The impact of mobile teaching on learning and retention of nursing students in teaching English

Abstract

Background: The emergence of electronic technologies has revolutionized teaching-learning process. One of these technologies is mobile learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of education by mobile learning on learning and retention of nursing students in English teaching. Methods: The research design for this study was a pretest-posttest with a control group. The study population included all nursing students (about 130 people) in the academic year 2014-2015 in Shahrekord Nursing faculty. Thirty people were selected through convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned into an experimental and a control group. The instruments used were learning test (pretest-posttest learning with face validity approved by teachers and reliability of Kronbakh's Alpha 0.83) and retention test (with face validity approved by teachers and reliability of Kronbakh's Alpha 0.79). The tests were based on English lessons' content. Results: The obtained data were analyzed by independent t-test and SPSS software version 18. The results showed that training based on mobile teaching enhances learning and retention of nursing students' English language. Conclusion: Considering the results, education policy makers are recommended to use mobile technologies in teaching English.