either human or computerized assessment.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The development of the applications started early and the testing and improvements went smoothly due to effective communication among the researchers and software developers. Because the applications were developed as *Moodle Plugins, setting up the online speaking activities was rather straightforward for teachers. Both instructors and learners found the interface easy to use.
*Moodle is a popular course management system used a many universities around the world.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In 2015 the researchers will continue testing the apps with instructors and students while also collecting empirical data on the usefulness of the apps for language teaching.
Several improvements with the applications themselves are also being carried out. The most significant improvement is the use of a JavaScript getUserMedia() API for web-based media capture. The next step will be to incorporate this web-based media capture technique into all of the 4 language learning applications.
The researchers also plan to hold workshops both within our universities and with professional language teaching organizations to demonstrate the features of the speaking applications.
Finally the researcher will continue to share their research involving online speaking practice at both national and international academic conferences.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to sufficient departmental funding, travel and conference fee expenses were paid for using institutional funding. Therefore not all of the JSPS income was used in 2014.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
The incurred amount will be used to further improve the language learning applications in 2015.
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[Presentation] Mobile learning in the EFL classroom2014
Author(s)
Paul Daniels
Organizer
JALT2014 Annual International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning
Place of Presentation
Tsukuba International Congress Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Year and Date
2014-11-21 – 2014-11-21
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