Mobile-assisted Language Learning
in Islamic Higher Education: Integrating Mobile Phone use in
Classroom Activities
Rully Agung Yudhiantara, Andang Saihu and Agus Salim Mansyur
UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jl. A.H. Nasution no 105, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: English Language Learning, English Language Teaching, Mobile- Assisted Language Learning, Mobile
Phone, Islamic Higher Education.
Abstract: Mobile phone has been studied in its connection with education-related activities by many researchers for
more than a decade. In Indonesian Islamic higher education context, Mobile-Assisted Language Learning
(MALL) has not been discussed extensively. This study is aimed at investigating mobile phone use for
English Language Learning (ELL) activities. This study employed qualitative method using case study. It
used observation to collect data concerning mobile phone integration in ELL activities. This study found
that students were able to integrate mobile phone use to support ELL activities in the classroom. This is to
say that there were many features that students seized from mobile phone to assist ELL activities. These
activities could be done by their mobile phone assistance that served as learning tool. This effort serves as
an introduction toward MALL implementation in Indonesian Islamic Higher Education (IHE). This study
shows that mobile phone can be tailored for supporting ELL activities when the device is appropriately
integrated. Mobile phone should be integrated in order to gain its benefit to support ELL activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mobile phone has been investigated by English
Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and researchers in
term of their benefit and advantages for English
Language Learning (ELL) and English Language
Teaching (ELT) activities. Its integration in ELT
classes have been studied and published by many
scholarly journals.
Several studies investigated mobile phone
integration and its promising benefits in educational
activities. Mobile phone can be used to access
material for learning or education-related activities
(Lee et al., 2013). Other studies reported that It is
used to support reading skill and support students’
learning process for foreign language classes
(Plester et al., 2009).
To date, the studies concerning mobile phone use
in Indonesian Islamic Higher Education (IHE) is
rarely discussed among researcher in Indonesian
scholarly journal especially. This study is intended
to address this gap. It seeks to explore how students
use mobile phone to support ELL activities in the
classroom.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Mobile Phone Integration
Mobile phone integration for education-related
activities has been investigated in many studies. A
study found that its integration promoted the so-
called ubiquitous learning (Lee et al., 2013). Its
integration offered advantages for reading skill and
supported learning process in foreign language
classes (Plester et al., 2009). It also provided
students opportunities to regulate and maintain their
progress in ELL activities (Sha et al. 2012).
2.2 Mobile Phone Features
Mobile phone with all its feature were investigated
in many published scholarly articles. Camera feature
in mobile phone assisted learning process. This
feature was tailored to support learning process (Bull
and Thompson 2004). Audio video feature helped
students created podcast that were beneficial in
learning process (Smythe and Neufeld 2010). Video
recording has been proven to serve as digital
Yudhiantara, R., Saihu, A. and Mansyur, A.
Mobile-assisted Language Learning in Islamic Higher Education: Integrating Mobile Phone use in Classroom Activities.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 2, pages 229-232
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
229

learning tools among students in learning language
(Gromik, 2012).
A study reported that mobile phone features like
messaging service existence assisted to maintain
communication (Markett et al., 2006). Another study
found that mobile phone features helped students to
produce their portfolio and support students’
improvisation and creation (Liu et al., 2015).
2.3 Previous Research
A study conducted by Al-Fahd (2009) found that
student was ready to integrate their mobile phone for
ELL activities. Mobile learning can be effective in
supporting ELL. In a larger scale for mobile phone
integration in schools, Pegrum et al. (2013) found
that students were ready to join and accomplish task
by using mobile phone for classroom related work.
As digital native, students welcome mobile phone
integration to support classroom-related work.
Kee and Samsudin (2014) reported that in
Malaysian schools, participants viewed that mobile
phone facilitated mobility for learning that enabled
them to access material for learning anywhere and
anytime. This condition supports the so-called
ubiquitous learning. In Iran, Khabiri and Khatibi
(2013) studied mobile phone use practices among
EFL Learners in university level. The study reported
that mobile phone offered many promising features
which were open to explore by the EFL teachers for
delivering ELL activities for university students. In
Nigeria also revealed similar findings concerning
mobile phone use. The study revealed that mobile
phone integration promoted reading habit for EFL
students (Oyewusi and Ayanlola 2014).
From the aforementioned previous studies,
there is a little literature reporting MALL
implementation particularly in mobile phone
integration for ELL in Indonesian Islamic Higher
Education (IHE). This study tries to fill in the gap by
investigating mobile phone integration to support
ELL activities in Indonesian IHE.
3 RESEARCH METHOD
This study applied case study to investigate students’
engagement on mobile phone use to support ELL
activities in classroom. The study involved 40
participants from Islamic Religion education
department, Tarbiyah Faculty. They took English
subject delivered in second semester of 2016-2017
academic year.
Observation was applied in this study to collect
data concerning students’ engagement in using
mobile phone to assist ELL activities. The data
collected in this study were described and
categorized. Interpretation to data was applied in
order to comprehend the findings and the literature
review.
4 FINDING
This study was aimed at investigating students’ use
of mobile phone to support ELL in classroom
activities. Participants in this study exhibited their
ability to integrate mobile phone to support ELL
activities in their classroom. Mobile phone
integration took part in students’ use of following
features:
4.1 PDF Reader Application
This application can be run in students’ mobile
phone. Their mobile phone can be used to store pdf
file that they received from lecturer. They operated
their mobile phone to read English material that they
were studying in the classroom.
Students in each meeting operated their mobile
phone to read material in form of PDF. They found
mobile phone helpful to assist ELL activities.
Example of opinion expressed by student is as
follows:
“It is easier to operate mobile phone in reading
English material, no need to use computer”.
4.2 Audio Video Player
This feature which was built in students’ mobile
phone helped student in ELL activities to play video
file for listening. Students were given video and
podcast which was supplementary material for
English subject. They practiced listening skill from
this feature by playing podcast operated in their
mobile phone. A student commented as follows:
“My mobile phone allows me to play audio file,
this gadget is beneficial for ELL activities especially
for listening skill”.
4.3 Camera Feature
Mobile phone camera feature was helpful to assist
student ELL activities. This feature facilitated
students to take a picture of their assignment that
they were doing before reporting it to their lecturer.
Many pictures and words that were relevant to ELL
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
230

activities were supported by this feature. A student
commented as follows:
“Camera feature facilitates me to take picture of
my assignment and project. I can store my file in
form of picture by using this mobile phone”.
4.4 Video Recorder Feature
Feature of video recorder helped students to produce
project that their lecturer asked them to accomplish.
Students created short video that featured their
speaking skill performance. a student commented as
follows:
“I can use my mobile phone to record our group
project for making short video, this is really
helpful”.
5 DISCUSSION
English language learning in Indonesian IHE has
been discussed in several scholarly articles for
example writing skill (Ekawati et al., 2017);
listening skill (Saehu, 2016); students’ learning style
preference (Muhtar, 2015); ELT development
(Sajidin, 2013).
Concerning MALL implementation, this study
found that students possessed gadget which they
brought daily to classroom. students and gadget
were inseparable to some extent because they belong
to digital natives (Lenhart, 2012). In ELT context,
this circumstance should be tailored by EFL teachers
to support ELL activities (Yudhiantara and Nasir,
2017).
PDF Reader which was installed in students’
mobile phone facilitated them for ELL activities. It
assisted students to read English reading material.
The study revealed that mobile phone helped
students learn reading and vocabulary (Plester et al.,
2009). This is to say that mobile phone served as a
learning tool in the 21st century (Kee and Samsudin,
2014). Mobile phone in this study serves as
educational technology that assists student’s learning
process. Educational technology assisted students’
learning process in Islamic education institution
(Wekke and Hamid, 2012).
Audio video feature helped students play files in
their mobile phone. It was proven in this study that
the feature was helpful. Mobile phone integration
assisted students learning process in listening skill
(Smythe and Neufeld, 2010).
Camera feature helped students take picture of
their project and assignment. This finding supports
previous research that revealed mobile phone
integration benefit. Feature of camera can be tailored
to assist learning process (Bull and Thompson,
2004).
Video recorder which were available in students’
mobile phone could be explored to create project of
short video. This is in line with the previous study
that reported video recorder was helpful to assist
learning process (Gromik, 2012).
6 CONCLUSIONS
This study investigated mobile phone integration to
support ELL activities in Indonesian IHE. To
summarize, there were various activities which were
assisted by mobile phone integration in ELL
classroom. This was made possible by the existence
of several features like: Reading pdf file, playing
audio file, capturing picture of assignment and
creating video project.
This study provides insight for teachers in ELT
to integrate their mobile phone to support students
ELL activities in classroom. This study is qualitative
in nature. Future study may apply experimental to
investigate the effectiveness of mobile phone
integration to support ELL activities in IHE.
REFERENCES
Al-Fahd, F., 2009. 'Students' Attitude and Perception
Toward the Effectiveness of Mobile Learning in King
Saud University, Saudi Arabia'. The Turkish Online
Journal of Educational Technology. (8) 2, pp. 111-
119.
Bull, G., Thompson, A., 2004. Establishing Framework
for Digital Images in the School Curriculum. Leading
and Learning with Technology. (31) 8, pp. 14-17.
Ekawati, D., Muhtar, S. N., Dalimunthe, R. N. R.,
Kurniwati, N., 2017. Developing EFL Students'
Descriptive Writing Through Alternative Joint
Construction. 44th ISFC, The Organising Committee
of the 44th International Systemic Functional
Congress, Wollongong, Wolonggong.
Gromik, N. A., 2012. Cell Phone Video Recording Feature
as a Language Learning Tool: A Case Study.
Computer and Education. pp. 223-230.
Kee, C. L., Samsudin, Z., 2014. Mobile Devices: Toys or
Learning Tools for the 21st Century Teenagers?.
TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology. (13) 3, pp. 107-122.
Khabiri, M., Khatibi, M. B., 2013. Mobile-Assisted
Language Learning: Practices Among Iranian EFL
Learners. European Online Journal of Natural and
Social Science. (2) 2, pp. 176-190.
Mobile-assisted Language Learning in Islamic Higher Education: Integrating Mobile Phone use in Classroom Activities
231

Lee, H., Lee, W. B., Kweon, S. C., 2013. Conjoint
Analysis for Mobile Devices for Ubiquitous Learning
in Higher Education: The Korean Case. TOJET. (12)
1.
Lenhart, A., 2012. Teens, Smartphone and Texting. Pew
Research Centre's Internet and American Life Project,
Washington.
Liu, M., Scordio, R., Renata, G., Navarete, C., Yujung, K.,
Lim, M., 2015. A Look at Research on Mobile
Learning in K-12 Education from 2007 to the Present.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education. (46)
4, pp. 325-372.
Markett, C., Sanchez, I. A., Weber, S., Tangey, B., 2006.
Using Short Message Service to Encourage
Interactivity in the Classroom. Computers and
Education. pp. 280-293.
Muhtar, S. N., 2015. A Study of Learning Style
Preferences of All Female University Level. Eltin
Journal. 2(1).
Oyewusi, F., Ayanlola, A. O., 2014, Effect on Mobile
Phone Use on Reading Habit of Private Secondary
School Student in Oyo State Nigeria. School Libraries
Worldwide. (20) 1, pp. 116-127.
Pegrum, M., Oakley, G., Faulkner, R., 2013. Schools
Going Mobile: A Study of the Adoption of Mobile
Handheld Technologies in Western Australian
Independent Schools. Australian Journal of
Educational Technology. (29) 1.
Plester, B., Wood, C., Joshi, P., 2009. Exploring the
Relationship Between Children's Knowledge of Text
Message Abbreviation and School Literacy Outcomes.
British Journal of Developmental Psycholog. (27) 1,
pp. 145-161.
Saehu, A., 2016. An Overview of Teaching Listening in
Islamic Tertiary Level of Education. Jurnal
Pendidikan Islam. (2) 3, pp. 499-516.
Sajidin, 2013. Developing an English Language Teaching
(ELT) Integrating Life Skills. SNEP (Seminar
Nasional Evaluasi Pendidikan) I. Universitas Negeri
Semarang, Semarang.
Sha, L., Looi, C., Chen, W., Zhang, B. H., 2012.
Understanding MObile Learning from the Perspective
of Self-Regulated Learning. Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning. (28) 4, pp. 366-378.
Smythe, S., Neufeld, P., 2010. Podcast Time, Negotiating
Digital Literacies and Communities of Learning in a
Middle Years ELL Classroom Journal of Adolescent
and Adult Literacy. (53) 6, pp. 488-496.
Wekke, I. S., Hamid, S., 2012. Technology on Language
Teaching and Learning: A Research on Indonesian
Pesantren. 2nd World Conference on Educational
Technology Research, Proceedia Social and
Behavioral Science.
Yudhiantara, R. A., Nasir, I. A., 2017. Toward Mobile-
Assisted Language Learning (MALL): Reaping
Mobile Phone Benefits in Classroom Activities.
Register Journal. (10) 1, pp. 12-28.
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
232