An English Vocabulary Learning APP with Self-Regulated Learning Mechanism for Promoting Learning Performance and Motivation

Recently, the popularity of the smart handheld devices has affected the way people learn English. There have been varieties of English vocabulary learning assisted APPs developed to enlarge learners' English vocabulary size in mobile learning context. However, the ability of learners' self-regulated learning (SRL) is an important factor affecting learning performance in autonomously learning English vocabulary by using mobile APPs. Therefore, this study develops an English vocabulary learning APP with self-regulated learning mechanism (EVLAPP-SRLM) to aid learners improve their SRL abilities, hoping to further promote their learning performance and motivation in mobile learning context. To evaluate the performance of the proposed EVLAPP-SRLM, this study randomly recruited a total of 46 Grade 5 students from two classes in an elementary school of Taoyuan City, Taiwan who used English as a foreign language (EFL) to participate in the experiment. The two classes were randomly assigned as the experimental and control groups respectively using the EVLAPP-SRLM and the English vocabulary learning APP without self-regulated learning mechanism (EVLAPP-NSRLM) to support English vocabulary learning during the period of two weeks. Experimental results show that learners in the experimental group perform significantly better learning performance and motivation than those in the control group.