English has increasingly become an essential second language as well as a language for international communication. However, there is little research that examines the dimensions of mobile learning for both researchers and instructional designers and focuses on effective uses of the latest mobile learning technologies for education. There have been no reviews of research on mobile English learning. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research on Mobile English Language Learning (MELL) material to initiate an evidence-based discussion on the usage of mobile learning in English language education. Findings from existing literature show that studying and reviewing mobile learning leads to a deeper understanding of its effect and possibilities with respect to learning the English language. Additionally, findings also indicate that when it comes to English language skills, vocabulary is the most-used skill, and the most common problem that studies mention is that of motivation. Further studies need to investigate other terms and keywords that reflect on the use of mobile learning.

Currently, the power to master the English language has become prominent in academia, research and business. Therefore, many non-English speaking countries, including Arab countries, are striving to improve their education systems in teaching English as a foreign language, and English vocabulary is an important factor to boost English proficiency among Arab students. Moreover, in Arab countries, there is a lack of motivation among learners of English as a foreign language which affects the learning process of students. As such, digital gaming technologies, especially mobile games, are emerging as the best way to create enthusiasm in learning new languages. Therefore, a mobile application named VocabGame was developed based on a set of persuasive guidelines, and it was launched in the Google Play Store. The research investigated whether the developed VocabGame can motivate native Arab students learning the English language to achieve better performance. 64 students were divided equally into two groups that were the control group (high performance group) and the experimental group (low performance group). Students in the experimental group improved their motivation level significantly after the mobile learning intervention. Our findings showed that mobile game application is helpful for those students who had poor performance initially while studying English and improves their confidence. There was also an association between the pre-test and the post-test scores according to the motivation to learn based on the ANCOVA analysis with η_p^2 being 0.148. A mobile application game was successfully developed to motivate Arab native students to learn English as a secondary language.

Mobile learning (m-learning) is increasingly becoming a popular global trend, especially among English language learners. However, despite the growing interest in mobile English language learning, there have been no reviews of research conducted on this subject. This paper represents the first attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature (2010–2015) to identify the taxonomy and distribution of research as well as to identify the advantages and challenges and provide some recommendations to facilitate the effective use of mobile English language learning and its applications. Following a review protocol, articles on mobile English language learning from six major databases (IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, ERIC, SpringerLink, and Wiley Online Library) were reviewed. Applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 133 related articles were identified. The results show that the majority of studies were conducted on application m-learning technologies. Pure mobile applications were the most widely-used applications in the English m-learning context. Meanwhile, concerns regarding quality, usability, integration, financial costs, security and privacy, pedagogical practice, and safety were found to be the main challenges of mobile English language learning. Finally, some recommendations are provided for users, developers/providers, and researchers. The results of this paper can assist users, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the education sector to allocate the necessary resources and make plans to mitigate the challenges and facilitate the effective use of mobile English language learning in educational practices.

Mobile learning is a promising and widely adopted mode of education nowadays. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies that have investigated publications on the use of mobile learning in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS) through bibliometric analysis. This study aims to provide readers with statistical information to obtain a deep understanding of this domain. The results show that 3087 mobile learning publications have been published since 1982. As a result, the study has compared and determined the possible ways for researchers and authors to improve the citation rate of their publications on m-learning and to gain a deeper understanding of the field of mobile learning by studying the number of publications and country, the number of authors, the keywords, the number of references, the number of pages, the journal, the authors' publications, and the number of citations. Additionally, other bibliometric results are discussed.

Technology-mediated learning has become a valuable tool, especially in the English language classroom. Nowadays, mobile learning is considered a significant educational tool for promoting education among learners. Several recent studies have attempted to examine different aspects of mobile learning. The size of the experimental group, and the duration and suitability of the assessment methods are important aspects in designing experimental studies in the context of mobile English language learning. Yet, very few studies have paid attention to these aspects. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the utilisation of state-of-the-art mobile technology in English language learning, especially in terms of the size of the experimental groups, and the duration and suitability of the assessment methods. Following a systematic review protocol, 151 articles published between 2010 and 2017 were selected for analysis. Furthermore, this study considered, separately, three factors addressed in the reviewed studies: language acquisition problems, types of participants, and targeted English skills. The findings showed that the group size and study duration significantly differed among the studies based on the above factors. Questionnaires and tests were found to be the most common methods of assessment for each factor, whether used separately or in combination. The results of this review can assist in the formulation of experimental designs to mitigate the challenges and facilitate the effective use of mobile learning in English language learning.