Smartphones in the Classroom: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Pre-Service Teachers’ Academic Use, Perceived Benefits, and Challenges

Abstract

Smartphones are the most widely available digital device in Indonesian teacher education, yet evidence on how pre-service teachers actually use them during formal instruction, and with what consequences, remains limited. This study examined the frequency of academic smartphone use during lectures, the learning benefits pre-service teachers perceive from such use, disciplinary variation in use patterns, and the challenges and support needs that accompany it. A descriptive–associative, cross-sectional survey was administered to 260 pre-service teachers enrolled in eight teacher education programmes at Universitas PGRI Pontianak, Indonesia. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of independence, with Cramér’s V reported as a measure of effect size. Smartphone use during lectures was highly prevalent: 79.1% of respondents reported frequent to very frequent academic use, mainly to access learning materials and complete assignments. Use frequency was significantly associated with perceived learning benefit, χ²(16) = 45.38, p < .001, V = .21, whereas the association between disciplinary cluster and use frequency was weaker and lay at the conventional threshold, χ²(12) = 21.02, p = .050, V = .16. Limited internet data (55%) and distraction from non-academic applications (42%) were the most frequently reported constraints, and respondents were almost evenly divided over whether they needed institutional guidance. The findings position smartphones as a learning infrastructure that simultaneously affords access and imposes attentional costs, and they support guided, discipline-sensitive and infrastructure-aware integration in teacher preparation rather than blanket permission or prohibition.