Within the field of language learning and teaching, the role of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has widely been used and can contribute towards fostering autonomous language learning within English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Fostering autonomous learning is particularly beneficial in contexts where learners have different abilities, expectations, and various learning paces. This research focuses on the overlooked area of how MALL can promote learners’ autonomous behaviour of university level students when learning grammar. This study addresses the relationship between three main concepts: self-regulated learning strategies (SRL), MALL and autonomy. This study also examines how students’ use of metacognitive strategies with MALL to learn grammar impacts the development of their skills, potentially supporting their aspirations to become autonomous, life-long language learners. Moreover, it investigates how this process is mediated by students’ attitudes towards mobile phones and their digital competency. A mixed methods approach, involving the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative techniques, enabled a comparison between students pursuing a degree with Arabic as a medium of instruction (AMI) and those preparing for a degree with English as the medium of instruction (EMI). Findings show students’ ability to develop MALL autonomous language learning behaviours by utilising metacognitive strategies and recognising their MALL digital competency. Moreover, results demonstrate students exhibit the skills for becoming life-long autonomous behaviour and agency through utilising metacognitive strategies and mobile phones. Indeed, having a positive attitude towards utilising phones for grammar learning, understanding advantages of MALL, being digitally competent, and adopting an agentic approach to language learning, are all influential aspects that foster students' transformation into proactive life-long autonomous language learners.

The key contribution of this study is its pioneering integration of the three concepts: SRL, MALL, and autonomy under a single framework, examining how their interaction is influenced by students' attitudes and digital competency.