The Role of SMS on Iranian EFL Learners’ Incidental/Intentional Vocabulary Learning

In the 21st Century technological advances has exploded. Schools have not been left out in these advancements. Asa result of such developments, mobile assisted language learning (MALL) has become increasingly more popular.Vocabulary learning is one of the essential parts of foreign language acquisition; however, specific trends focusingon such an issue applying modern technology are rare. Taking this into consideration, this study examined theimpact of using short message service (SMS) on Iranian EFL learners’ incidental and intentional vocabularyacquisition. In order to fulfill the intended objectives, 40 intermediate participants studying English in FarhangPajuh Institute were chosen through the administration of the Oxford Quick Placement Test. The selectedparticipants were divided into two groups. The first group was provided with an intentional trend, while the secondgroup received incidental patterns. The participants were presented with a pre-test one week prior to the provisionof the trend (sending SMS). Moreover, one week after the provision of the last SMS, a post-test was administered.Collecting the data, different types of T-test were employed in order to have a comparison between theperformances of the learners within and between the groups. Interpreting the obtained results, it was concluded thatthe participants performing in the intentional group were more successful than the ones performing in incidental group. In addition, a questionnaire was provided to the participants in order to check their satisfaction with thetrend. It was revealed that the students were highly motivated learning the second language using MALL.

کلیدواژه ها:

MALL ، incidental learning ، intentional learning ، short message service (SMS)