2017 IJRSET – Volume 6 Issue 1
Author/s:
Ashiyan, Zahra
English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran (zahra_ashiyan@yahoo.com)
Salehi, Hadi*
English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran (Hadisalehi1358@yahoo.com)
Abstract:
WhatsApp is a smartphone application for instant messaging and its unique feature is the ability to enhance communication, promote the social atmosphere, stimulate sharing among students, and act as a learning platform. The present study attempts to compare male and female students’ English collocation learning who utilized WhatsApp as a mobile application in learning them. Thus, to access the focused objective, Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was conducted to both male and female in a language institute. Therefore, after administrating the mentioned test, a sample of 60 male and female EFL learners was selected. Hence, the selective participants were judged as intermediate learners in the test. In order to check the reliability of the collocation pretest, the test was pilot studied on 15 learners. Then, the two genders of participants in experimental group were suggested to use WhatsApp in order to practice and repeat the collocations. However, the male and female participants in control group received collocations instruction through the conventional method. After treatment, both groups were examined by a posttest. Accordingly, the findings showed that WhatsApp was an effective way for improving collocation learning regardless of gender and that using WhatsApp to acquisition of collocations is not gender specific. This enquiry also has prepared pedagogical implications for using WhatsApp as an ICT tool in learning a second language.
Keywords: mobile application; WhatsApp; collocations; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Iranian EFL learners; Social Networking Sites (SNSs)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrset.2016.1615
*Corresponding Author