Fatih Yavuz

Do Smartphones Spur or Deter Learning: A WhatsApp Case Study

Abstract Smartphones have been threatening traditional teachers and classroom conventions, although studentsinsist on referring to them when stuck or feel they are bored with the teaching approach in the classroom. Theinclination is towards the integration of smartphones into traditional teaching. Therefore, this study aims tosearch the use of WhatsApp Messenger and see its effects on student success in the EFL context. The studycompares the control group with the experimental group for the teaching of listening and pronunciation courses.The results show that a significant success difference cannot be mentioned between the groups. It also indicatesthat interactive applications such as WhatsApp Messenger increase the homogeneity of the students’ success. Thefindings also suggest that a combination of traditional and technology supported approaches could work better.