In recent years, tertiary education in South Africa has undergone dramatic and extensive changes. We have seen the implementation of new technologies, mergers and, in particular, a diversity of multilingual student groups. With an increase in multilingual student numbers, institutions are faced with great challenges stemming from the linguistically complex nature of their student complement. These linguistic challenges place even greater pressure on students to perform, thus necessitating the need for more strategic approaches to address these challenges. In response to these demands, many institutions are adopting enhanced technology-orientated teaching and learning strategies to improve both lecturer and student comprehension.

Beep! Beep! This all too familiar sound resonates in city malls, on streets and even during movies. It is, of course, the sound of billions of SMSs that are criss-crossing the globe each year, carrying with them the various plans and emotions of billions of people who are flexing their thumbs to send these text messages. The question we should ask ourselves is: why can't we, as educators, use this to start our own ‘flirt net’ or a ‘cupid learning net’? In doing so, we might enhance the learning experience for all, especially for the distance student. If you receive an sms from the university at which you are enrolled, you will probably feel that you are part of this new learning adventure, which is described by Lusunzi (1998:1) as ‘the success of the beaming process is increasingly measured by the high number of satisfied customers and low number of drop-outs, and not pedagogical imperatives’. When we look at the enormous diversity of distance education students in the South African or African context, we wonder what, if anything, these students have in common. The answer is: a mobile phone. This is the one hand-held device that can be used successfully to reach some of the most distant and disadvantaged of our students.

This chapter answers the question: ‘How can mobile phone technology support learning in second language teaching?’ The answer to this question was addressed in a pilot study that was conducted in the teaching of a second language. The feedback from participants is documented with the intention of rolling this out to a bigger group.