Maximizing the “Little Screen” in Online Language Courses

Under emergency remote instruction, both language learners and instructors complained about long hours in front of laptop or desktop computers — Zoom fatigue, backaches, and not moving for hours at a time. In this talk, I introduce mobile-assisted language learning — strategies for and benefits of moving some of our language curriculum onto learners’ smartphones.  Smartphones facilitate many best practices for second language acquisition, being portals to naturally-interactive communication, authentic and multimodal language-in-use, heightened integration with learners’ physical environments and their vested interests.  Sample activities will be presented focusing on smartphone/Canvas integration, as well as effective practices for safeguarding learners’ privacy.