The utilization of a reading app in business English classes in higher education

Abstract

The article presents the research of empirical mixed methods on the use of a modern mobile reading app compared to traditional forms of teaching in English business classes in higher education in Slovakia. The research belongs to the theoretical frame of the mobile assisted language learning field that has generated an interest since the early 1990 thanks to the development of mobile technologies, their features, and their functions all over the world. The research sample consisted of 40 freshman students from the University of Economics in Bratislava who were equally divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental treatment lasted one semester and was based on analyzing books on a biweekly basis from Blinkist, the reading app based on the protocol the authors created, where three higher-level thinking domains of Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) were identified. Students were also asked to read/listen to the books every week. Even though the current findings indicate no relationship between enhancing English reading skills and incorporating reading apps in a foreign language learning, SWOT analysis from focus group interviews shows different results. It is regarding the positive perception of working with the reading app in business English classes. Based on these findings, the authors make pedagogical implications about using reading apps as a part of the curriculum of blended learning in business English classes in higher education.