International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 1 No.

10 October 2013

The effects of Cell phone use on the study habits of University of

Zimbabwe First Year Faculty of Arts students.

Leslei Kahari

ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to examine the effects of cell phone use on the study habits of
University of Zimbabwe 1st year Faculty of Arts students. The research was carried out using
questionnaires distributed to 200 students who own cell phones .The questionnaires collected
demographic information about the respondents, cell phone type preferences, uses of cell phones
during study, predominant usage during study and information about challenges facing students in
using mobile phones for study purposes. The results showed significant gender differences in
several aspects of cell phone use .The results also revealed that cell phone use has negative and
positive effects on the study habits of university students depending on usage patterns .The study
concluded that despite the challenges faced by students ,cell phones unlike other educational
innovations are firmly rooted in the society in which education and institutions are part of and
ignoring the use or applications of this technology would be ill-advised.
Key words: Cell phone, study habits, University of Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION
This study investigates the effects of cell phone use during study on the study habits of University
of Zimbabwe 1st year Faculty of Arts students. Many students starting university do not always
possess the prerequisite skills to cope with the challenges of the new and changing learning
environment. An environment where they are expected to study without being told specifically
what or when to study. Ultimately their success or failure within university courses is determined
by their ability to adopt the most appropriate strategy within a particular learning situation .In
order to become effective independent learners in today’s changing environment, there is need to
focus more on what students are doing outside the classroom in terms of their study habits than
on what students are doing in the classroom. Study skills are critical to academic success given the
independent nature of university learning yet little attention has been paid to them in the
Zimbabwean context.
University students according to Ling (2001) are susceptible to trends, fashions and styles, which
make them more willing to adopt new technology such as, cell phones .As new technologies
emerge, the study habits of university students also evolve .Cell phones have changed the
traditional college experience and to meet these challenges, learning institutions such as, the
University of Zimbabwe must embrace the new technology for learning. Cell phone use has been
increasing in all economic and age sectors and has expanded the boundaries of higher education

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into an ‘anytime, anywhere experience’ (Prensky,2001:3)leading to university students been

labelled as one of the most important markets and the largest consumer group of mobile phone
services(Totten et al:2005,McClatchy:2006). Cell phones are presenting new means for students to
access information thereby redefining the educational experience .Redefining this educational
experience however presents new challenges for both educators and learners as they determine
optimal mixes of technology and pedagogy.
Improving the study skills of university students is an area which lecturers and students alike
agree is important .Unfortunately at the University of Zimbabwe ,this type of training is only left to
Lecturers in the Communication Skills Department who introduce study skills to 1st Year Students
in the Academic Communication Skills Course .In this course 1st year students are also taught
about Information Literacy Skills and the trust is mainly on the use of Computers and Laptops
leaving out the potential of cell phones as learning tools. The scenario at the University of
Zimbabwe is also echoed by Azikiwe(1998) who point out that universities often simply provide a
brief initial introduction to study skills to students in their 1st year and there after fail to provide
the necessary and subsequent systematic advice and support leading to students failing to develop
effective study skills. Every year the University of Zimbabwe admits ‘the best and the brightest’
and this homogeneous group of super achievers is really quite variable as some perform quite well
and others do not. A few drop out and others continue their programmes with mediocre grades
.These differences can be closely linked to study habits which according to Biggs (1987) and Meyer
(1992) have been identified as one of the reasons for academic failure and dropouts.
The University of Zimbabwe has been concentrating more on Electronic-learning (E-learning)
which can be defined as electronically supported learning and teaching of any kind leaving out M-
learning(Mobile learning) ( Brown:2005).E-learning does not necessarily require a connection to
the internet as learning and teaching can be done through CD Rom’s. M-Learning is a natural
extension of E-Learning and it involves using mobile devices such as, cell phones ,smart phones
and palmtops that allow students to learn in different environments and whilst on the move
instead of being restricted to the classroom or library. Looking at how University students have
embraced cell phone use ,there is a need for the university to also encourage M-Learning which is
the use of wireless technology enabled devices for learning at anywhere, anyplace and anytime
which makes information widely accessible.
Based on the extended usage of cell phones by university students in Zimbabwe the need appears
to unravel the myth surrounding the use of cell phones as an aid to study and the effects it has on
students study habits and academic performance . The significance of the study emerges from the
fact that it attempts to identify the effects of cell-phone use on the study habits of university
students and the role played by technology in supporting education, solving educational problems
and promoting educational outcomes.
The study is mainly guided by the following research questions:
1. What are the cell phone type preferences of University of Zimbabwe 1st Year Faculty of Arts
students?
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2. What do University of Zimbabwe 1st Year Faculty of Arts students use their cell phones for whilst
studying?
3. What are the effects of cell phone use during study on the study habits of University of
Zimbabwe Faculty of Arts 1st Year students?
4. What difficulties are faced by University of Zimbabwe Faculty of Arts 1st year students in using
cell phones as study tools?

BACKGROUND TO STUDY
The cell phone is one of the most rapidly growing technologies in the world with more than six
billion subscribers(UN Report: 2013).In Zimbabwe there are more than 12 million subscribers and
these subscribers are mainly shared between Econet with more than 8 million subscribers
,followed by Telecel with around 2.5 million subscribers and Net One with slightly over 2.1 million
subscribers(POTRAZ :2013) . A cell phone or cellular phone also known as a mobile phone is a
device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide
geographical area(Prensky:2001).Modern cell phones support a wide variety of other services such
as ,text messaging ,multi media messaging,email,internet access ,bluetooth, business applications
,games ,photography and calendaring among other services. The study prefers a broader
definition of cell phones to also include smart phones as types of cell phones since they also
perform some of the functions offered by a cell phone .A smart phone is a device that also makes
calls but also adds on features that in the past where found on a personal computer such as,
Microsoft documents, QWERTY keyboard, synchronising personal and professional e-mail accounts
(Attwell: 2005).
The simplest way to tell a smart phone apart from a cell phone is that cell phones do not have an
operating system whilst smart phones have an operating system such as ,Android or
Windows.Cellphones are relatively low cost ,powerful, small, lightweight and with proper
instructional design they promise educational opportunities because of their increased flexibility
for learners. According to Prensky (2001),today’s high end cell phones have the computing power
of a mid-1990’s computer and even the simplest voice only phones have more complex and
powerful chips than the 1969 on board computer that landed a spaceship on the moon.
Study skills according to Al Hilawani and Sartawi (1997), are those skills and habits which are
necessary for understanding and retrieving information. Key competencies of study include,
acquiring information, recording information, recording appropriate responses to the presented
information, locating the required information, organising and managing information ,synthesizing
information to create meaningful patterns of responses ,memorising and retrieving information on
demand(Hoover:1989).Azikiwe(1998)describes study habits as the way and manner a student
plans his or her private reading outside lecture hours in order to master a particular subject of
topic. Study habits can be good ones which lead to a student excelling or bad ones which can lead
to a student getting mediocre grades. Effective and successful study consists of more than merely
memorising facts but calls for knowing where and how to obtain information and the ability to
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make intelligent use of it. Study habits directly reflect on one’s learning ability and it is significant
to find out the study habits of students in order to improve their learning.

LITERATURE REVIEW
A perusal of related literature highlights the increased use of increased digital technology by
university students in learning and two views have emerged, advocates and opposers.Literature
on M-Learning point to a variety of benefits and for heuristic purposes these impacts can be
grouped into two broad categories, namely supposedly educational outcomes by improving access
to education while maintaining the quality of education and purportedly impacts on educational
outcomes by facilitating alternative learning processes and instructional methods. McNeal and
Hooft (2006) found cell phones as important resources which make teaching more relevant and
meaningful thereby improving students literary and numeracy skills. In another study Attewell
(2004) reported how cell phone use encourages both independent and collaborative learning
experiences and in the process raising self esteem and self confidence. Kukulska-Hulme and
Traxler (2007) believe that cell phones are a form of multiple literacy which provides a bridge
between the real life texts of the community and formal learning thereby providing a multimodal
literary approach to learning.
Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler (2007) also revealed how cell phones facilitate designs for authentic
learning leading to personalised learning that largely targets real world problems and involves
projects of relevance and interest to the learner.Cellphone use has also been found to support
lifelong learning that occurs during everyday life, learning that occurs in spontaneity and
impromptu settings and outside the formal environment (Brown: 2005). Such personalised
learning exerts a democratizing effect on the learning experiences of learners as they take greater
responsibility for the learning process instead of being passively fed information by lecturers (dela
Pena Bndalaria:2007).
Mcneal and Hooft (2006) point out that even though cell phones are popular their use in the
learning environment has been met with some resistance from students and educators mainly
based on the fact that they are “a source of irritation, delinquency and even crime” (Katz and
James E: 2008) .Proponents of cell phone use strongly feel that cell phones are inappropriate tools
for learning as they are actually harmful. Commonly cited negative effects of cell phone use in
education include, chatting and texting when students should be studying. As Cumiskey (2005)
notes, public use of cell phones transforms our roles from social participants to observer or user
.In other words, it’s not just the student using a cell phone who is affected but also the one who is
studying closer to the user thereby constituting a disturbance to proximate others. Kawasaki
(2006), Jeen -Hynn et al (2008) and Ling’s (2005) reported how students who are preoccupied with
their mobile phones tend to experience psychological distrurbances, depression, lower self esteem
and interpersonal anxiety when they study without their cell phones.
Helszer (2004) reports on how some Education administrators spend much time and energy
developing policies and procedures to keep cell phones out of education at the expense of
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developing sound policies that integrate cell phone use as knowledge construction and data tools.
For example ,Gilroy(2004)pointed out that 85% of professors’ surveyed in Germany stated that
they wanted cell phones banned from tertiary education mainly because of students cheating in
tests ,accessing unfiltered internet sites and secretly taking pictures without permission. Cell
phone use has also been found to reduce students thinking abilities and shortening the attention
span of students so dramatically that students struggle to read anything longer than a social
network posting(Young:1996). Research has concluded that m-learning works best when used as
part of a blend (Brown: 2005, McHugo and Hall 2006) that is ,as a supplementary tool that is used
in combination with traditional methods such as, lectures, paper based materials and other ICT
tools.
METHODOLOGY
For data gathering and to investigate the study questions a questionnaire with closed and open
ended questions designed by the researcher was distributed to a sample of 200(100 male
students and 100 female students) 1st year students in the Faculty of Arts in the Second Semester
of 2012.The respondents were drawn from five departments namely, Department of English,
Department of Religious Studies, Department of Modern Languages, Department of African
Languages, Department of Economic History, Department of History and Department of Linguistics
. The selection of the participants was random and the only criterion was ownership of a cell
phone. The format of the survey was based on a mixed method of seeking qualitative and
quantitative responses. The questionnaire consisted of 4 main parts; Part 1 collected demographic
information about the respondents, Part 2 asked information about cell phone type preferences,
Part 3 asked questions about uses of cell phones during study and predominant usage during study
and Part 4 gathered information about difficulties facing students in using cell phones during
study.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

i) CELL PHONE RANKING AND TYPE OF CELL PHONE OWNED
The 200 respondents, 100(50%) female students and 100(50%) male students had owned cell
phones for more than six months and some for more than two years. The respondents were asked
to rank four main categories of the cell phone selection namely price, available features, look and
shape and brand. The respondents then indicated the type of cell phone they own.
Table1
Cell phone selection ranking by the respondents
1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4TH Place
Price 26.4% 36.4% 25.3% 12.3%
Brand 29.8% 30.3% 27.4% 31.0%
Available applications 24.2% 20.2% 26.3% 19.1%
Look and Shape 21.3% 14.2% 24.4% 21.3%

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Table 2
Type of cell phone owned in
percentages

G-Tel
Blackberry
i-Phone Males %
HTC
Females %
Nokia
Samsung

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

The results in Table 1 show the importance of brand because this feature gets the most first rank
in the sample but the price is also very important. When examined together the first rank and
second rank, the results show, that the price gets the most votes. The importance of price is also
evident in the number of last rank. Price is very critical to all students and it is the only thing
between them and their favourite cell phone. The available applications were less important than
price and brand even though most respondents preferred cell phones with internet, Whatsapp up
or Viber applications. Correlations showed that usually the more expensive the device was the
more applications it had.
Female students appeared not worried about the price but were more concerned with the brand,
appearance and look while they ranked available applications lower. Male students ranked
available applications higher than look and appearance and this confirms past research by
Ling(2001),Bianchi and Phillips (2005) that male users are more attracted to technical application
and features of the mobile phone such as games while females use the cell phone as a socializing
tool.
After this ranking, the next question was on the type of cell phone owned by the respondent. The
results in Table 2 show that the respondents prefer a Samsung cell phone which is owned by 46%
of the respondents followed by Nokia with 32%.The third and fourth highest owned cell phones
are HTC with 0.7% and Blackberry with 0.6%.The Apple i-Phone was owned by 0.5% of the
respondents mainly because of its high price. G-Tel Cell phones were the least preferred mainly
because it is associated with cheap Asian imitations.
The choice of a cell phone type and the reasons influencing type section of the respondents can
be understood in terms of several established models and theories in terms of adoption of
technological products as such as, Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975) and the
Technological Acceptance Model (Davies:1989) .The two theories propose several antecedents
which ,include perceived expressiveness (Cassidy et al:1992)which is how students express their
identity ,individuality and emotions, perceived enjoyment(Davies:1992) which is the extent to
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which students enjoy using their cell phones because of the various applications they have,
perceived usefulness (Davies:1992),which is the belief that using a cell phone as a study tool can
enhance their learning and perceived ease at use (Davies:1997),which is the degree to which
students believe cell phone will provide easy access to information.

iii) USE OF PHONE APPLICATIONS WHEN STUDYING

The third part of the questionnaire required respondents to evaluate their frequency of cell phone
applications usage during study. The Likert scale contained the following categories of
frequency;1=Never,2=rarely,3=often,4=always and 5=no response. All the respondents (100%) do
not switch off their cell phones whilst studying and 65% indicated that they put their cell phones
on silent when studying.

Table 3.
Respondents cell phone application usage when studying.
Never Rarely Often Always No responses
Internet 22.9% 18% 20.1% 40.1% 0%
Text messaging(SMS) 0.1% 0.5% 24% 75% 0%
Voice calls 10% 31.4% 22.4% 37.1% 0%
Multi Media Messaging(MMS) 80.1% 0.5% 0.2% 0% 13%
Camera 18.2% 34.1% 25.4% 23.1% 0%
Video recording 60% 20% 15% 0.5% 5%
Calendar 20% 53.5% 15% 0.8% 10%
Calculator 16% 85% 0.5% 0.1% 0%
Clock 0% 0.2% 24.8% 73.1% 0%
Alarm 20% 55.3% 22.5% 0.3% 0%
Games 29.4% 68.2% 0.9% 0.6% 0.5%
Organiser 70% 30% 0.5% 0.3% 0.2%
Radio 42% 17.4% 20.3% 21.8% 0%
Audio Recording 10% 89% 0.4% 0.2% 0%

a) INTERNET AND WEB BROWSING

The majority of the phones (76%) were internet enabled and 24% were voice only cell phones .The
majority of respondents with internet enabled cell phones indicated that they visit internet sites
during study time. Most of the respondents indicated that they mainly access Google and other
text or search engines during study time thereby turning their cell phones into research tools.
Some of the sights visited included the dictionary and encyclopaedia. Eighty percent of the
respondents who used Google and other search engines indicated that they use the internet to
search for educational information while 20% use the search engines for non-educational

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purposes. None of the respondents indicated using voice activated search engines despite the
several advantages it also has for the blind and sight impaired. The results also showed that female
students were more likely to send or receive emails during study than male students.
Seventy percent of respondents admitted to accessing social network sites or file sharing sites
such as, Face book, You Tube and Twitter during study from time to time or even more frequently.
However ,87% of visits to social network sites were for non-educational purposes. Such instances
of real time chat and data sharing applications can support communication collaboration and
knowledge sharing. If used correctly ,social network sites can be productive and enhance
learning.Facebook accounts can allow students and lecturers to share links and ideas, regular
blogging which allow students to read and comment on each other’s posts making students to
become content creators. As noted by Northrup (2001) the rise in students’ level of interaction
corresponds with high levels of learning leading to improved academic performance.
Internet search engines have been accused of conditioning students to expect to be able to find
information quickly and easily and hence making them lazy. Young (1996) indicated that college
students who use the internet ‘excessively’ experienced a decline in study habits as they are often
distracted. Whilst on the internet students can bump into pornographic sites. Despite the various
distractions the majority of the respondents agreed that it assisted them in their study. For
example, in goggle search if a student spells a word wrongly, Google prompts the student ‘Did you
mean’ thereby providing a correct spelling. The results reveal that the internet is a valuable source
of information for students. The epileptic and expensive nature of data connections in Zimbabwe
are a major barrier to students fully utilising the internet as it is very expensive to download
documents more so for students to spend more time surfing on the internet.

b) SHORT TEXT MESSAGING (SMS) AND MULTIMEDIA MESSAGING SERVICE (MMS)

The Study confirmed that the most popular feature used was text messaging. The results from
Table 3 show that 75% of the respondents confirmed sending or receiving text messaging during
study time. Of the texts messages sent or received, a small proportion of the respondents, 35%
pointed out that the text messages were for educational purposes, whilst 65 % where for non-
educational purposes .Of the 65% messages relating to non-educational purposes, 70% were to
friends, whilst 30% were to parents and relatives. Multimedia messaging service (MMS) was one of
the least used applications with 80.1% respondents indicating that they never used the
application. More females’ respondents than males used the SMS features while male students
were more interested in other technological features such as games. This finding is consistent with
earlier studies (Nurvitada: 2003, Lie: 2004, Ling: 2001).
The respondents indicated that education related SMS messages were mainly on asking for titles
of texts, definitions, information on missed lectures and for seeking clarification on concepts. Only
5% pointed out that they at times send text messages to their lecturers. The amount of
information shared through SMS and MMS is usually less because of the prohibitive high costs of
sending a long message. Most of the messages sent or received are written in short hand or
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abbreviated form. The use of short hand has been related to negatively affecting spelling and
grammar proficiency as evidenced from the use of abbreviated words, incorrect subject-verb
agreement and misspellings in assignments and examinations (Kate Ross: 2010).
Geertsema et al (2011) however disagrees with the negative effects of text messaging by pointing
out that there is a stronger casual relationship between the abbreviations and literacy skills
meaning that text messaging gives exposure to the written words which relates to higher literary
attainment. Short text messages can be written easily even with ‘predictive text’ providing timely
reminders and students can also use SMS innovative games, pop quizzes to become aware of
current events for classroom discussion .Students can also learn languages, literature and writing
through language games such as crosswords and Tetris like word puzzles .Cell phones also provide
an incentive for university students to use their literacy skills in their native languages
Whilst educators dismiss cell phone’s instant messaging as distracting during study because of
non-educational texting and compulsive checking of the cell phone for messages, even a window
could be a distraction to an unmotivated student. Texting provides inventive methods that
facilitates collaborative learning and continued conversation despite the physical location thereby
creating common interpretations and shared understanding. The results show that not all texting
has a negative effect.

c) VOICE CALLS
The results show that students receive and make calls during study since all respondents pointed
out that they do not switch off their cell phones when studying. Over 50% indicated that they at
some point during study make or receive calls. More than 90 % of the calls made or received
during study were non-educational purposes, pointing out at how cell phones can be distracting
whilst studying. The results also confirmed Junco, Mersen and Salter’s ( 2010)findings that females
spent more time talking on the phone than males and that there are more likely than males to
receive more family oriented as well as social oriented calls.
Receiving calls is the most important feature of mobile phones since it is cost free and the
majority (70%) of the respondents pointed out that they receive calls from parents’, relatives,
classmates and friends during study while only 30% make calls .The results show that respondents
were less likely to make a call than to send a message. The students also indicated that they
checked their cell phones several times when studying more than three times in an hour
anticipating a call, message or email even if the cell phone is on vibrate and in a case of network
inaccessibility or phone malfunction, 30% said they would be very upset and stressed.
The results indicate that voice calls can be used to share educational information but there is need
to promote cell phone etiquette as students should understand some simple etiquette of when to
turn off cell phones and when not to answer cell phones.

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d) CAMERA AND VIDEO RECORDING

Generally a few respondents indicated using the camera and video recording application on their
cell phones for educational purposes. Despite the educational benefits of cameras and video
recording, some of the respondents indicated using the camera for sending lewd photographs
which can be distracting during study. Camera and video recording applications can become tools
for data collection and documentation. For example, the Camera and video recording application
can be used to take appropriate pictures say in economic history, archaeology which can then be
published on the internet whilst creative photos can inspire students’ creative writing.

e) VOICE RECORDING AND MUSIC

Although a cell phone is a sound based technical device, 89% of the respondents rarely use this
application and it was actually surprising that the respondents use the camera more than voice
recording .The few respondents that use this application to record lectures for their friends who
would have missed classes and to record important topics they feel are important or central such
as examination revision classes. It was interesting to note that 21% of the respondents cannot
study without listening to the radio or music downloaded on their cell phones.

f) GAMES
The results show that 85% rarely play games on their cell phones while about 14% at one point or
another play games during study. Of the few respondents who play games during study the
majority were male students. While literature is replete with the distracting effects of games,
various features in games can help students to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills.
The rules of the games notify contestants presenting the ways to play in order to win thereby
instilling structural expertise. Playing to win demonstrates to students the need to continuously
strive to come out on top.

g) CALCULATORS, CALENDARS AND CLOCK

The respondents indicated that they rarely use calculators and this might be attributed to the fact
that as Arts students they rarely make any calculations. The small percentage of 0.1 % who use
calculators may use them to calculate coursework marks. 23% of the respondents at least use the
calendar to check on assignment due dates and tutorials dates. Scheduling and calendar
applications are useful to the respondents as they can increase an individual’s organizational skills
and regulative or self directed learning ability. All the respondents confirmed using the clock
application when studying to regulate their study time.

iv) CELL PHONE USE CHALLENGES FACED BY STUDENTS

The last part of the questionnaire used open ended questions to gather information on the
challenges faced by students in using cell phones as study tools. The main challenges faced by the
respondents included ,network congestion which slows down speed at which information is
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delivered, lack of electricity due to power cuts for recharging their cell phones ,high costs of
prepaid cell phone services which limits the rate and time for which one would want to use the cell
phone, small screen size, inadequate memory, short battery, content and software application
limitations ,lack of inbuilt functions, difficulties of adding applicatios,differences between
application and circumstances, network speed and reliability.
The question that arises from these numerous challenges is whether Zimbabwe gives adequate
technical support for M-learning at the University of Zimbabwe .Like at other institutions of higher
learning in Zimbabwe , Mobile learning is still fragmented and the technical infrastructure is not
yet fully ready for truly mobile learning as some learning materials still remain unsupported .The
most serious problem faced today is the lack of a sound theoretical framework which can generate
effective instructional , evaluative and quality of programmes that rely significantly on mobile
technology. But considering great advantages that cell phone can bring, the adoption of cell phone
as a study tool should be greatly encouraged. The limitations of mobile devices may be a temporal
concern if we look at the rapidly advanced functions and numerous applications being introduced
every day.

CONCLUSION
The results show that a cell phone is a very important tool for study as most of the respondents
used their phones for study purposes. Cell phones are increasingly one of the most popular
information access devices and what stands out from the study is the high use of interactive, multi
user functions which can at times be disruptive or beneficial during study. In essence, the study
revealed that cell phones are beneficial for learning but learners have a tendency to abuse them.
While additional research is warranted in order to confirm whether or not the findings can be
generalised to the University of Zimbabwe and all Universities in Zimbabwe the size of the sample
and consistent patterns do lend credibility to the findings. Higher institutions can take advantage
of the potential and capitalise on the cell phone for educational purposes because of the intrinsic
motivation of university students in wanting to communicate amongst themselves. Findings of the
study also show that mobile phone designers must take into account how young people use cell
phones for educational purposes. The presence of cell phones presents a host of options and
challenges for today’s students. Cell phones are undeniably convenient, helpful tools for study and
can be a hurtful source of distraction depending on the attitude and use pattern of a student.

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