ENG2601/ Assignment 03/2024

Tutorial letter 001/1/2024

Applied English Language Studies:

Further Exploration
ENG2601

Department of English Studies

This tutorial letter contains

important information about the
ENG2601 Assignments 03 for 2024

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Table of Contents Page

Assignment 03 .............................................................................................................................. 3
Due date .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Question 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 5

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 ENG2601/Assignment 03/2024

Assignment 03

Due date: 05 August 2024

Compulsory: Yes

Banning mobile phones in schools can improve students’ academic performance. This is
how we know.
Author: Louis-Philippe Beland

Published: March 21, 2021, 8.49pm SAST

The effects of mobiles phones and other technology at school is a hotly debated topic in many countries.
Some advocate for a complete ban to limit distractions, while others suggest using technology as a
teaching tool.

Kids in public South Australian primary schools started the school year without being allowed to bring their
mobile phones to class, unless they are needed for class activity. All students in public Western
Australian Victorian, and Tasmanian schools have a mobile phone ban in place since for all or some of
2020. New South Wales also banned mobile phones in public primary schools, with secondary schools
having the option to opt in, since the start of 2020.

Education departments have introduced the bans for various reasons including to improve academic
outcomes and decrease bullying.

Several recent papers point to positive impact of banning mobile phones at school on student performance
and other outcomes. Understanding the evidence is crucial for best policy.

In a 2015 paper, we used a method — called a difference-in-difference strategy — as well as student data
from England to investigate the effect of banning mobile phones on student performance. In this method,
we compared schools that have had phones removed to similar schools with no phone bans. This allowed
us to isolate the effect of mobiles phones on student performance from other factors that could affect
performance.

We found banning mobile phones at school leads to an increase in student performance. Our results
suggest that after schools banned mobile phones, test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4% of a
standard deviation. This is equivalent to adding five days to the school year or an additional hour a week.

The effects were twice as large for low-achieving students, and we found no impact on high achieving
students.

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Our results suggest low-performing students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile
phones, while high performing students can focus with or without mobile phones.

The results of our paper suggest banning mobile phones has considerable benefits including a reduction
in the gap between high- and low- achieving students. This is substantial improvement for a low-cost
education policy.

Other studies show similar results.

Recent studies from Spain and Norway, using a similar empirical strategy to ours, also show compelling
evidence on the benefit of banning mobile phones on student performance, with similar effect size.

In Spain, banning mobile phones has been shown to increase students’ scores in maths and science.
Researchers also documented a decrease in incidences of bullying.

In Norway, banning phones significantly increased middle school students’ grade point average. It also
increased students’ likelihood of attending an academic high school rather than choosing a vocational
school. And it decreased incidents of bullying.

Evidence from Belgium suggests banning mobile phones can be beneficial for college student
performance. This context might be different, but still informative as students are of similar age to those in
high school.

Research from Sweden, however, suggests little effect of banning mobile phones in high school on student
performance. It is worth noting, however, the study did not find any detrimental effect of banning mobile
phones.

A similar conclusion can be drawn from the literature on the effect of computers used at school. Evidence
from the US suggests using laptops in class is detrimental to learning, and the effects are large and more
damaging for low-performing students.

Potential psychological mechanisms involved.

The psychological literature might shed lights on the potential mechanisms as to why mobile phones and
other technology in school might affect student performance. This literature finds multitasking is detrimental
to learning and task execution.

Many recent experimental papers present evidence mobile phone use while executing another task
decreases learning and task completion. Research also shows computers might be a less efficient way to
take notes than pen and paper.

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 ENG2601/Assignment 03/2024

It may be that taking notes by hand allows you to remember the material better than typing those notes on
a computer. This may be because students are not just typing out every word said, but thinking of how to
summarise what they’re hearing.

Beland, LP. 2021. Banning mobile phones in schools can improve students’ academic performance.
This is how we know. https://theconversation.com/banning-mobile-phones-in-schools-can-improve-
students-academic-performance-this-is-how-we-know-153792. [Accessed: 7 June 2023]

Question 1:

Write a well-structured argumentative essay of 1000-1200 words in which you discuss this
text in relation to its register and tone; cohesion, coherence and grammatical expression; and
content.

Total: 100 Marks

Use the following guidelines to structure your essays in a logical and coherent manner:

• Write an introduction, body and conclusion. Do not use headings in your essay.
• Do not enter into any personal discussion
• Use quotations from the text to support and enhance your argument.
• Use academic English (no slang, contractions).
• Proof-read and edit your essay to enhance its academic quality.

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