• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.21-32
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• 2014

Recently, the number of Koreans who use smartphones has increased drastically; many use smartphones to learn English. In this study, one hundred Korean adult ELT (English language teaching) learners were surveyed to investigate their use of smartphones and factors influencing such use. For comparison, sixty-two students of a Korean cyber university were surveyed; these students were able to study using their smartphones in a smart campus environment. The research results showed that both groups positively used smartphones frequently, and that many intended to continue using them. With regard to ELT, both groups intended to learn English using their smartphones. Furthermore, they preferred certain types of ELT content: thirty-minute or less learning sessions, receptive English skills that focused on listening and reading, and short units of framed language items such as pronunciation and vocabulary. However, few of the respondents in both groups installed ELT apps on their smartphones, and few of the ELT apps satisfied them. The cyber university students responded similarly about smartphone use, although their responses regarding smartphone use for ELT purposes were less positive. These results indicate that the goal of cyber universities in achieving optimum learning outcomes through smart learning and the smart campus has not yet been realized.