Despite the rapid advancement of mobile devices and wireless technology, learners’ successful use of technology can be determined by different factors (Rahimi
& Katal, 2012). In other words, the use of technology alone is insufficient to ensure success in learning, and learners’ readiness for and perception of using technology to learn should also be taken into consideration (Wagner, 2005). The influence of learners’ readiness to use technology to learn has been investigated in previous
research. Balog˘lu and Çevik (2008) investigated the effect of learner’s computer ownership on their computer anxiety; Hew & Brush (2007) identified the barriers and strategies of technology integration in terms of availability of technological tools/applications; learners’ attitudes towards using technology for educational purposes were found to be influential in Teo (2008); Poynton (2005) reported that technology familiarity was significantly related to higher scores for tests; Torkzadeh and Van Dyke’s (2002) study suggested that learners’ attitudes were related to their Internet self-efficacy.
Technology readiness (TR) refers to “people’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies to accomplish goals in home life and at work” (Parasuraman, 2000, p. 308). According to Schreurs, Sammour and Ehler (2008), readiness also includes learners’ capability to adjust themselves to technological changes, collaborative training and synchronous as well as asynchronous self-paced training. Learners’
motivation and discipline to learn in a self-driven mode and to respond to online instructions can also influence their readiness for learning with technology (Schreurs
et al., 2008). Therefore, before integrating new technology into curricula, educational
practitioners and instructors may have to make sure that learners are ready for it.The use of Internet-based education technologies (e-learning) has become widespread in learning institutions (Walls, Kucsera, Walker, Acee, McVaugh, &
Robinson, 2010). Nowadays, users can have access to the Internet not only through desktop computers but with their mobile devices as well. Learners today are used to exploring information and engage themselves in any networking globally with mobile technology (Rahamat, Shah, Puteh, Aziz, Nordin, & Embi, 2012). Therefore, e-learning has been evolving towards the use of mobile technology to learn (m-learning) (Cavus & Uzunboylu, 2009). According to Evans (2008), mobile learning (m-learning) uses wireless technologies to make educational activities more portable and more accessible in terms of time and place.
However, for teenagers, these devices were mainly used for socializing or entertainment most of the time. Thus, whether learners are really ready and eager to explore the new path of using these mobile technologies for learning can be an issue worth investigating. Recent studies have been done to probe into the readiness for and attitudes towards using mobile technologies to learn. Learners’ readiness and attitudes towards two different forms of podcasting, repetitive and supplemental, were examined (Walls et al., 2010). The researchers found that learners might not be as ready for educational podcasting as educators or instructors had thought. Learners reported that they used the players for music, rather than educational purposes, which was consistent with the findings of previous research on podcasting (Evans, 2008;
Malan, 2007). The finding of the “unfamiliarity” might be derived from the lack of
exposure that students had with podcasting in their personal lives. They concluded that educators may have to begin to introduce not only digital media players, but also the association of using these devices for educational purposes and the technology of podcasting in general.
A survey was conducted by Abas, Peng and Mansor (2009) with the attempt to determine the readiness for m-learning of the learners from Open University Malaysia (OUM). The researchers asked questions as the indication for the readiness for m-learning, such as the extent of ownership of a mobile phone, willingness to buy a new mobile device and preparedness to subscribe to additional mobile services, types of materials they would like to receive and their perceptions about being a mobile learner. The study revealed that the OUM learners were willing to pay to a certain degree for buying new mobile devices to facilitate m-learning, while about 45% of the learners were reluctant to subscribe to additional services that could enable m-learning. On the preferred type of materials for m-learning, a high percentage of learners would prefer to listen to the OUM print-based modules rather than reading them. As working adults, most OUM learners probably would like to utilize their time by listening to their modules while commuting and/or waiting for services to be rendered to them. As for the perception of m-learning, it can be concluded that the learners generally viewed mobile learning as an effective learning way in term of time management, flexibility and motivation of learning.
Later, Rahamat, Shah, Din, and Aziz (2011) explored learners’ readiness and perceptions towards using mobile technologies for learning the English language literature components in school. The results showed that the learners were technologically, economically and competently prepared for the use of ICT in learning.
The high percentages of positive responses revealed that they were ready for using mobile devices as learning tools. The analysis of the questions about the learners’
perceptions for different uses and types of mobile devices shows that the students had positive reactions to using the devices for learning, socializing and searching for information.
Learners’ readiness can be divided into different areas to be examined.
According to Psycharis (2005), learners’ readiness can be classified according to (1) technological readiness with regard to the technological devices owned and the way they are being used; (2) economic readiness, which concerns their willingness to use the learning package designed for them involving the use of their mobile devices; and (3) the human readiness, which is related to their knowledge and skills in using their mobile devices. Furthermore, Hussin, Manap, Amir, and Krish (2012) analyzed and interpreted Malaysian college students’ responses for four areas of readiness, i.e., basic readiness, skills readiness, psychological readiness, and budget readiness in
relation to mobile learning. For basic readiness, the survey probed into the respondents’ readiness to m-learning by looking at the mobile facilities they had. The findings showed that every respondent had a mobile phone and the most of their devices had already had the basic requirements to engage in m-learning, such as 3G/4G services, MMS service, video call service, and support for multimedia files. As for learners’ skills and experience in using mobile technologies such as sending/receiving e-mails and accessing social networking sites like Facebook, the high percentages of positive responses indicated that the respondents had necessary skills to embark in m-learning and might find it convenient and comfortable to learn with mobile technologies. When it comes to the psychological readiness for mobile learning, the respondents showed mixed reactions. Although the high percentages of positive responses depicted their perceived readiness for m-learning, the number of respondents who were ready for m-learning was below 50%. In addition, the result also showed that the respondents still preferred conventional learning over m-learning.
The findings indicate that learners’ psychological readiness might have been influenced by uncertainties as they had never had any experience in m-learning.
Finally, the responses to the questions about the financial issues showed that the learners were uncertain about the cost of the adoption of m-learning. They might not afraid to pay more money for m-learning engagement, but they were not sure how much they would pay for it. In a word, the learners in the study welcomed and were ready for m-learning in terms of their basic skills and experience in using mobile technologies, while they might not be psychologically or financially ready for instant implement of m-learning in their universities.
Among the research related to the success of learning with technologies, some focused on exploring the issue of psychological attributes such as metacognition or the control of cognitive processes (Rahimi & Katal, 2012). Learners develop an understanding or perception about how their mind functions (Flavell, 1976). This is also true when they learn with technologies. Sánchez-Alonso and Vovides (2007) proposed a Learning Management System that could select and recommend tasks designed for the development and/or improvement of the learners’ metacognitive skills within the context of e-learning, so that learners could reflect, understand, and control their own learning. According to Antonietti, Colombo, and Lozotsev (2008), in technology-enhanced environments, metacognitive knowledge facilitated learners’
successful learning in terms of the discrimination of different technological tools, the selection of the relevant device concerning the goals to be achieved, and further use of the chosen tool in the proper way for more efficient learning.
Furthermore, in Rahimi and Katal’s (2012) study, both the EFL learners’
perceived readiness and their metacognitive listening strategies awareness in learning
with podcast technology were investigated. The five types of metacognitive listening strategies used in the study were problem-solving, planning and evaluation, mental translation, person knowledge, and directed attention (Vandergrift et al., 2006).
Different questionnaires were used to assess learners’ awareness and perceived use of metacognitive listening strategies and their readiness to use podcasting in terms of familiarity, attitude, and experience. Information on participants’ frequency of podcasting use for learning English, frequency of the use of the Internet, and digital device ownership was also obtained. The results of the analysis revealed that podcasting use was also found to be highly related to perceived readiness and Internet use hours. Furthermore, learners’ readiness was also significantly related to all five types of metacognitive listening strategies awareness and Internet use hours. Also, podcasting use for language learning was found to be significantly related to metacognitive listening strategies awareness which was essential in using this technology for educational purposes (Tsai & Tsai, 2003). The researchers concluded that two strategies, problem solving and person knowledge, were found to have a high predictive value for podcasting use by EFL learners, while other three strategies were not good predictors for EFL learning with podcasting. In a word, in technology-based learning environments, educators and instructors should investigate more about learners’ readiness and strategy awareness for learning with technologies. Surveys may need to be conducted to detect the reasons for learners’ willingness/avoidance of using podcasting or other mobile devices for educational purposes.
CHAPTER THREE METHODS
This chapter explicitly describes the overall research design in three sections:
participants, instruments, and procedures. The data collected in the pilot study was analyzed with principal component analysis (PCA) to make the questionnaires for the main study. The five questionnaires adapted and developed for the main study are Demographic Information Questionnaire, Metacognitive Vocabulary Learning Strategy Awareness Questionnaire, Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), and Mobile Vocabulary and Listening Learning Readiness Questionnaires.