ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 183 MOBILE ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING: EFL LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD THE USE OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH Endang Darsih English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Kuningan, Indonesia Email: endang.darsih@uniku.ac.id Nida Amalia Asikin English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Kuningan, Indonesia Email: nida.amalia.asikin@uniku.ac.id APA Citation: Darsih, E., & Asikin, N. A. (2020). Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English. English Review: Journal of English Education, 8(2), 183-194. doi: 10.25134/erjee.v8i2.2999. Received: 01-04-2020 Accepted: 18-05-2020 Published: 01-06-2020 Abstract: Although extensive research has been carried out on the positive effect of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) for students’ learning, there have been few studies concerning on university students’ perceptions toward the use of MALL in learning English. The study was undertaken to examine university students’ perceptions toward MALL specifically the use of mobile application in learning English. The participants of this study were ninety six students (68 females and 28 males). Data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaire and semi-structured interview. It reported that all participants apply MALL by downloading and using English mobile applications to help their learning. Six mobile applications which are often used by all participants were Kamusku, Google Translate, Elsa Speak, Youtube, Zoom and Google Meet. The results of the questionnaires also showed that their perceptions toward the use of MALL was that MALL, in this case the English mobile application was considered to be useful and helped their learning, besides it was overall easy to use. Keywords: Mobile assisted language learning (MALL); EFL learners; learning English. INTRODUCTION The low quality of graduates of English Language Education is something that needs special and serious attention from academics not only lecturers but also other stakeholders and the students. In this digital age, lecturers are not only limited to the transmitter of information but also has a very important and relevant role in preparing, compiling and organizing learning activities in class. Some of its roles are as a designer, programmer, diagnostician, researcher, organizer, manager, innovator, educator and advisor (Lanier, 2012). Besides, lecturers are also a key success factor of college students. However, success of learning will also be achieved if students are able collaborate well so that the results obtained will be more leverage. A research shows that the majority of students of English Education study programs still not yet autonomous or independent even though there is no denying that learner autonomy is one of the determining factors in the success of students’ learning (Darsih, 2018). Besides, the success of learning is also affected by their motivation. Another study revealed that motivation of students in learning college English is low. Students’ low motivation is reflected in their assessment of English as a boring and difficult subject. This might be one of the results of a teaching and learning process which tends to be repetitive and lack creativity. This also suggests a more teacher-centered teaching where students less active roles in class. Therefore, there have been discussions on shifting from a teacher- centered to a student-centered learning process. As stressed by Lengkanawati (2016), there must be a change in the learning process from transferring knowledge from teacher to students to a learning process where students actively participate to gain some learnings. Several studies have pointed to the benefits of educational technology particularly Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). It provides opportunities to implement a communicative approach more successfully (Walsh, R., 2019). The use of mobile phone to access internet is found to be effective for students-centred teaching and collaborative learning (Nah, White, & mailto:endang.darsih@uniku.ac.id mailto:nida.amalia.asikin@uniku.ac.id Endang Darsih & Nida Amalia Asikin Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English 184 Sussex, 2008; Osifo, 2019). Therefore, in this day and age, mobile phones or smartphones have become an idol, trending and something very important until most students cannot escape from their smartphones. Smartphones are no longer used as a communication tool but also are a social, work, and educational need. In developing countries, many people have adopted the use of cellular phones in the process learning. Many studies have also been carried out by a number of researchers for identifying the use of technology among students, including usage of smartphone. For example, Reinders (2010) explains 20 telephone usage ideas mobile in the language class. These twenty ideas allow teachers to offer increased language learning by taking advantage of that the students are very familiar and take it anywhere at any time. The other studies have reported that smartphone integration in language learning gives positive results and students are more interested in using smartphones to learn English especially in improving vocabulary (Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008; Lu, 2008; Saran et al., 2008; Marzban & Nafarzadehnafari 2018). Teaching vocabulary by using smartphones or cellphones has remained popular (Duman, Orhon, & Gedik, 2015; Chen, Liu, & Huang, 2019). Besides, the use of mobile phone to access internet is effective for learning listening skill and collaborative learning (Nah, White, & Sussex, 2008; Hsu, 2015; Huang, Sun, 2010) and oral productive skills (Kim, 2015). MALL or Mobile-Assisted Language Learning is one of educational technology through smartphone applications designed for help student learning especially in the 21st century (Loewen, Crowther, Isbell, Kim, Maloney, Miller, & Rawal, 2019; Rocca, 2018). Correspondingly, Davie and Hilber (2015) defines MALL as the use of mobile devices for support language learning, using devices such as digital personal assistant (PDA), ordinary cellphone, smartphones, tablet computer, android or mp3 player all of them are used for educational tools. A study conducted by Kondo, M., Ishikawa, Y., Smith, C., Sakamoto, K., Shimomura, H., & Wada, N. (2012) reported that MALL helps students improve their scores on the TOEIC Listening and Reading Tests. MALL also helps students improve their writing skill (Gharehblagh and Nasri 2019; Al-Hamad, Raghda, Al-Jamal, Dina, Bataineh, 2019). This indicates that MALL applications can be used as an effective mobile language learning tool. (Gonulal, 2019). A recent study on a review of MALL revealed that many studies are more descriptive than innovative and advocate the implementation of larger and long-term research studies on how mobile devices, and the iPad in particular, are impacting language teaching and learning. (Morgana, 2019). Other papers have highlighted the focus on the impact of MALL on fostering the EFL instruction (Imtiaz, Norrihan, Aslam, Waqar, 2016), the role of smartphones in helping students enhance their social and cultural capital (Retorta, and Cristovão, 2017), utilization of Instagram vlog contributed to EFL learners’ speaking skill on enhancing fluency, acquiring vocabulary items, and boosting confidence and motivation (Wulandari, 2019), and the effect of MALL in improving students’ motivation (Teeter, 2017). When talking about mobile devices and their closer relationship with the teaching-learning innovation, the significance of mobile applications (apps) as useful tools in the achievement and acquisition for specific learning cannot be overlooked. Therefore, the present study aims to identify types of English mobile apps that are used by the students in higher education, their perceptions toward the usefulness and the ease of use of Mobile Apps in learning English. The result of this study is expected to enrich the literature related to MALL in learning college English. METHOD The method deployed in this study was a mixed method which is an approach that involves qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, integrating both data and using a certain design in its application (Creswell, 2014). The design used is concurrent embedded which aims to answer questions which requires different types of data (Malik & Hamied, 2014). Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with students. Data collected were analyzed and interpreted, then described to find out the type of smartphones applications that students use to help them in learning English. Furthermore, quantitative data comes from the questionnaires used for collecting specific data about students' perceptions of MALL integration focusing on the usefulness and ease of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning. The questionnaire used in this study was adopted from a questionnaire compiled by Davis (2003). The statements in this questionnaire were modified and then divided into three categories, i.e. the first category is open questions about the identity of the participants, the second ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 185 category is statements regarding the usefulness of MALL in learning English, and the third is statements regarding the ease of use of MALL in learning English. The measurements used in this study are by using a Likert scale with five options (i.e. strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. A total of 102 students from grade II and III of English education study program were involved in this research specifically to fill out questionnaires, while for the interview instrument not all students were involved. The data collected from questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, while data taken from interview were analyzed qualitatively. After that, the data were reduced to general themes in order to focus on what is sought in this study. By doing data reduction, the data which share common information were categorized into broader themes. Finally, the data were organized to go through data interpretation where the results were interpreted to become findings. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This study aims to find out what English language applications are used by students of the English Education Study Program and their perceptions toward Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). Data were collected through a questionnaire adopted from Davis (2003) and modified according to the research context. Questionnaire and interview questions are made using Google form and can be accessed at https://forms.gle/JcfpHCNgwpXkA269A. The questionnaire distributed to the total sample of 102 students, but returning questionnaires were 54 units from grade II, as many as 42 units from grade III, so that the total data from the questionnaire analyzed in this study were 96 questionnaire data. Figure 1 represents the data of study participants who filled out the research questionnaire in terms of gender. Figure 1. Participants of the study The figure shows that the majority of participants in this study were female. Of the total 96 participants who filled out the questionnaire, 71% of the participants were female students, and the remaining 29% of participants were male students. English mobile applications in student learning The first question in this study is related to what applications are used by students of English Education study programs in helping their learning. Based on the results of the questionnaires distributed to students of the English Education study program about what applications they download and used on their smartphone/android to help learning English can be seen in Figure 2. Endang Darsih & Nida Amalia Asikin Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English 186 Figure 2. English mobile application used by English education students Based on the results of the questionnaires presented in figure 2 it shows that the number of English mobile applications used by students is quite a lot; there are fifteen types of applications used by students of English education study programs to help their learning including Kamusku, Google Translate, BBC, Grammar test, English Idiomatic, U dictionary, You tube, Elsa speak, Duolinggo, Quizlet, Speech notes, Kahoot, Zoom, Google Meet and Kine Master. Of the fifteen applications, Kamusku, Google Translate, You Tube, Elsa speak, Zoom and Google Meet are applications that are often used by all participants. Kamusku is an offline dictionary application of English to Indonesian and vice versa. This application is the most widely used dictionary application by students because this application is simple, lightweight, and very easy to use and the most basic reason is that it is light to run even though ram is small. To translate words, students only need to enter the word they want to find meaning in the search field provided. It does not take long and does not need a loading process, the words sought will immediately appear with a variety of other related words. When the word that is searched appears, the meaning in question will also be directly listed. To find out more about the meaning, just tap on the word. In addition to the ease in finding the meaning of words in English to Indonesian or vice versa, Kamusku also has other features such as "speak" (speaker logo) located to the right of the search field. This feature is very useful especially for students who are still having difficulty with their pronunciation. Once the "speak" button is tapped, the pronunciation will sound immediately. With this feature, of course, students will be helped especially in learning pronunciation. Kamusku is considered very effective for translating words in English to Indonesian or vice versa, but when you want to translate long sentences, an online translation service is available, which certainly requires an internet connection. Nevertheless, students prefer to use the Google Translate application to translate longer sentences. Google translate is a translator application developed by Google Inc. This application has a variety of good features and is quite complete because it not only translates text, images, sounds but also handwriting. Similar to the Kamusku application, the Google Translate application can also be used offline (without an internet connection). This is what might be the reason why these two applications are the most frequently used by students in helping their learning. Elsa speak is an application designed to facilitate students learning to speak English. This application utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) and speech recognition to help improve and perfect English pronunciation, where pronunciation is the biggest challenge in learning English, thus becoming a barrier to speaking fluently and confidently. With this technology, ELSA can detect user pronunciation errors with an accuracy of more than 95%. Users can also receive advanced feedback to correct pronunciation errors. This is one of the things that distinguish ELSA from other English learning applications. ELSA Speak provides more than 1,200 lessons and more than 60 topics for users to practice pronunciation, starting from the practice of pronunciation of words, phrases, and English sentences. Another feature offered by ELSA is an interactive dictionary, which will help users how to pronounce the words or phrases they are looking for. You tube is a free video sharing website on the internet. The website lets people upload, view, and share videos. Videos can be rated with likes or dislikes, and viewers can subscribe to channels ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 187 they like. Videos can be commented on if viewers log into their own accounts. The number of times a video has been watched (known as "views") is shown. Many different types of videos can be put onto the website, such as educational content, animations, and events. With regard to the Covid 19 pandemic that is still ongoing today, the online meeting application is an option for students who are forced to study and complete their work at home or work/study form home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. One of these applications is Zoom. Zoom is a communication application using video. The application can be used on a variety of mobile devices, desktops, to telephones and space systems. In general, users use this application to conduct meetings to video and audio conferences. Besides zooming, students also download applications that have the same features, Google Meet. This is an online video conversation conferencing application. In addition to the above applications that are most widely used by the participants, below are other applications downloaded by them: First is BBC, an application designed to learn English easily and effectively with exercises provided. Through this application, of course students can learn English especially for their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Second is Speech Notes, an application that can be downloaded on android that functions to convert spoken data into writing. So by using this application students can easily convert recorded or oral data into document form without having to type the spoken text because this application automatically types the oral data into written text. Third is Quizlet, a complete free learning aid to support the teaching and learning process, including for teachers / lecturers. In this application there are flashcard features that can guide users in mastering a particular topic. Even now Quizlet has grown into an international study site. Fourth is Kahoot, a free learning platform based game application, as an educational technology. This application can bring a lively quiz atmosphere into the classroom. By playing Kahoot, learning becomes very enjoyable and makes the students not bored following the learning which is very difficult to understand. Fifth is Kine master, a mobile application specifically designed to help Android and iOS users to modify videos from ordinary videos to more interesting videos. Students use this application to modify their presentation videos because learning is still online during the covid pandemic 19. Students’ perceptions toward Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) The second question in this study is related to students' perceptions of English Education study programs toward Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). Questionnaires from Davis (2003) were adopted and modified to collect data. The statements in this questionnaire were modified and then divided into three categories; the first category is an open question about the identity of the respondents and the results can be seen in Figure 1 regarding the profile of the respondent, the second category is statements regarding the usefulness of MALL in learning English, the results of which can be seen in table 1 and figure 3, and the third category is about the ease of MALL, the results of which can be seen in table 2. The measurement used in this study is to use a Likert scale with five options, namely strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. The following are the results of the distribution of questionnaires regarding the usefulness of MALL in learning English. Table 1. Students’ perception toward the usefulness of MALL No Statements SA A N D SD 1 Using English applications on my smartphone improves the quality of the work/task I do 40% 58% 2% 0% 0% 2 Using English applications on my smartphone gives me greater control over my work 0% 60% 40% 0% 0% 3 English mobile applications enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly 72% 28% 0% 0% 0% 4 English mobile application supports my ability in speaking, reading, listening and writing. 20% 52% 13% 15% 0% 5 Using English mobile applications increases my productivity 10% 44% 32% 14% 0% 6 Using English mobile applications increases my English vocabulary, grammar mastery and my 3% 64% 15% 18% 0% Endang Darsih & Nida Amalia Asikin Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English 188 pronunciation 7 Using English mobile applications allows me to accomplish more work than would otherwise be possible 0% 30% 42% 20% 8% 8 Using English mobile applications makes it easier to learn the material 20% 51% 15% 14% 0% 9 Using English mobile applications enhances my effectiveness on my work 10% 28% 22% 26% 14% 10 Using English mobile applications improves my motivation to learn English 14% 34% 21% 20% 11% 11 Overall, I find English mobile applications useful in my learning 20% 80% 0% 0% 0% Figure 3. Students’ perceptions on the usefulness of MALL Table 1 shows that for item 1 which is related to the statement ‘Using English applications on my smartphone improves the quality of the work / task I do’ it is known that, the majority of students as much as 58% agree that English- language applications improve the quality of their assignments. Based on the results of interviews with several students, it can be said that students feel that they are displaying assignments better both in the form of oral and written texts with the help of its English-language application. For example, in speaking English, students are helped to give a better performance in terms of pronunciation and increased vocabulary in supporting speaking skills. In addition, in writing appearance, students' written texts are more tidy in terms of grammar and choice of words. For item 2 which relates to the statement ‘Using English applications on my smartphone gives me greater control over my work’ 60% of students agree that the use of English applications in their smartphones gives them greater control in their tasks and work. This means they are the ones who have constraints on the quality of the tasks and jobs that they want to display. Good or bad learning and their tasks depend on them in utilizing English-language applications. For item 3 which is related to the statement ‘English mobile applications enables me to accomplish tasks more quickly’ it is known that as many as 72% of students rate that the English- language smartphone applications that they download and use are able to help them complete their tasks and work faster. This is because that with the rapid development of technology, so that these applications have succeeded in becoming portable facilities and media that help students in completing their assignments. They can open the applications needed wherever and whenever there is difficulty in doing their jobs. For item no. 4 which relates to the statement ‘English mobile application supports my abilities in speaking, reading, listening and writing’ it is known that 52% of students agree that the English smartphone application supports their skills in speaking, reading, listening and writing. However, as many as 15% of students rated that the English-speaking smartphone application did not support their skills in speaking, reading, listening and writing. For most students some English-language applications such as Elsa Speak and Kamusku are able to support four student language skills. But it is undeniable that with the limitations possessed by applications used by ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 189 students, it makes students not helped in displaying better language skills. For item no. 5 that is related to the statement ‘Using English mobile applications increases my productivity’ it is known that 44% of students agree that the use of an English-speaking smartphone application can increase productivity. On the other hand, as many as 32% of students gave a doubtful assessment of this statement. This is because for some students, student productivity is not only determined by the smartphone application in English, but can be by other factors such as their craft and tenacity in doing assignments and utilizing the application. For item No. 6 regarding the statement 'Using English mobile applications increases my English vocabulary, grammar mastery and my pronunciation' it is known that most students as much as 64% agree that the use of an English- speaking smartphone application can improve their vocabulary, grammar mastery and pronunciation. Based on interviews with several students, it is known that the smartphone application that they download and often use can help them improve English vocabulary, grammar comprehension and pronunciation. This is because some applications provide features that support learning vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation in English such as Kamusku, Elsa Speak, and Google Translate. For item no 7 which is related to the statement ‘Using English mobile applications allows me to accomplish more work than would otherwise be possible’ it is known that 42% of students give a doubtful perception of this statement. They are not entirely sure that the use of English-language applications in smartphones can make it get more work done. For students, the main factor that determines the amount of work that can be completed depends not on the application, but on the level of difficulty of the task and the level of student crafts. For item no 8 which is related to the statement ‘Using English mobile applications makes it easier to learn the material as many as 51% of students agree that the use of an English- speaking smartphone application makes it easy to learn the subject matter. This shows that another benefit that is felt by most students of English education courses is the ease they get in learning the subject matter. Based on the results of the interview, the subject matter that is felt difficult to understand in the classroom from lecturers and books becomes easier to learn by opening the application. However, as many as 15% of students do not think the same. This is because due to the different learning styles of students, there are those that are better understood by lecturers, but some are clearer than applications. For item no 9, which is related to the statement ‘Using English mobile applications enhances my effectiveness on my work’ it is known that only 28% of students agree with this statement. 26% of students responded disagree to this statement. This indicates that students are not sure of the effectiveness of using the English smartphone application. There are still other factors not examined that can improve the effectiveness of work and student learning by using English-language applications. For item no. 10 which is related to the statement ‘Using English mobile applications improves my motivation to learn English; it is known that 34% of students agree, 21% are hesitant and 20% disagree with the statement. Based on the results of the interview concluded that the application can increase motivation to learn English because they are practical, can be taken anywhere and at any time can be opened. With this practicality, and student addiction to mobile phones make students eager to learn English. However, for those who disagree, they do not consider that the ups and downs of their motivation are determined by the application used, but from other factors such as lecturers, parents, peers, environmental factors and material factors being studied. For the last item related to the statement 'Overall, I find English mobile applications useful in my learning' it is known that as many as 80% agree and 20% strongly agree that the English- speaking smartphone application is beneficial for student learning. For example some applications for the purpose of translating are deemed to provide significant benefits for students. First, the application is very easy to use both in online and offline conditions. Second, the practicality of the application allows students to open it whenever and wherever they need it. Third, the application does not consume too much big data. Fourth, the application helps students recognize new words and meanings, examples of their use and how to pronounce them. This of course helps students to support their pronunciation and improve their grammar mastery. Fifth, the application stimulates four main abilities of English namely speaking, listening, writing and reading abilities. For example in some applications such as BBC, Elsa Speak and You Tube, students can hone four main skills in mastering foreign languages each Endang Darsih & Nida Amalia Asikin Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English 190 time they combine and integrate these skills; listening (listening, selection, pronunciation and intonation of words displayed in the application), writing (when students write what they are listening to, even though they do not know how to spell a term correctly, their brain will be stimulated to search for a matching spelling equivalent), reading (when reading back the words that students have written are considered able to make them better remember and understand the matter), speaking (when students use it and practice it in real conversation or when reciting it). The four language skills when applied are significantly related to stimulation of three linguistics skills, namely vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Finally, the application is useful in helping students writing. With a rich vocabulary of applications used to support students to make writing using terms that are not monotonous. Meanwhile, the following is the result of questionnaire distribution regarding the ease of use of MALL in learning English. Table 2. Students’ perceptions toward the ease of use of MALL No Statements SA A N D SD 1 I find English mobile applications system cumbersome to use 0% 16% 35% 39% 10% 2 Learning to operate English mobile applications is easy for me 10% 50% 22% 18% 0% 3 Interacting with English mobile applications is often frustrating 0% 20% 50% 30% 0% 4 I find it easy to get English mobile applications to do what I want it to do 4% 46% 40% 8% 2% 5 English mobile applications is rigid and inflexible to interact with 0% 21% 49% 30% 0% 6 It is easy for me to remember how to perform tasks using English mobile applications 3% 76% 21% 0% 0% 7 Interacting with English mobile applications requires a lot of mental effort 10% 24% 47% 19% 0% 8 My interaction with English mobile applications is clear and understandable 0% 24% 51% 25% 0% 9 I find it takes a lot effort and time to become skillful as using English mobile applications 7% 52% 18% 23% 0% 10 Overall, I find English mobile applications system easy to use. 24% 62% 14% 0% 0% Figure 4. Students’ perceptions toward the ease of use of MALL Regarding students’ perceptions on the Ease of Use of MALL, there are 10 items of statements used in this questionnaire. For item no. 1 related to the statement 'I find English mobile applications system cumbersome to use', students gave varied responses. 10% strongly disagree, 39% of students disagree, 35% are neutral, and 16% agree to the statement that the English- language smartphone application is considered to have a difficult system so it is difficult to use. This is because applications that are downloaded by students are diverse and have different systems, some are difficult and some are easy to use. Some dictionary applications that are online ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2020 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 191 and offline are considered to have a simple system so students can directly use it easily. However, some other applications are considered difficult to operate because students have to go through several steps that are quite complex and not easy. Most important is the desire of students to learn the application, because basically there is nothing difficult if they want to learn. For item no 2 which is related to the statement 'Learning to operate English mobile applications is easy for me' 50% of students agree with this statement. As previously stated that there is nothing difficult if we want to learn, but back to students whether they have the desire to learn or not. For item number 3 related to the statement 'Interacting with English mobile applications is often frustrating' it is known that as many as 50% of students give a neutral response to this statement. This neutral response shows that some students feel frustrated when interacting with English-speaking smartphone applications and some students feel fine when interacting and using those applications. When a job cannot be completed easily and quickly by the application, or when students encounter obstacles such as internet access and speed in operating these applications, some students experience frustration. For item no 4 which is related to the statement "I find it easy to get English mobile applications to do what I want it to do" it is known that as many as 46% of students agree that they feel easy when they use English applications in completing an assignment. For example when students want to search for a particular vocabulary, the application is able to provide what they are looking for. In addition, when they want to learn a material, they find it easy because they only have to open the application and find it. For item no 5, which is related to the statement of English mobile applications is rigid and inflexible to interact with, it is known that 49% provide a neutral response to this statement. This shows that some students still give positive and negative responses to the English-speaking smartphone application in terms of how to use it. Most students considered that the English application was rigid, but most of the others considered that the application was flexible. In essence, back again to the users of the application, whether they can respond and interact with the application rigidly or flexibly. For item no 6 which is related to the statement 'It is easy for me to remember how to perform tasks using English mobile applications', it is known that 76% agree with this statement. Most students agreed that they find it easy to remember how to do an assignment using an English-language application. For example related to the task of pronunciation, grammar and translation, students find it easy to do these tasks by using the application. For item no 7 which is related to the statement 'Interacting with English mobile applications requires a lot of mental effort' it is known that 47% of students gave a neutral response to this statement. This shows that some students feel that interacting and using these applications requires mental effort such as patience because the applications downloaded by students have different levels of difficulty, which of course requires different mental efforts. However, there are also some students who feel fine and do not require much mental effort in using the application. For item no 8 which is related to the statement 'My interaction with English mobile applications is clear and understandable' it is known that 51% gave a neutral response, and 24% agreed to this statement. For item no. 9 which is related to the statement 'I find it takes a lot of effort and time to become skillful as using English mobile applications', it is known that 52% agree with this statement. This shows that they agree that it takes considerable time and effort to become skilled in using an English-speaking smartphone application. The more often the application in English, the more skilled it is in operating the application. For item no. 10 which is related to the statement ‘Overall, I find the English mobile applications system easy to use’ it is known that 62% of students agree with this statement. This shows that most students find that the English applications they download tend to be easy to use or operate. CONCLUSION Mobile-assisted Language Learning, also known as MALL is undergoing rapid evolution. Mobile phones particularly English mobile applications can support many types of learning. They can be easily used outside the classroom because they can be in them, students can learn or practice pieces of information that can be managed anywhere on their own time, thereby taking advantage of their convenience. Based on the results of data analysis, it is found that almost all Endang Darsih & Nida Amalia Asikin Mobile assisted language learning: EFL learners’ perceptions toward the use of mobile applications in learning English 192 participants apply MALL by downloading and using English mobile applications to help their learning. Six mobile applications which are often used by all participants to help their learning are Kamusku, Google Translate, Elsa Speak, Youtube, Zoom and Google Meet. The results of the questionnaires also showed that their perceptions toward the use of MALL was that MALL, in this case the English mobile applications are considered to be useful and helped their learning, besides it was overall easy to use. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We have to thank Kemendikbud of Republic of Indonesia which has fully funded this research through the Penelitian Dosen Pemula (PDP) scheme. 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