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How Effective Are Language Learning Apps?: Undergraduate Students

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21 views2 pages

How Effective Are Language Learning Apps?: Undergraduate Students

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voronkoff
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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How effective are language learning apps?

9 June 2020

"Despite the fact that millions globally are already


using language learning apps, there is a lack of
published research on their impact on speaking
skills," Loewen said. "There are virtually no other
studies that have investigated mobile language
learning apps in a quasi-experimental way.
Therefore, this robust and methodologically
rigorous study makes an important contribution to
the field."

In the study, which is published in Foreign


Language Annals, 85 undergraduate students at
MSU used Babbel for 12 weeks to learn Spanish.
At the beginning of the study, the students took a
pre-test to assess their existing oral proficiency,
vocabulary and grammar in Spanish. After 12
weeks, the 54 students who completed all study
requirements took the same test again to see how
much knowledge they had gained.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
The study showed that nearly all students who
completed the requirements improved in their
Spanish language knowledge and/or ability to
Now more than ever, people who want to learn a communicate after 12 weeks of using Babbel.
new language turn to their mobile devices for help
as language learning applications have become "On the whole, learners in this study increased their
increasingly available. While these apps allow oral proficiency, as measured by an improvement
users to study a new language from anywhere at on a well-established and valid speaking test, the
any time, how effective are they? Oral Proficiency Interview," Loewen said. "These
results establish that using Babbel can facilitate the
That is a question Shawn Loewen, professor in the development of oral communication skills and not
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, just grammar and vocabulary acquisition, as a
Asian and African Languages at Michigan State previous study had demonstrated."
University, is trying to answer.
Also, as one might expect, learning gains in terms
Loewen, who is the director of the Second of oral proficiency, grammar and vocabulary were
Language Studies program, recently conducted a correlated with the amount of time students
study focusing on Babbel, a popular subscription- invested in using the app.
based language learning app and e-learning
platform, to see if it really worked at teaching a Among the report's findings, 59% of participants
new language. Helping Loewen with the study as a improved oral proficiency by at least one sublevel
research assistant was Daniel Isbell, a recent on the American Council on the Teaching of
graduate of MSU's Second Language Studies Foreign Languages proficiency scale. The
Ph.D. Program who was a doctoral candidate at proportion of learners who improved rose even
the time. higher among those who spent more time using the
app. For those who studied at least six hours, 69%

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increased at least one sublevel, improving to 75%
for those who studied for at least 15 hours.

Additionally, when considering the improved


learning outcomes for those who logged more
hours in the app and the fact that 36% of
participants who started the study ended up
quitting, a key takeaway for prospective language
learning app users becomes clear: However
convenient and effective a language learning app
may be, what might be most important is that
learners stick with it and put in the necessary time
to make progress.

More information: Shawn Loewen et al, The


effectiveness of app?based language instruction for
developing receptive linguistic knowledge and oral
communicative ability, Foreign Language Annals
(2020). DOI: 10.1111/flan.12454

Provided by Michigan State University


APA citation: How effective are language learning apps? (2020, June 9) retrieved 5 October 2021 from
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-effective-language-apps.html

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