Building a global community: A mobile approach to language learning

Motivation, situated learning, and social interaction are critical factors in second language learning. However, as Oller's quote suggests, the classroom is not the ideal place to achieve them and offer students an effective and rewarding learning experiences.Mobile technology has the potential to bring the Spanish learner and a community of Spanish speakers together wherever they are, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In this context, the barriers of location and availability are broken, giving learners access to additional opportunities to interact with Spanish speakers, and,thus, increasing their motivation to learn the language.The aim of this paper is to explore a way to harness the affordances of mobile learning and the potential of an online community to offer Spanish language learners opportunities to access authentic interactions and resources, and its effect on students' motivation to learn the language. To achieve this goal, and inspired by Design Based Research (DBR), I will attempt to develop a second language learning experience informed by learning and pedagogical theories. I will also outline the design of a DBR trajectory that could help test and refine the initial prototype solution, provide design principles to inform these refinements, and provide information to improve mobile language learning theory.