English Language Learners' Reading Self-Efficacy and
Achievement
Using Individual Mobile Learning Devices
Jennifer Walters
Abstract
Handheld technology devices allow users to be mobile and access the Internet, personal data, and third-party content applications in many different environments and at the users' convenience. The explosion of these mobile learning devices around the globe has led adults to value them for productivity and learning. Outside of the school setting, many adolescents and children have access to or own mobile devices. The use of these individual devices by children on a daily basis in schools is a relatively new phenomenon, with just four percent of elementary students doing so within classrooms in 2010. This mixed methods study proposes to study a one-to-one implementation of iPod Touch™ devices in elementary classrooms. The focus is to understand the mobile learning device's relationship to English language learner students' reading self-efficacy, to understand the relationship to English language learners' reading achievement, and to understand benefits and limitations of the devices as perceived by fourth- and fifth grade-English Language learner students. The theory of action of this study is that the practice of reading and related literacy activities on mobile learning devices may augment English learners' vicarious learning experiences, and thereby effect student cognitive engagement, reading self-efficacy, and reading academic performance.