Nomophobia among Esl Learners in Malaysian Higher Learning Institute

Nomophobia among Esl Learners in Malaysian Higher Learning Institute

Mohammad Radzi Manap¹*, Malissa Maria Mahmud², Nor Fazlin Mohd Ramli³, Farina Tazijan⁴, Siti Fauziana Zakaria⁵

^{1, 3 ,4 ,5}Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia

²Sunway University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

*Corresponding Author

DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.809015

Received: 13 August 2024; Revised: 24 August; Accepted: 31 August 2024; Published: 26 September 2024

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the utilization and reliance of ESL learners on various electronic gadgets in assisting their learning processes that have mostly been conducted via online or termed as open distance learning (ODL). The pandemic has ‘forced’ almost all educational institutions to halt physical meetings and induced ODL. This unprecedented phenomena during Covid-19 pandemic have double-edged effects on learners. On one side, it assists and eases the learning processes but on the other side, the learners are ‘forced’ to spend even more time than they already are with their gadgets or smart phones that leads them to fear the situation of being without their smart phones or termed as ‘nomophobia’. This quantitative study is conducted to explore nomophobia among ESL learners using NMP- Q. A total of 114 ESL learners were conveniently selected as respondents. The respondents are mostly active undergraduates with 30% are postgraduates. The questionnaires were administered online, and quantitative data generated from this survey is used to measure respondents’ level of nomophobia, investigate gender differences as the correlation between respondents’ level of English language and their level of nomophobia and to determine the main factor(s) leading to nomophobia. The results show that majority of respondents fall under ‘Moderate’ nomophobia with close to 30% of them are under ‘Severe’. The study also confirmed that gender and the level of English language are not the determining factors of severeness of nomophobia. Finally, having no access to information is the main factor contributing to nomophobia.

Keywords: Nomophobia; ESL; Gender; English level; Malaysia HLI

INTRODUCTION

Nomophobia, a term coined from the phrase “no mobile phobia,” refers to the fear of being without a mobile phone or being unable to use it. This fear has become increasingly prevalent in the digital age, where people rely on their smart phones for various tasks, including communication, entertainment, and even education. This phenomenon has affected people from all walks of life, including ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, who face unique challenges in their language learning journey. The reliance on various gadgets in learning during the pandemic have double-edged sword effects on the learners. Furthermore, the prevalent detrimental effects of nomophobia that is closely related to stress, anxiety and tension has prompted some researchers like [3] to propose nomophobia to be included as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V (DSM-

The concern of the speedy spread of nomophobia among Malaysian tertiary students has a solid ground. This is because nomophobia has a significant relationship with gender, age group, and level of education. The frequency of using smart phones has a significant relationship with age group and level of education. There is a positive correlation coefficient between nomophobia and the frequency of using smart phones [4]. In Malaysia, based on the [7] it has been reported that smart phone ownership has increased at a whopping 15.1% from 76.4% in 2018 to 91.5% in 2021 where younger group and those with higher level    of education (20-34 years old) recorded the highest percentage of ownership at 93.6%. Moreover, access to the internet via smart phone continued to rise and recorded the highest ever percentage at 99.3%. In a systematic review by [11] has found that 15.2% to 99.7% participants had nomophobia and in Malaysia, specifically, 85.6% of undergraduates found to be categorized at moderate to severe levels of nomophobia [13]. Majority or 51% of undergraduates are found to be nomophobic [14].

Research has shown that nomophobia can negatively affect the academic performance and mental health of ESL learners. However, excessive use of smart phones can lead to distraction and lack of concentration, which in turn can hamper the learning process. Study also found that nomophobia has a significant negative correlation with academic performance, indicating that ESL learners who are highly nomophobic tend to perform poorly in their language learning tasks.

Moreover, the impact of nomophobia extends beyond academic performance, as it can also affect the mental health of ESL learners. Studies have shown that nomophobia is associated with anxiety, depression, and stress [23]these findings echoed previous findings like from [4], which can hinder ESL learners’ overall well-being and their ability to learn effectively. Besides, [1] has found that there are positive correlation coefficients and a statistical significance among nomophobia, alexithymia and depression.

Given the growing prevalence of nomophobia among ESL learners, it is essential to explore ways to manage this fear and mitigate its negative impact on language learning and mental health of learners. Among the actions to be taken in addressing this is to firstly understand the prevalence of nomophobia among the learners. Therefore, this paper aims to provide an overview of nomophobia among ESL learners in one of  Malaysia’s higher learning  institutions.

Research Questions

1. What  are the levels of nomophobia among ESL learners in HIL in Malaysia?
2. Is there any significant difference between male and female as far as levels of nomophobia is concerned?
3. Is there any significant relationship between English language performance and level of Nomophobia of the respondents?
4. What are the main factors that caused nomophobia among the respondents?

Nomophobia among Malaysian ESL learners

According to a study conducted by [9], 62.5% of Malaysian ESL learners reported experiencing nomophobia. The study also found that the level of nomophobia was significantly associated with the frequency of smart phone use for language learning. Similarly, a study conducted by [10] found that 71.9% of Malaysian ESL learners experienced nomophobia, with a significant positive correlation between nomophobia and smart phone addiction. In another study by [13] found that in Malaysia, 85.6% of undergraduates had moderate to severe levels of nomophobia and 51% of Malaysian undergraduates had nomophobia [14]. Moreover, in another study involving 15 Malaysian undergraduate students by [18]revealed that all of the undergraduates had nomophobia and 26.6% of them are categorized as having severe nomophobia.

It is reasonable to assume that the prevalence of nomophobia may have increased due to the pandemic’s impact on technology usage and dependence. A study conducted by [15] found that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to an increase in smartphone usage among university students in Malaysia, which may have further exacerbated nomophobia among ESL learners [7].

It can be concluded from a meta-analysis study by [19] that global prevalence of moderate to severe levels of nomophobia was estimated to be 70.8% of the population. Nomophobia is also found to be associated with various mental illnesses like stress, depression, anxiety [22], [20], [21], as reported by [18].

Nomophobia, or the fear of being without a mobile phone, can have a negative impact on language performance. This is particularly true for ESL learners who rely heavily on their smart phones for language learning. Nomophobia can lead to excessive use of smart phones, which can be distracting and detrimental to language learning.  In a systematic literature review by [12] concluded that nomophobia has a negative impact on learning outcomes and academic performance. One way in which nomophobia can affect language performance is by causing a lack of concentration. When ESL learners are constantly checking their phones or feeling anxious about not having access to them, it can be challenging to focus on language learning tasks. This lack of concentration can lead to lower language proficiency levels and weaker language performance.

Additionally, nomophobia can lead to a decrease in motivation and engagement in language learning. ESL learners who are overly dependent on their smart phones may feel demotivated to engage in language learning activities that do not involve their devices. This can result in a lack of practice and a decrease in language proficiency levels over time. Moreover, nomophobia can also affect language performance by interfering with communication skills. ESL learners who are anxious about not having access to their phones may struggle to communicate effectively with others, both in the classroom and in real-world settings. This can lead to miscommunication, misunderstandings, and a decrease in language fluency and accuracy.

A study conducted by [23] found a significant negative correlation between nomophobia and language performance among Chinese university students. The study concluded that nomophobia can interfere with language learning and hinder academic achievement.

In conclusion, nomophobia can have a negative impact on language performance among ESL learners. It can lead to a lack of concentration, decreased motivation, and interference with communication skills. As such, it is crucial to recognize the impact of nomophobia on language learning and develop strategies to manage it effectively.

Nomophobia, or the fear of being without a mobile phone, is a relatively new concept that has gained attention in recent years. Researchers have developed various instruments to measure nomophobia, ranging from self-report questionnaires to physiological measures. Self-report questionnaires are the most commonly used instruments to measure nomophobia. These questionnaires typically ask respondents to rate their agreement with statements related to mobile phone use and anxiety about being without their phones. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) is one of the most widely used questionnaires to measure nomophobia. The NMP-Q was developed by [16] and consists of 20 items that assess different dimensions of nomophobia, such as the fear of losing connectivity and the fear of not being able to communicate with others.

The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) has recorded a reliability value (Cronbach Alpha) of 0.95, and the reliability value of its sub-scales were found to be 0.94; 0.87; 0.83, and 0.81. Respondents rated the items in NMP-Q items with 7-point Likert (1= Strongly Disagree, 7=Strongly Agree).

This allocation of points will result for each respondent’s score to range from 20 to a maximum of 140. The cumulative score of each respondent will be categorized as mild nomophobia (21-60 point), moderate nomophobia (61- 100), and 101-140 point range indicates severe nomophobia. Higher scores indicate higher levels of nomophobia [16].

Table 1: levels of nomophobia

Dimensions of Nomophobia

[16] identified four dimensions of nomophobia based on their research. Those dimensions were arranged as below:

Table 2: dimensions of nomophobia

Higher scores indicate more severe levels of nomophobia. (refer to Table 1).

Mobile phone Use and Its Double-edged Sword Effects

Nomophobia is the fear of being without a mobile device or being unable to access it. In today’s society, this fear has become increasingly prevalent due to the dependence on mobile devices for communication, social interaction, and entertainment. When it comes to learning English as a second language, nomophobia can have both positive and negative effects.

Nomophobia can be beneficial for language learners who use their mobile devices to access language-learning apps and resources. With mobile technology, language learners can access a wealth of learning materials, such as interactive grammar exercises, vocabulary-building games, and language exchange platforms, at their fingertips. This convenience and accessibility can make learning English more engaging and convenient for learners.

On the other hand, nomophobia can also hinder language learning by creating a dependence on mobile devices for language practice. When learners rely too heavily on mobile devices for language practice, they may miss out on opportunities for face-to-face communication and interaction, which are essential for developing speaking and listening skills. Additionally, excessive mobile device use can lead to distractions and reduced attention spans, which can negatively impact language learning. In a study by [5] which involved 1,151 respondents reported that individuals who recorded longer duration of mobile internet use display higher levels of nomophobic behaviours. In addition to this, [16], [17] reported that the level of nomophobic correlates with the duration of ownership of smart phones.

The claim that nomophobia to be a newer PMPU (Problematic Mobile Phone User)-related area of study [26] and is associated with various mental health issues is considered a preconception. This is because of a few fundamental issues raised and being investigated or established by recent studies. In a study conducted by [24], it was found that the structure of nomophobia has not been well defined leading to misunderstanding of nomophobia. Furthermore, previous studies of nomophobia have neglected the difference between problematic mobile use and functional mobile use resulting in inconsistent findings. On top of all, according to [24] findings in current research, apart from associating the use of mobile phone with negative mental health, have also acknowledge its function in alleviating negative mental health symptoms.

In a nutshell, while nomophobia offers advantages for ESL learners through easy access to learning resources, its potential to hinder face-to-face communication and lead to distractions presents significant drawbacks. The emerging study of nomophobia within the context of PMPU is still developing, with ongoing debates about its structure and impacts. Understanding the distinction between problematic and functional mobile use, among other factors, is crucial to accurately assess nomophobia’s effects on mental health and language learning.

METHODOLOGY

Nomophobia, or the fear of being without a mobile phone, is a growing concern among ESL learners. To investigate the prevalence and impact of nomophobia on ES, a study was conducted on 114 ESL tertiary learners in one of HILs in Malaysia. The participants were conveniently selected based on their scores on the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), a self-reported questionnaire developed by [16].

The NMP-Q consists of 20 items that assess different dimensions of nomophobia, such as the fear of losing connectivity, the fear of not being able to communicate with others, and the anxiety related to not having access to one’s mobile phone. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with each item on a Likert’s scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The scores of each item were summed to obtain a total score, with higher scores indicating higher levels of nomophobia. This self-reported questionnaire was made available to the respondents on Google platform.

The NMP-Q has been widely used in previous studies to assess nomophobia, as it is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring nomophobia [16]. The NMP-Q has been shown to have good internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.89, indicating that the items in the questionnaire are highly related to each other and measure the same construct [16]. The cumulative scores of the participant will be categorized into 4 levels; absent, mild, moderate and severe (refer to TABLE 1). Correlation between the participants’ NMP-Q scores and their current academic performance is carried out to investigate the relationship between academic performance and nomophobia. The use of the NMP-Q in the present study allowed us to identify the prevalence of nomophobia among ESL tertiary learners and investigate its impact on academic performance.

FINDINGS

Demographic data

This section will present demographic data of the respondents that covers the aspects of gender, age, English language performance (based on their SPM result) and respondents’ internet expenditure. Referring to FIGURE 1, female dominated the number of respondent with 73.7% compared to only 26.3% male. This is a true reflection of the total student population as far as gender is concerned.

Fig.1: Respondent’s Gender

As far as age distribution is concerned, the biggest group is the 20 years old followed by those above 25, 22, 23, 24 and 25 with the percentage of 33.3%, 30.7%, 18.4%, 13.2%, 4.4% respectively. Those who are 25 years and above are the post graduate students who participated in this survey.

Fig. 2: Respondents’ Age

Respondent’s English language level

The rationale of including English language level in this survey is to investigate whether the respondents’ level of English could become a contributing factor in determining their level of nomophobia. It is based on the believe that the better their English levels are the easier for the respondents to consume information from the internet and due to this they spend more time on their gadgets and becoming more reliant on them. All these might contribute to the increasing level of nomophobia. In this survey, the respondents are found to have various levels of English that is measured using their SPM results. In short, majority of the respondents or more than 80% of them scored distinction (A+, A, A-) in English. Further distribution of the scores is potrayed in Figure 3.

Fig. 3:Respondents’ English Language SPM results

Respondents’ Internet Expenditure

Fig. 4:Respondents’ Internet Expenditure

RQ1: What  are the levels of nomophobia among ESL learners in HIL in Malaysia?

The levels of Nomophobia of the respondents are presented in Table 2 shows that majority of the respondents (62.3%)  are categorized under ‘Moderate’ while 9.6% and 28.1% as ‘Mild’ and ‘Severe’. Overall, based on Table 3, the mean score of their responses in NMP-Q is 3.1842 and that falls under the ‘Moderate’ level.

Table 3: respondents nomophobia levels

Table 4: mean score of nomophobia level

RQ2: Is there any significant difference between male and female as far as levels of nomophobia is concerned?

The p-value in the Independent Samples t-test in SPSS recorded p-value of 0.587 and based on the test’s significant level of p=0.05, it can be interpreted that there is no significant difference in terms of level of nomophobia between male and female respondents in this study. The difference between male and female as far as the prevalence of nomophobia is concerned has become the focus in many previous nomophobia related studies. However, majority of those researches has recorded no significant differences in terms of gender [11].

This study, as explained above, echoes similar finding. However, in examining results of nomophobia in terms of gender differences over a period of a decade (2009-2019), [6] has concluded that the difference between gender in the study of nomophobia has gone beyond the level of its prevalence in both gender but drew attention to the need to assess the nomophobic behaviors between the two sexes.

This also suggest for a more thorough study need to be conducted in looking into nomophobia and its difference between gender. In a different study by [8] who had also conducted a systematic literature review on nomophobia concluded contradictory finding and found that females seem to be more affected by nomophobia than males. However, they acknowledged the fact that gender differences that have been studied and reported with different criteria made it difficult to reach sound conclusions

Table 5: gender vs level of nomophobia

RQ 3: Is there any significant relationship between English language performance and level of nomophobia of the respondents?

This study concluded that there is no discernible pattern visible in the scatterplot between respondents’ English level and NMP level. Therefore, there isno significant relationship between these two variables. However, it must be stressed here that there might be differences on how the term ‘performance’ is defined between this study and others.

The term performance here refers to respondents’ previous English performance that considered the previous formal assessment of English language. Since this study is conducted in Malaysia involving Malaysians, previous formal and standard English performance that could easily become the yardstick would be the S.P.M (Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia).

The results shows that there is a negative correlation between English language performance and nomophobia to which Pearson correlation recorded -0.35, a negative correlation. This also means that, at this juncture, the prevalence of nomophobia is not influenced by the level of English performance of an individual.

Fig. 5: English Level vs NMP Level

Table 6: correlations

RQ4: What are the main factors that caused nomophobia among the respondents?

The study uses simple average count of the respondents’ scores of each item in NMP-Q to identify the main factor that caused nomophobia among the respondents. Based on the average score of each item, item no. 2 (I would be annoyed if I could not look information up on my smart phone when I wanted to do so.) was found to have the highest average score of 5.4. On the other extreme, the lowest average score was recorded by item no. 19 (I would be annoyed because I could not show my virtual self to others.) with 3.06. Based on this finding, respondents have, generally, ranked the importance of accessing to information as the highest priority and it becomes the main concern when they are without their smart phones. Besides this, they also prioritised the importance of their smart phones to be able to be fully functional, constantly connected to the internet or available Wi-Fi to allow them to constantly access to information. These findings are based on the top 4 highest scored items (average of 5 and above) of the questionnaire. 3 out of these 4 items belong to dimension A that is ‘Not being able to access information’. It was noted also that the average score of each of the item in the questionnaire did not skew to any extreme where the scores range between 3.06 to 5.4 (see TABLE 7).

Table 7: questionnaire items (ranked by average score)

The concern of not able to access information was again proven to be of the main factor that contributed to nomophobia among the respondents as dimension A ‘Not being able to access information’ represented by items 1-4 recorded an average score of 5.3 compared to dimension B: Giving up convenience; dimension C: Not being able to communicate; and dimension D: Losing connectedness, with average scores of 4.69, 4.36 and 3.57 respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study attempts to inject new a perspective into the study of nomophobia by including the level of English performance as one of the elements that could determine or differentiate the levels of nomophobia among ESL learners apart from the other equally important aspect: gender. However, it has been proven differently and the data shows that nomophobia prevalence is not influenced by gender nor English language performance. Secondly, the findings show all respondents are nomophobics with majority (62.3%) is categorized as having ‘Moderate’ level of nomophobia and 28.1% is categorized as ‘Severe’. These findings echo other previous studies.

Furthermore, this study has also highlighted that the main factor that leads to severity of nomophobia is the situation to which they are not being able to access information.  The respondents have ranked this factor, among the other three factors, as the leading factor based on NMP-Q survey conducted. Interestingly, previous studies for the last ten years vary due to shifting concern influenced by several contextual and technological changes thus making research in this area to be more interesting and challenging.

The attempts made by previous studies to associate nomophobia with negative mood or mental health symtoms were found to be inconsistent [24], premature and require further investigation. Although nomophobia study covers psychological aspects similar to the aspects related to a excessive mobile usage, its concept skewed towards distress or anxiety when losing access to one’s mobile phone instead. As concluded by [ 24], nomophobia focuses on the functional factors of the use of mobile phone and these factors were not correlated to the mental health symtoms. Unlike functional mobile phone use, problematic mobile phone use is the one that is closely associated with negative psycho-emotional performance. [24]

Nomophobia can be termed as a by-product of emerging technologies in the 21st century [25] that occur among functional users of mobile phone. The reliance on the use of mobile phones in today’s classroom should be seen as an advantage to learners as it also promotes several advantages beyond the four walls of the class. Furthermore, the learning process that embed the use of mobile phone is an outcome of carefully designed syllabus, controlled environment in which considerations are also given to other important elements like communication, collaboration, teamwork and others therefore proving that the existence of nomophobia among the subjects of the study is not something alarming.

In fact, some of findings could provide ideas on how to further enhance 21st century learning where utilization of technology and new style of learning can be provided to this new generation of learners.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The abstract of this paper was sent to 2nd International Conference on Logistics and Transformation 2023 (ICLT 2023) and this paper received an open grant provided by Universiti Teknologi MARA through an initiative called Akademi Pengajian Bahasa Open grant.

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