THE USE OF MOBILE DEVICES IN LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES:SURVEY OF A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

The increase use of mobile devices has made learning more accessible and e-resources easily shared. Therefore, students are moving away from browser based Web environment into the mobile app-centric world. The study investigates the use of mobile devices in learning foreign languages in Afe Babalola University. Four research questions guided the study and the data collection instrument used was structured questionnaire, the study adopted survey research method. The finding shows that respondents use Android phones, iPhone and iPad in learning foreign languages. They have a good knowledge of Chinese, French and English languages through the use of mobile devices. Majority of the respondents acknowledge the high impact of mobile device in learning foreign languages. The respondents revealed that limited access to Wi-Fi in the institution and poor interface and memory capacity of mobile devices are their major challenges. The study recommends that academic institution should endeavour to provide adequate access to Wi-Fi connection, in order to enable easy access to Internet and students are also urge to buy mobile devices with high memory capacity so that it can enable them download heavy apps centered on learning