Performance, cognitive load, and behaviour of technology-assisted English listening learning: From CALL to MALL

This study examines differences in English listening comprehension, cognitive load, and learning behaviour between outdoor ubiquitous learning and indoor computer-assisted learning. An experimental design, employing a pretest-posttest control group is employed. Randomly assigned foreign language university majors joined either the experimental group (outdoor ubiquitous learning), with 80 participants (26 males and 54 females), or a control group (indoor computer-assisted learning), with 80 participants (27 males and 53 females). The experiment lasted 3 weeks. Both groups were administered a test of English listening proficiency before and after the experiment along with a questionnaire of cognitive load postexperiment. Prior English listening proficiency forms a covariate for the multivariate analysis of covariance. Results show (a) students in the experimental group exhibit significantly better English listening comprehension after the experiment compared to the control group; (b) students in the experimental group reported significantly lower cognitive load than the control group; (c) English listening comprehension and cognitive load exhibited a statistically significant negative relationship; and (d) outdoor ubiquitous learning enhanced self-reported learning interests and interactions more than indoor computer-assisted learning. Contributions and significances of this study are presented based on these results. Finally, implications for teaching practices are proposed.