Authors: Musa Nushi¹ and Mohamad Hosein Eqbali²

1. Assistant professor in TEFL, Shahid Beheshti University

E-mail: [email protected]

Bio: Musa Nushi holds a PhD in TEFL from Allameh Tabataba’i University. He is currently an
assistant professor at Shahid Behehsti University. His research interests lie mainly in the
interface of second language acquisition and second language instruction, with particular
emphasis on the role of corrective feedback in the L2 development.

2. Undergraduate student in English Literature, Shahid Beheshti University

E-mail: [email protected]

Bio: Mohamad Hosein Eqbali is an undergraduate English literature student of Shahid Beheshti
University. He is also currently an EFL teacher at Kish Institute of Science and Technology. He
is passionate about literature, languages, and the application of mobile technology in the
acquisition of second language.

We declare the manuscript has not been published elsewhere or is not being considered for
publication elsewhere.
 Duolingo: A Mobile Application to Assist L2 Learning

Technology is changing the way we learn language; it has provided teachers with new
approaches to teaching that can stimulate learners' interest while challenging their intellect
(Blake, 2013, 2016; Stanley, 2013). More importantly, it has also provided learners with plenty
of creative resources and authentic materials that can facilitate the process of acquiring a new
language (Walker & White, 2013). Among the technological innovations, devices such as
smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, MP3 and MP4 players, iPads, etc. occupy a special niche
because they offer learners the possibility to study anytime, anyplace and at their own
convenience, an experience called ubiquitous (Ogata & Yano, 2004; Yang, 2006). In fact, more
than a decade ago, Keegan (2003) believed that M (mobile)-learning, a subset of e-learning,
would provide the future of learning. Similarly, Wagner (2005) stated that "the mobile revolution
is finally here. Wherever one looks, the evidence of mobile penetration and adoption is
irrefutable…. No demographic is immune from this phenomenon," (p. 40). Mobile assisted
language learning (MALL) is indeed a rapidly growing field nowadays, one which promises to
have an enormous impact on L2 teaching and learning (Pachler, Bachmair & Cook , 2010,
Thornton & Houser, 2005).

Mobile phones, as a prominent example of ubiquitous learning device, are now a crucial
part of many people's life. They have certain characteristics in their design that make them
particularly useful for language learning purposes; they are portable, socially interactive, context
sensitive, connective and individual to language learners (Klopfer, Squire, & Jenkins, 2002).
These features are constantly evolving and new features are being added to meet users' needs.
For instance, new mobile phone friendly applications are being developed that make the task of
learning ever more exiting and personalized. This paper narrows the focus down on one mobile
language learning application, Duolingo, and explores the possibilities the application offers for
learning a second language.

I. General Description:

Publisher: Duolingo

Product Type: Mobile Application Software

Language(s): Multilingual
Level: Any

Media Format: APK/IPA

Operating Systems: Android/iOS

Hardware Requirements: Smart Phone/Internet Connection

Supplementary Software: None

Price: Free

II. Detailed description:

To use the app, learners must download from Google Play/iTunes and install it on their
android/IOS devices. English speaking learners have the opportunity to choose from a list of 16
languages from French to Irish to Esperanto. Speakers of other languages, however, do not have
as many options. An English speaker can choose from 15 complete courses, 4 Beta courses (with
8 languages being “hatched”) whereas a Spanish speaker can choose from only 6 languages (with
2 languages being hatched) and a French speaker has the opportunity to learn only 4 languages
(with just one another language being hatched). However, compared to similar apps in the
market, such as Babbel and Busuu, this is a huge range of languages which is still growing at the
moment, mainly due to its unique and broad community of learners and the platform provided
for them to contribute to Duolingo.

After the learners have selected which language they wish to learn, the app asks them to
“pick a daily goal” from the list appearing before them. This list includes Casual, Regular,
Serious, and Insane which are 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes of practice each day (See Figure 1).
 Figure 1. A screenshot of the settings before going into lessons. Learners see these options to
determine their pace. They can swipe down to see the “Insane” mode

The app then inquires whether the learner already knows anything about the language,
and if so, it provides the learner with a placement test. If the learner is new to the language, they
start with the basics. Without any more questions or even registration for the course, the learners
can go right into their first lesson, by touching the "start". It is safe to say that Duolingo is a very
straightforward app and very simple to use. The exercises are of many types:

A) Translation exercises, in which the learners translate from the language they know (L1) to
the language they want to learn (L2) or the other way around (See Figure 2).

B) Matching exercises, in which learners see a photo and match it with the words given or the
other way around (See Figure 3).

C) Pairing exercises, in which learners are given an even number of equivalent words from both
languages, and are asked to pair them (See Figure 4).

D) Listening exercises, in which learners listen to a short phrase in L2 and must type it
correctly. (See Figure 5)

E) Speaking exercises, in which learner must speak what they hear. (See Figure 6)
 Each lesson contains 10 to 15 exercises, a few from each of the categories mentioned
above, and learners have a progress bar on the top of their screens. Every time they get an answer
right, the bar moves a little bit forward and every time they get it wrong, the bar does not
progress and Duolingo points the mistake out and repeats the question again at the end of the
exercises until the progress bar is completed. Duolingo also allows the learners to go back to
whichever lesson they want, whenever they want, even if they have had all the answers right.

Figure 2. A translation exercise Figure 3. A matching exercise

 Figure 4. A pairing exercise Figure 5. A listening exercise

Figure 6. A speaking exercise

When the learners complete a daily goal, Duolingo awards them with surprising and
upbeat sounds and pictures, which makes the learners feel like they have accomplished
something big (See Figure. 7). If during the day, the learners still haven’t signed into their
Duolingo accounts to complete their daily goal, Duolingo sends a push notification to their
phones and reminds the learners to do their exercises and meet their daily goals; usually these
daily practice reminders are accompanied by interesting facts such as “62.5 million people are
learning language using Duolingo” to help motivate the learners to learn. Duolingo does this by
notifying learners at a specific time every day; however, if the readers are busy during that
specific time every day (they are working in the office, sleeping, etc) they can tell Duolingo
when to remind them, for example 7 PM, and if by 7 PM they haven’t reached their daily goals
yet, these daily practice reminders come their way.
 Figure 7. A screenshot of what comes after you have completed your daily goal

The app can be very smart at times. For example, if in a translation exercise, learners type
"Im not a teacher” instead of “I'm not a teacher”, the app understands it is a typo and not a
mistake. The learners pass the exercise but are reminded that they have a typo in their answers.
Another interesting characteristic of this app is the Dumbbell button that learners can use from
the home page of their course. Through this feature, Duolingo offers personalized exercises for
each learner, focusing on their weak points and strengthening their skills.

In Duolingo, learners can add friends, and they can use this feature to communicate
and/or compete with them. By passing a lesson, learners gain (10) XPs, and they can see the
amount of XPs their friends have gained. Also, Duolingo users can make the app notify them
when someone has more points than them (setting>someone passes me) which can be very
motivating.

It must be noted that Duolingo does not provide any grammatical explanation, and just
immerses the learner in the target language by exercises on new vocabulary. To learn the
grammar learners must deduce principles of grammar on their own and through trial and error.
Even though Duolingo penalizes for the tiniest mistakes and points out the most insignificant
typos, there are no grammar notes or rules of any kind presented to the learner. Learners make a
mistake in the new language, Duolingo shows them where they have made the mistake, and they
must understand the rule on their own.

III. Evaluation:

Duolingo is a free mobile app (there is also a web version) and, statistically, is the most
popular app in the category of Education in Google play. Studies have shown that improvements
in language abilities has been statistically significant (Vesselinov & Grego, 2012). The app also
leads to increased level of confidence in learning a new language (Vesselinov & Grego, 2012).

Duolingo reassures learners that they can achieve their learning goals and makes them
forget that they are doing something demanding as learning a language. Even with 5 to 10
minutes of daily exercises, Duolingo makes learners feel like they have accomplished something,
thus keeping them motivated. By “gamifying” learning, Duolingo has been able to keep the
learners interested and less self-conscious of learning. Once a person is “addicted” to the games
of this extremely user-friendly app, they are bound to spend time on it when they are bored on a
bus to home from work.

Despite these good points in Duolingo, there are also some cautionary notes. First, the
unnaturalness of Duolingo’s sample sentences are very obvious (and ridiculous at times). In the
very first sessions, learners my come across sentences such as “I am not you.”, “Their elephant
drinks milk.”, “We come from that woman.” which only leaves the learners confused. One more
unnatural thing in the app is the computerized voice that it uses; the learners are never introduced
to how a native speaker sounds like as long as they are using this app as their only source of
learning.

Another major downside to Duolingo is how it uses a second language to teach another
language. If you want to learn English, for example, first you must know another language which
has the English course in your language. However, if the learner’s mother tongue, say for
example is Persian, and they do not know any other languages, they practically do not have any
opportunity to learn any languages. This method of Duolingo not only limits the number of
learners, but also is not an accepted way of teaching. The most effective way to learn English is
through English, even from the basics (). If learners learn a language through a second language,
they are always prone to be dependent on the second language and may never be fully able to
express themselves in only and only the language they have learned, (Carreres, 2006).

Thirdly, there are times when the learners are introduced to a new word only by seeing
the letters and the shape of the word, and not hearing them. In many languages (such as English
and French), having the same letters and the same pronunciation is not the case for all words and
this can cause difficulties. In standard leaning, when introducing new vocabulary, the teacher
must always accompany the shape of the word with its pronunciation. Having ignored this rule,
Duolingo has made possible for learners to fall into the trap of the many exceptions and
pronunciation variations.

And finally, the lack of human interaction and real conversation in Duolingo is another
drawback. Duolingo may give learners the illusion that they know the pronunciation of a word
and its meaning, but since they have not used the phrases or the sentences they have learned,
their information will be mostly passive, and hard to retrieve. Learners must know that these
computerized listening and speaking exercises provided in the app are not at all enough and
comparable to what native speakers might sound like.

IV. Recommendation:

Self-study is obviously important in language learning and Duolingo is a useful language

application that can provide learners with practical and systematic steps to learn a new language
on their own. While the app can go somewhat well with regular classroom instruction, with
learners using it for extra practice, its approaches and principles can collide with a classroom’s
specific methods of teaching. Duolingo’s boldest way to teach a new language, as mentioned
before, is through direct translation. Now, if a student is learning a language in a classroom in
which using L2 is forbidden or at least frowned upon, and meanwhile as an extra tool, he uses
Duolingo, it might have negative consequences for him to be familiar with the translation of
what he has learned in the classroom with a real teacher. On the other hand, Duolingo has a sleek
design, is user friendly, and can be used by learners of different ages and cultures. The app
teaches English to millions of people for free, although some have criticized the developers'
method of making money by getting people to translate texts for free as a by-product of learning
a language. What sets Duolingo apart from other free language learning applications is its
methodology: teaching its users a foreign language via translation. Translation as a pedagogical
technique fell out of favor with the advent of communicative approaches to language teaching in
the late 1960s on the grounds that it creates a sense of false equivalence between the two
languages and acts as an impediment to automatic and fluent language use. However, many
second language researchers (e.g., Cook, 2010; Liao, 2006; Newmark, 1991) maintain that it is
not translation but how it is used for pedagogical purposes that counts. Cook (2010), for instance,
allows learners to relate new knowledge to old knowledge, reduces learning anxiety, promotes
noticing and metalinguistic awareness, and provides a means to assess learning. Moreover,
Duolingo, in line with the prevailing constructivism paradigm in L2 learning, encourages peer to
peer collaboration, with learner friends being able to challenge each other (Carneiro, & Simao,
2011). It also engages learners in languaging, which Swain (2006, p. 98) defines as "the process
of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language". Duolingo makes
language learning easy, fun and systematic.

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