Research Information System
Innovative Practices and Future Prospects in ELT, İstanbul, Turkey, 15 - 16 October 2020, pp.20
Recent developments in information and telecommunication technologies have sparked a great
change in educational activities. More importance is attributed to technology enhanced teaching
and learning activities than in the past. With the introduction of m-learning into education, mobile
phones and tablets are becoming a part of foreign language education. There are many researches
suggesting the prominent role of mobile technologies in learning environments with their features
like allowing for information sharing and communication that are considered to be crucial in
education. It is argued that using mobile technologies for language learning provides more benefits
than other technologies since they offer a great variety of language learning applications,
podcasting, video-casting and more importantly they allow personalization almost for free. What
is more is that while mobile learning supports traditional learning environments, it also encourages
innovative teaching methods that can be of use to both students and teachers with a shift to more
engaging, motivating and collaborative learning environment. Recent studies conducted in order
to increase the quality of m-learning have underlined the importance of the term ‘social presence’
which can be defined as the feeling of social presence as a self in learning environments. Increased
social presence can have a positive effect on students as they become involved in sharing learning
experiences in meaningful ways. In this context, this descriptive study sets out to explore the
social presence of university students in m-learning environments which would provide valuable
insight to teachers who are willing to encourage collaboration among their students.