University of Groningen A Holistic Person-Centred Approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning Peng, Hongying

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University of Groningen

A Holistic Person-Centred Approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning

Peng, Hongying

DOI:

10.33612/diss.172696334

IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.

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Publication date: 2021

Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database

Citation for published version (APA):

Peng, H. (2021). A Holistic Person-Centred Approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning. University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.172696334

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560485-L-bw-Peng 560485-L-bw-Peng 560485-L-bw-Peng 560485-L-bw-Peng Processed on: 26-5-2021 Processed on: 26-5-2021 Processed on: 26-5-2021

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The research reported in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of the Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG) of the Faculty of Arts of the Universtiy of Groningen.

Groningen Dissertations in Linguistics 203 Printing Gildeprint www. Gildeprint.nl

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A holistic person-centred approach to

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

PhD thesis

to obtain the degree of PhD at the University of Groningen

on the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. C. Wijmenga

and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on

Thursday 17 June 2021 at 9.00 hours

by

Hongying Peng

born on 9 June 1990 in Sichuan, China

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Supervisor

Prof. W.M. Lowie

Co-supervisor

Dr. S. Jager

Assessment Committee

Prof. A. Kukulska-Hulme Prof. G. Sockett Prof. M.H. Verspoor

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Acknowledgement

I love this journey of coming to the Netherlands for my doctoral study. At the end of the four delightful and fulfilling years, I would like to extend my gratitude to those who have brought me a lot of fun, encouragement, support, help, and love along the way.

My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisors, Prof. Wander Lowie and Dr. Sake Jager. We three had great communication, great inspiration, and great collaboration. I was so lucky to have you by my side and benefit from both of your expertise. You two provided me with not only skilful directions, critical comments, valuable input, but also Dutch humour and warm greetings. You motivated and inspired me with interesting ideas and rigorous scholarship, dedicatedly guided me through all the tough times of study design, data collection, data analysis, and article writing. Without your supervision, I could not have finished this thesis and become a qualified researcher. I am also deeply grateful to Prof. Chuming Wang. As early as when I embarked on the applied linguistics research, you illustrated to me how to be an independent thinker and a good applied linguist with your passion of pursuing originality and your expertise in SLA research. My deep gratefulness also goes to Dr. Qi Xu. You gave me constructive suggestions on academic writing, research work, and career possibility. You also shared your own learning experiences and life wisdom with me and always encouraged me to positively see myself. It has been a great experience to work with you on papers and in conferences.

I would especially like to thank several important experts who have given me immense help during the past years. Prof. Steven Thorne is undoubtedly one of the most influential linguists whom I admire. You gave me an insightful overview of PhD studies to be conducted; you were very willing to share your knowledge. I feel so lucky to have met you right after I started my doctoral study. Prof. Wei Ren coached me to get familiar with academic writing by guiding me step by step in our collaboration of review writing. Drs. Marijke Wubbolts kindly helped me with the translation of the dissertation summary into Dutch.

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I am grateful to all those who helped me modify the research design and collect the data, especially Prof. Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Prof. Geoffrey Sockett, Prof. Marjolijn Verspoor, Prof. Gao Huaiyong. My special thanks go to the students at Sichuan Agricultural University who participated in my studies.

I would also like to thank our PhD support group members, with whom I shared a lot of cheerful moments at group meetings and at conferences: Jelle Brouwer, Susanne Dekker, Marita Everhardt, Steven Gilbers, Wim Gombert, Loes Groen, Li Gu, Ana Pot, Audrey Rousse-Malpat, Pouran Seifi, Bregtje Seton, Giulia Sulis, Floor van den Berg, Mara van der Ploeg, Vass Verkhodanova, and May Wu. How nice it was to have you with me!

I want to thank my coolest scientist friends: Junping Hou, Ting Huang, Huimin Ke, Minghui Li, Yichen Liu, Bei Tian, Cheng Wang, Yingjie Wang, Hanjing Yu, Ying Zhou. You guys made my life in Groningen colourful and really enjoyable.

. , , !

Hongying Peng Groningen, June, 2021

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List of Figures

5. 1 Five-cluster dendrogram ... 83 5. 2 Concurrent developmental trajectories of the five clusters ... 84 6. 1 Participants’ total time on each task ... 104 6. 2 The general development trend of participants’ sentential complexity (MLTU), clausal complexity (DC/TU), and phrasal complexity (CN) ... 108 6. 3 Critical changes detected in change-point analysis in the development of Colin’s sentential complexity (MLTU) and clausal complexity (DC/TU) ... 109 6. 4 Concurrent changes in sentential complexity (MLTU), clausal complexity (DC/TU), and phrasal complexity (CN) ... 109

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List of Tables

2. 1 Methodological features of the MALL studies ... 18

2. 2 Distribution of commonly investigated skills in the MALL studies ... 22

2. 3 Distribution of commonly addressed theoretical frameworks in the MALL studies ... 23

2. 4 Distribution of commonly adopted mobile technologies in the MALL studies ... 24

2. 5 Distribution of commonly used multimedia components in the MALL studies ... 25

2. 6 Comparative effects of MALL on L2 skills ... 27

2. 7 Moderator analysis ... 28

3. 1 Descriptive results of the six clustered learner types……….43

3. 2 Descriptive results of each type’s linguistic, motivational, and emotional states ... 44

4. 1 Informal mobile learning activities of the six learner types ... 61

4. 2 Linguistic, motivational, and emotional differences of the six learner types ... 63

4. 3 Proportion of learners who perceived having improved English skills ... 65

5. 1 Example fanfiction task prompt ... 79

5. 2 Information on linguistic complexity measures ... 79

5. 3 Summary of the five clusters in terms of time series parameters ... 83

5. 4 Components of the five clustered groups ... 86

5. 5 Different complexity measures related to different clusters for different participants ... 87

6. 1 Example fanfiction task prompt ... 100

6. 2 Number of Chinese characters the participants wrote in reflective comments ... 104

University of Groningen A Holistic Person-Centred Approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning Peng, Hongying