Paper Presentation Smartphone writing fluency: The case of Saudi EFL students more

Sat, Jun 5, 17:00-17:30 Asia/Tokyo

The process of writing has undergone a fundamental shift in the past few decades with the proliferation of smartphones, which required the advent of an entirely new system of input, distinct from both handwriting and keyboard-based typing. This input method, tapping, has largely been ignored by cognitive researchers to date, perhaps due to the misconception that tapping is synonymous with typing. The current study follows precursor research which investigated writing fluency (i.e., transcription speed) on smartphones. A total of 150 Saudi EFL students engaged in transcription tasks in their L1 (Arabic), or an L2 (English), either on smartphone or by hand. Their times-on-task were compared, showing slower times for writing on smartphones for both groups. However, these differences only reached statistical significance under the L2 condition. Qualitative surveys revealed that students felt the benefits of smartphones (e.g., spellcheck, ease of storage/transmission) outweighed their apparent drawbacks (e.g., smaller sizes, slower speeds). Many students commented on their beliefs that both schools and students needed to adapt to modern times and become better at incorporating smartphones into classwork. Implications for language teachers and learners, particularly under remote learning conditions, and qualitative responses will be discussed.