LOCH: Supporting Informal Language Learning Outside the Classroom with

Handhelds

Rosa G. Paredes J., Hiroaki Ogata, Nobuji A. Yasuko Oishi and Takahito Ueda
Saito, Chengjiu Yin and Yoneo Yano International Students Center, Tokushima
Dept. of Information Science and Intelligent University
Systems, Tokushima University [email protected]
{rosa, ogata, yano}@is.tokushima-u.ac.jp [email protected]

Abstract Permanency: Learning processes are recorded

continuously and stored, along with the work of the
The continuous development of wireless and mobile learners, in a centralized server. These records keep
technologies has allowed the creation of an additional the teacher aware of the progress of each student,
platform for supporting learning, one that can be and can be reviewed later by the group to share
embedded in the same physical space in which the their different approaches.
learning is taking place. This paper describes a Accessibility: By using a PHS (Personal Handy
computer supported ubiquitous learning environment System), learners have access to their data, videos,
for language learning, called LOCH (Language- or recordings from anywhere. Information is
learning Outside the Classroom with Handhelds). In provided based on their requests, therefore the
the environment, the teacher assigns field activities to learning involved can be considered self-directed.
the students, who go around the town to fulfill them Immediacy: Wherever learners are, they can get any
and share their individual experiences. The main aim information immediately to help them solve their
of this project, called One Day Trip with PDA problems. Otherwise, the learner can use his/her
(Personal Digital Assistant), was to integrate the handheld to record the questions and look for the
knowledge acquired in the classroom and the real answer later, or ignite a discussion with other
needs of the students in their daily life. learners that found the same kind of difficulties.
Interactivity: Learners can interact with teachers or
peers in the form of synchronous or asynchronous
1. Introduction communication. Handhelds allow the usage of
instant messaging and IP phones; hence, the
Ubiquitous computing [1] will help in the experts are more reachable and the knowledge
organization and mediation of social interactions becomes more available.
wherever and whenever these situations might occur Situating of instructional activities: The problems
[9]. Its evolution has been accelerated by continuous encountered, and the knowledge required to solve
technological improvements, and with those newly them, are all presented in their natural and
available technologies an individual learning authentic forms. This helps students to notice the
environment can now be embedded in daily real life features of problem situations that make particular
[13]. Mobile devices have become broadly available, actions relevant.
opening an additional platform for supporting learning. Computer supported ubiquitous learning (CSUL)
More specifically, wireless mobile learning devices provides a fine platform for promoting different
offer stunning technical capabilities for the learning theories, like hands-on or minds-on learning,
development of new systems, because of their situated and authentic learning [11, 12], which praise
portability and low cost [14]. the importance of actual first-hand experience with the
A detailed description of our endeavor to support objects and/or situations to be learned and define the
the main characteristics of ubiquitous learning [3, 4] learner as a “cognitive apprentice” [3]. According to
by using these novel advancements; is presented as Ann Carlson, the process of authentic learning is
follows: learner centered, active and takes place around real
world situations (situated) [6]. Other authors have
underlined that when language is contextualized,

Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE’05)
0-7695-2385-4/05 $20.00 © 2005 IEEE
 speech is used productively, background knowledge is After all the students conclude their tasks, they meet
exploited, and the language thinking pattern is together at the classroom, which is equipped with a
assimilated [8]. Notice for example, the vocabulary smart board and where the teacher has being following
teaching experiment by Milder and Gildea [10], in their advances. All the gathered information is
which they describe how children acquire vocabulary displayed and discussed, and each student explains
faster with the method used outside the school, by his/her strategies to the rest of the group. Similar
relating words to ordinary conversation, than with the situations are identified, and their solutions are shared
traditional method based upon abstract definitions and under the guidance of the teacher.
sentences taken from external contexts. Certainly, this approach contributes with a better
In this paper we would like to present our efforts to insight of the foreign students during their daily life in
integrate ubiquitous computing technologies and Japan. There are a myriad of expressions that students
devices, in order to create a language learning are unfamiliar with, and the purpose of the teacher is to
environment based on field tasks. The application give them the tools to respond and behave according to
domain, design, implementation, targeted users and the situation. Furthermore, students are encouraged to
preliminary evaluation of the system are described in go around because the usage of mobile devices seems
the following sections of this paper. new and interesting, and they have the assurance that
the teacher can be immediately reached in case
2. LOCH system something goes wrong.
Although this system is currently being used for
LOCH was conceived to assist overseas students to Japanese language learning, its interface supports
learn Japanese while involved in real life situations. several languages (English, Japanese, Spanish, and
Using the provided interfaces, the teacher assigns tasks Chinese) and more can be easily added.
to the students to go around the town, interact with
native speakers and bring back their findings and/or 2.1 Design and implementation
questions.
Students can make use of their PDAs for writing We have designed the system as a central server,
down annotations, recording questions, taking pictures with two user interfaces (one for the teacher and one
and reporting back to the teacher. At anytime, the for the students) that grant access to their respective
teacher is monitoring the position of the students and functionalities (Figure 2).
can establish communication with them, either through
instant messaging or IP phone, both preinstalled on the
PDA (figure 1). The teacher guides the students
through the task activities, giving suggestions or hints
(such as “Ask somebody how to get there” or “You
have to find the post office first”).

Figure 2: Architecture of the system

The central server has a repository of the student’s

information, tasks provided by other teachers, and data
gathered outside the classroom. The user interfaces are
web-based because of the flexibility that this implies,
Figure 1: Students location interface any mobile device can access the system as long as it
counts with internet connectivity and a web browser
with basic capabilities. The size of the pages can be

Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE’05)
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 scaled accordingly to the size of the device’s display that the devices are connected to the internet, or the
without interfering with the business logic of the size of the packages sent and received. This will give
system. us enough time for experimenting with the system
Relying on the premise that the lack of several times. Likewise, the PHS has a faster
standardization in relation to platform, software and connection speed (112 Kbps) and a much lower battery
communication techniques available in mobile or consumption than WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) enabled
wireless devices is inherent to the variety and rapid connections (around 10 Kbps). Cellular phones were
development of new technologies, we aimed to design not used for this research, due to the fact that the
a system that could be as accessible as possible, even resulting usage fees can not be absorbed by the
when programmed in different languages or running University, which would imply that the students have
over different platforms. Thus, the information is to pay for their own expenses (figure 3).
exchanged between modules using XML (Extensible
Markup Language), because is a flexible text format 3. Experimentation
that has been widely accepted as a standard for the
exchange of data [2]. We arranged a preliminary experimentation of the
In addition, we use SOAP (Simple Object Access system with 7 users (2 women and 5 men, between 20
Protocol) as communication protocol, since it is and 35 years old), all of them overseas students
founded upon XML technologies, and intended for enrolled in the Japanese language intensive course at
data exchange over several underlying protocols, the University of Tokushima. The students (from
independently of the programming model and other Korea, Bangladesh, China, Peru, Philippines and
specific semantics [7]. Thailand) had different levels of expertise in the use of
The system was implemented using Java computer devices. Besides the students, 2 teachers of
programming language and following the J2EE (Java 2 this course were directly involved during the
Platform, Enterprise Edition) specification, which development and experimentation phases of the project.
supports the development of reusable components as
well as the integrated data exchange using XML-based
open standards and protocols. The restrictions of the
currently available Java virtual machines for mobile
devices, however, compelled us to implement the
module for delivering the position of the student, from
the PDA to the server, with Embedded Visual C++ 3.0.

Figure 4: Scene of experimentation

Since the students were not familiar with the use of

PDAs, we organized a hands-on session one week
before the one day trip, and distributed the devices and
the usage manuals for them to get acquainted with.
Figure 3: PDA, GPS and PHS technology Subsequently the teachers scheduled the tasks for the
students, which include such activities as: “Go to the
The prototype system was developed for PDAs touristic information stand in Tokushima JR Station,
(Toshiba Genio-e) with Pocket PC 2002, GPS (Global and enquire about the places you can visit in just one
Positioning System), and PHS (Personal Handy day and the price. Record the answer of the stand
System). We chose to use PHS technology due to the attendant and send it back” (figure 4), or “Go to the
availability of a one year unlimited service program, Awaodori Kaikan, and enquire about the price and
that has the same cost regardless the amount of time schedule of the rope way. Bring back the schedule and
send the recording of the characteristic music of the

Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE’05)
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 Awaodori, continuously playing inside this building, use the system again. Opinions were divided when
and a picture of the souvenirs displayed in the shop” asked about the time allowed to complete the tasks, as
(figure 5). illustrated by question 2 (Q2). Similarly, some students
found the PDA and the system easier to use than others
(Q3 & Q5); this is partly related to their level of
expertise using computational devices, and to the fact
that the operative system was in Japanese.
Nevertheless, we also had some troubles with the GPS
and PHS, which were to be inserted in the
CompactFlash slot and SD (Secure Digital) slot
respectively, because they couldn’t be used at the same
time due to the closeness of the slots (figure 3). In
order to indicate their position to the teacher, students
were asked to change the PHS and GPS several times.
Finally, they found the PDA to be helpful when
Figure 5: Examples of the pictures taken confronted with situations that aroused doubts or
questions to bring back to the classroom, or were
The day of the experimentation the students uncertain about the goals of their task (Q4).
gathered at the classroom with the teachers, picked up Among the comments there were some complains
their PDAs and received instructions for completing about the text input method of the PDAs, and the
the first task, subsequent tasks were provided by the difficulties of using the GPS. Many students asked for
teacher when they successfully achieved the expected more time to practice before the trip, especially those
results. that were using mobile devices for the first time.
Nonetheless, they found the system useful for learning
3.1 Results local expressions, and practicing what they have
learned in class.
After the experimentation, the students answered a The teachers where interviewed and their response
questionnaire, assigning a number between one and to the system was positive, although they had some
five to each one of six questions (where one was the suggestions to improve it for the next time. Amid other
lowest and 5 the highest score) and writing down the comments, the teachers found the system to be useful
advantages and disadvantages of the system, as well as for the students to practice Japanese in a real social
their personal comments about the experience. context, and reported that their confidence for
Average results of the questionnaire and the standard speaking increased after the experiment. Regarding the
deviation for each set of answers are shown in table 1. PDAs capabilities, they would like to have more
The average score for the questions was 4.1. choices, such as built-in cameras in all the devices, to
broaden the options of the tasks. As for the instant
Table 1: Results of the questionnaire messaging, they agreed with the students that more
No. Question Ave. S.D. practice was needed before the experiment.
Q1 Do you think that the one day 4.9 0.4
trip with PDA was exciting? 4. Findings of interest
Q2 Do you think the time allowed 3.0 1.4
for completing the tasks was Unlike other language learning systems not related
enough? to context, where the student is regarded only as a one-
Q3 Do you think the PDA was easy 3.3 1.2 way knowledge consumer, LOCH takes advantage of
to use? technology to take the learning environment outside
Q4 Was the PDA helpful when you 4.4 0.5 the classroom, where real life situations are taking
found some troubles completing place. In this way, the student has an active
the tasks? participation, recording events and taking pictures, and
Q5 Do you think the system was 4.0 1.1 there is a two-way flow of knowledge, where the
easy to use? student is regarded as a knowledge provider as well.
Q6 Would you like to use the 5.0 0.0 The teachers were more reachable and the
system again? knowledge became more available due to the IP phone.
According to question 1 (Q1) and question 6 (Q6) Both students and teachers found the IP phone easier
the students enjoyed the experience and would like to to use than the instant messaging tool: the students

Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education (WMTE’05)
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