Sentiment analysis of students’ attitudes toward mobile learning activities

Abstract

In this research, students’ sentiments and emotions embedded in their learning journals are analyzed to understand their attitudes to mobile-based lessons as they progress during an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course. Sentiment Analysis (SA) was utilized to extract emotions and sentiment throughout students’ learning experience, as expressed in their weekly online learner journals. The sentiment scores were generated from four sentiment dictionaries with different scales. The findings suggest that overall, the students had a positive sentiment and emotions toward mobile learning, consisting of anticipation, trust, joy, and surprise. The strongest negative emotion was fear, which may be explained by anxiety surrounding communication in a foreign language.