Gender Difference in Language Learning with Technology

Abstract

Nowadays, mobile-assisted technology has been widely adopted to promote learning outcomes in various realms. This study sought to determine how gender affects students in evaluation of the use of mobile-assisted tools, such as Kahoot!, Socrative and Classdojo on English learning. It involved in 143 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a junior college in southern Taiwan. Regarding to feedback about the use of Kahoot!, female students strongly agreed its benefits than male students, especially in helping organize important information from reading texts. Compared to Kahoot!, female students felt less stressful than males because they can respond to questions via Socrative by their own speed. In addition, females showed higher agreement than males that everyone is required to answer questions helps them check their comprehension. In terms of overall perception of using mobile-assisted tools, students showed positive attitudes of using them in reading courses. The finding is interesting that females reported higher agreement and expectation in various situations than males on learning with mobile-assisted tools. For instance, females showed more positive perceptions than that of male students on helping them pay more attention in lectures, perform better learning outcomes, build confidences to study well in class and receive better scores on exams, understand the lectures well, and monitor their learning performance instantly. Despite of benefits of mobile-assisted tools in education, another important element for such tools on creating effective and efficient teaching is the ease of use, which reduces both teachers and students’ loads and time on familiarizing the applications. Mobile-assisted tools mentioned in the study, including Kahoot!, Socrative, and Classdojo, provide easy functions that increase users’ acceptance level. In addition, those applications were free of charge that increases accessibility and application for teachers to integrate into their teaching practice.