This paper presents a description of the project “Portable Device Usage in Class to
Enhance Language Production”, and its subsequent transformation into an Educational
Intervention proposal. The project arose from the conflict caused by the irresponsible use of
cellphones and Wi-Fi accessibility at Universidad del Valle de México Campus Veracruz, as
well as from the lack of policies to regulate their use within the university’s campus. A series of
interviews to teachers helped decide the importance and relevance of carrying out this research.
The aforementioned interviews confirmed two things: that teachers shared a negative
perception of portable device use in class, and that students used devices such as cellphones and
iPads even when instructed not to do so. We also perceived a lack of institutional support. We
figured that, even when any private institution may have guidelines for the use of portable
devices, it could be counter-productive because private institutions tend to demonstrate constant
innovation with technology as a way to relate with their target audience.
One of the professors interviewed did not think portable devices caused distractions,
since his students used the devices after they had finished their classwork. We are inclined to
believe this happens because of the textbook that, even though it is based on a communicative
approach, it contains exercises that are very short. Therefore, it can be assumed that some
students turn to portable devices because they finish before the rest of their classmates do, in
their free time.
The truth is that working in a private institution, where students are used to having the
lates t technology, has made the presence of portable devices inevitable. That is, devices were
always present in the classroom. More traditional teachers seemed to think the solution lied in
simply collecting portable devices at the beginning of the class, but as it was mentioned before,
205