Effects of Mobile Technology on Adult Learners’ Achievement in Literacy Programmes in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

This paper examined the effects of mobile technology on adult learners’ achievement and benefits derived from its use in literacy programmes. Promoting literacy in Nigeria faces a number of challenges. One of the reasons for low literacy is due to the fact that new literates relapse into illiteracy several months after the basic literacy course. This is usually due to the difficulty of sustaining their interest in reading. As a strategy of sustaining their interest in literacy, the study, therefore, resorted to the use of mobile phone given its affordances in bridging learning in and outside of the classroom. The study employed quasi-experimental research design. The population comprised 20 adult learners in advanced literacy class of the University of Ibadan model literacy centre. The research instrument used were a Mobile platform, Social Studies content, Observation and Questionnaire developed to investigate to what extent mobile technology had affected instruction and literacy skills. The data collected were analysed using simple percentage, inferential statistics (t.test) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to determine the main and interaction effects with pre-test and post test scores as covariates. The experimental group that were exposed to mobile technology had higher achievement mean score (x=41.8)  than those in the conventional classroom (x=33.62). From the study, it was observed that mobile phones had a positive impact on adult learners’ achievement in literacy programme. This study recommended the use of mobile technology among adult learners as it motivates and increases their interest in learning.