The Future of MALL
Consensus among the limited literature and studies available specifically about MALL indicate that the demand for it will only increase—along with the demand for second language acquisition and learning flexibility. Predicted growth is reinforced by the overall decrease in free time. With people working longer hours, the time necessary for formal, traditional classroom-based or even standard online courses will decrease. MALL will be an ideal solution to busy students and professionals seeking to acquire one or more new languages.
What mobile devices lack in capability (regarding sound and video quality and screen size) they make up for in portability. In the future, however, we can expect mobile devices to deliver better quality than is currently available among most mobile devices. It is expected that designers will capitalize on this increase in quality—designing MALL programs that employ student-focused, media-rich, flexible and collaborative learning strategies. Additionally, changes in the cost and availability of wireless service—a luxury to most in the not-too-distant past—will make MALL available to a far wider and diverse audience.
Researchers are experimenting with the new way of learning using smart phone. For example Mobile Assisted Word-Learning (MAWL) is an augmented reality based collaborative social-networking interface for learning new words using a smartphone. MAWL keeps track and saves all textual contexts during reading process along with providing augmented reality-based assistance such as images, translation into native language, synonyms, antonyms, sentence usage etc.
Read more about this topic: Mobile Assisted Language Learning
Famous quotes containing the words future and/or mall:
“We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“A father ... knows exactly what those boys at the mall have in their depraved little minds because he once owned such a depraved little mind himself. In fact, if he thinks enough about the plans that he used to have for young girls, the father not only will support his wife in keeping their daughter home but he might even run over to the mall and have a few of those boys arrested.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)