Development and Use of an EFL Reading Practice Application for an Android Tablet Computer

Abstract

This paper reports on the use of an English-language reading practice application for an Android tablet computer with students who are not native speakers of English. The application materials for vocabulary learning in reading-passage contexts were created to include words from a database of low-frequency and technical noun-verb collocations which occurred frequently in certain documents related to the study of international affairs. The learning materials were used in an English for specific purposes course intended to support the reading skill development of students studying international affairs at a university in Japan. Research showed that use of the learning materials had three positive influences on students' study behavior: the students' reading speed increased without a loss in comprehension; the students enjoyed the reading practice with the tablet computer; and they appreciated that the use of the tablet computer had merits that differed from reading practice in hard copy formats.