Exploring EFL Graduate Students’ Attitudes toward, and Use of, Mobile Phones in Language Learning

Mobile phones offer unique opportunities for learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to boost their language skills. Many studies have investigated the use of mobile applications in language learning, but little research has dealt with EFL graduate students. This study is an attempt to explore graduate EFL students' attitudes toward the use of mobile phones in language learning and to shed light on the problems students face when using their mobile phones for language learning. For data collection, a 25-item questionnaire was developed and circulated online to 70 graduate EFL students at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. The results showed that students' attitudes were positive, and there was a significant difference in attitudes in favour of female students. Also, the results revealed that most of the informants frequently use mobile phones, and also, there was a significant difference in favour of females. Additionally, the results showed that some students use smartphones effectively without facing any problems, whereas the majority of students face various challenges such as technical difficulties, the small size of the screen, distraction, becoming less patient, and getting tired. The findings indicated that further research is needed to scrutinize all these problems, with particular emphasis on health problems and distraction.