Since the advent of the smartphone learning app in the mid noughties, people all over the world have been downloading and using apps like Babbel, Rosetta Stone, Busuu, and DuoLingo in the hope of acquiring the ability to speak another language. Such apps are big business. But does learning a language on a phone actually work?
1. The language business
According to global app industry analysts at Business of Apps, language learning apps “generated $2.92 billion [€2.68 million] in 2021, a 65% year-on-year increase.” 2021 was of course a pandemic year, with many people turning to home or self-driven-learning due to school and business closures. But digital language learning has been a wider trend for a long time. Back in 2014 there were already 65 million registered users of the top 4 language apps.
2. Do language apps employ traditional language pedagogy?
The theory behind teaching a language has evolved a great deal since mass education became a thing. Lecturers at the University of Bath have summarised this evolution helpfully on The Conversation.
One of the most old-fashioned methods of language teaching is through grammatical translation exercises. Anyone who has read Donna Tartt’s bestseller The Secret History will remember protagonist Richard attempting written translations from and into Greek. Or perhaps you recall Monty Python’s long-suffering Brian carrying out a painful live translation into Latin of the phrase “Romans Go Home!”.
Formal translation like this might teach you how to conjugate verbs or understand cases, but it has been shown to be hopeless for perfecting an accent or for informal communication in the field.
Then came ‘audiolinguism’ – essentially drills where learners repeat and chant rules and patterns in a formal classroom context. Again, this is little help when it comes to adapting to real-life language situations.
A range of experimental methods, including cultivating a pseudo parent-child relationship, a silent teacher (!) and the teacher only speaking in the target language have all been tried. These days the ‘communicative approach’ blends a range of activities with a focus on helping the student communicate (sometimes at the cost of accuracy).
The most installed and most used language app, DuoLingo, alongside most others, relies on the second old-fashioned method we saw above: repetition and drills that students perform until they get them right.
3. Which aspects of learning through an app are helpful?
Apps use native speaker pronunciation examples and provide a variety of practice exercises, tests and ‘conversation’ samples. The sheer exposure to a vast amount of vocabulary and practice over time is useful.
Research by Fernando Rosell-Aguilar, Senior lecturer in Spanish and Open Media Fellow at the UK’s Open University, shows that the ease with which students can use apps anywhere at any time is one of the most important features. Learning a language takes constant practice, so in terms of quantity and regularity of use, apps are helpful, if one is motivated.
That motivation might come through gamification, or turning learning into a game, as so frequently happens on apps. Games supposedly incentivise the learner with mini-rewards and make learning fun.
In addition, users value the informality of app-based learning. With no teacher or other class members watching, the stakes are low and students can try things out over and over again without embarassment.
4. What are the problems with learning on an app?
An important thing missing in app-based learning is the pedagogical notion of ‘learning in the moment of crisis’. That’s to say, as humans we’ve evolved to learn and remember lessons very intensely and deeply when put into a crisis situation: it’s how we survive. Obviously, teachers are not about to put their students in real danger, but throwing curve balls in activities, upping the ante when a student is managing well, increasing jeopardy in a fun way, and pushing students to perform beyond their self-perceived ability are all ways to achieve this.
If your learning situation is informal, gamified and low-stakes, like it is on an app, it’s questionable how ‘deep’ that learning goes.
As one DuoLingo user told me: “I’m on day 1030 in DuoLingo. Not sure it’s made much difference, but I’ll find out when I’m in France this summer!” Being in France attempting to speak to a native French speaker is where consequences get real.
5. Feedback and tailoring
As well as knowing when to push students harder, teachers provide qualitative feedback – that’s to say, they can explain what the error was, address and unpick misconceptions and tailor learning to individuals and their interests.
“As a language trainer of too many years to mention I hate to admit that I’m impressed with some of the emerging tech. But be warned – there are limitations,” says Cathy Branson, Business Development Director at Dialogue Language Service International. She adds, “Recent developments in AI tech are exciting but still limited in learner outcome and success. Apps can definitely help those who want basics for travel and work. Where they fall down is in building your language to the next level. They don’t help you understand and build linguistic structure. It’s as simple as that. If you need to be able to hold a coherent conversation, converse with colleagues or deliver a pitch, you need a trainer who will motivate you and help you build the structure of your language to a place where it needs to be for you.”
6. Blended approach
Those who shared their experiences with Travel Tomorrow indicate that apps work best when combined with other learning opportunities, such as classes, watching films, reading news and immersion in hobby groups in the target language.
In all honesty my feeling is that blended learning is the way forward and that’s my advice to any budding linguists these days. Use emerging tech but get human input on how you’re doing!
Cathy Branson, Business Development Director at Dialogue Language Service International
7. In summary
To sum up then, using a language learning app as a complement to other stimuli and teacher-led learning IS useful, but, sorry, désolée, lo siento, entschuldigung, unless you have a particular aptitude for both learning and language acquisition, you are unlikely to be able to learn a language to an advanced level through an app alone.
