9 - Concepts, Contexts and Challenges in MALL

Summary

This chapter brings together the arguments covered in the previous eight chapters and returns to the title of the book: concepts, contexts and challenges. The concepts that need to be kept in mind for the future of mobile learning are explored, along with the impact of the context on language teaching and learning through mobile technologies. Along with these, the current and prospective challenges are also investigated, with the aim of seeing how these challenges can be overcome to make the most of what MALL can be. The potential future paths in which mobile learning may be considered to evolve will also be discussed here, not in terms of evolving technologies but in terms of directions that the field seems to be headed and how these can relate to meaningful research and practice that is needed in both the shorter and longer term.