A supporting role

Unlike traditional teaching methods, online community learning creates a "flipped classroom" model, where learners discuss their questions and experiences. Teachers are no longer the knowledge deliverers, but instead they play the role of instructive organizers who deal with students' ideas.

"With the improvement of educational technology, we are encouraging students to complete their basic learning using a variety of multimedia resources by themselves, and bring their questions to the classroom for further investigation," says Zhai.

"This decentralized approach to learning helps students to improve their problem-solving abilities, sharpens their critical thinking and promotes innovation. Moreover, the online community makes it easier for students to overcome shyness and participate in discussions more actively."

While Zhang Xiaodong, an English teacher at Beijing Foreign Studies University, welcomes the advantages mobile apps bring to learning, she still has concerns over what sideeffects apps might bring in the long run.

"English learning apps make it convenient for people to study English in fragmented time slots, but it can at best serve as a supplement to classroom-based studies rather than be used as a substitute," Zhang says.

"Sometimes, even though the situations are similar, there are subtle differences between the use of English, which can neither be distinguished or explained clearly by apps or online teachers."

Zhang also emphasizes the importance of face-to-face oral practice, pointing out that an overreliance on the virtual situations provided by apps may hamper practical communication in people's daily lives.