• 

Introduction

Mobile devices and technologies are becoming pervasive and ubiquitous in many modern societies. In 2011 according to Mobile Thinking project (http://mobithinking.com), 77% of world population have mobile phones, 10% have access to mobile Internet and the predictions are that by the end of 2014 this figure will double. About 300 000 apps have been launched for the last 3 years, the most popular apps are games, news, maps, social sites. 3G Internet penetration will reach more than 60% of European subscribers by 2012. Mobile devices are the No1 tool for organizing and structuring the entire interpersonal private and business communication. The mobile phone increasingly replace functions of other devices. It will become people`s most important constant companion. Mobile phones are the show pieces for convergence(one device includes telephone, camera, MP3-player, calendar, internet access, etc) (Goldmedia Mobile Life Report 2012 project).

These facts put enormous pressure on colleges and universities that are not yet ready to communicate with their key audience using mobile devices due to the fact that most of them don't use mobile devices as educational tools and don't have a mobile version of their website. Certainly, in this respect higher education will lag behind corporations and businesses. Yet despite our campus limited resources, we'll have to figure out how to solve the following problems - how to incorporate effectively mobile devices into teaching process, to develop our instructors' and professors' professional competence in mobile technologies, to design and create mobile professionally oriented educational apps, etc The aim of a long-term project Mobile devices in Language Classroom: theory and practice (MDLC) launched in 2011 at the Department of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, Moscow State university is to work out the strategies of mobile technologies integration into teaching process.