The benefits of mlearning in language education have been widely documented (Kiernan & Aizawa, 2004, Schwienhorst, 2000, Appel, 1999). However, while projects using mobile devices and computer-mediated communication have been reported on from third-level language education, the use of mlearning in second-level education has been somewhat overlooked. This paper examines the use of mlearning in second-level education in Ireland for teaching and learning Irish.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in partnership with the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) initiated a pilot project, at the request of the Minister for Education and Science, to investigate the use of mlearning for teaching and learning Irish. Learnosity were contracted as technology partners, to design and develop the mlearning system and provide technical support for the duration of the pilot. Learnosity is a specialist e-Assessment and m-Learning company based in Ireland, with clients in Ireland, the UK, Asia and Australia.

A five-week pilot project took place in a school in County Meath, a rural area close to Ireland’s capital city, Dublin. An mlearning system was deployed in this environment with the aim to facilitate school-based oral assessment and students’ self-assessment, increase students’ communicative competence and motivate students to learn Irish with the fun and familiar props of a mobile phone and web-chat. The mlearning system proved useful and popular with teachers and students alike.

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