Week 4

Using Apps for Language Learning

I use applications everyday in my Personal Learning Environment, but not only for language learning. In class, in groups we discussed the use of WhatsApp, a social networking application we are all familiar with and we explored its use, specific to LL.

We came to the conclusion that students could use it, to form groups and practise the target language outside class time and collaborate to solve any problems they encountered on their language learning journey. By making it private to the students, it creates learner confidence and promotes autonomy. Students learn from each other and share new vocabulary, hereby creating a new learner platform.

I regularly use the free apps WordReference and Leo for French, German and Spanish. These are dictionary translation websites which give you access to forum discussions with millions of questions and answers about the target language. I really like both apps as you learn the synonyms and many features of languages. The translations are quite accurate and there are multiple languages available in WordReference and I recommend my students to use it (outside of class for further,more detailed explanation).

The one criticism I have is that the design is a little outdated but it is easy to use none the less and it’s free! Florence mentioned Duolingo to us and I decided to look at this app in more detail as I thought that it could be something that I could use in my free time to improve my language skills. It works in the following way:

• Translate L1 to L2
• Translate L2 to L1
• Speak L1
• Translate articles

Pros:

Looking more in detail at Duolingo: The added grammar section is useful as it gives a more in-depth explanation of the topic. The comments section of the app allows learners to ask questions about task elements that they didn't comprehend and they can receive help from other learners and even from course contributors. Duolingo does work, provided you supplement it with other materials. What Duolingo best provides is random grammar exercises while you are still learning the basics. It doesn't teach you grammar, but it does drill you on it and that's almost impossible to find elsewhere. Duolingo is designed to drill grammar into your head, without much context or any usage of this vocabulary in real-life situations and this is perhaps the application's greatest failing.

Cons:

Nevertheless, I would prefer my LA to take place with a native speaker beside me, answering any questions I may have. Call me old fashioned!!

In my opinion, the teachings are not very modern and the drilling exercises echo of behaviorist habit formation and drilling exercises. I don't find this sufficient enough for learning the vocabulary I need. There is a distinct lack of conversation building activities and indeed you will find very few examples of typical phrases like; "Where are you from?", "Why are you learning this language?", Have you been to Spain before?" in their courses. However these are exactly the phrases you should be learning to produce authentic, everyday, natural speech. Communicative language teaching promotes this. To completely learn a language, you cannot rely on one source alone and not one as one-dimensional as Duolingo. We must explore other language-learning materials such as conversation-based courses, podcasts and videos, and that way we may be able to cater to our students' language ;learning needs.

Conclusions/recommendations

Hopefully they will proceed to improve their app and ways of teaching in the future to sync it with today's language teaching trends. I view Duolingo as a resource that helps you organise your language learning and which can nudge you towards reading in the target language. Once you reach that point you are past Duolingo and you need to do other things if you master the language. As soon as you know the past tense you can start trying to read. Reading helps improve vocabulary. Yet if you want to fully master teh language, reading is not adequate. Conversation in real-life occurring situations must also feature.

While it is true that you eventually want to get away from translating and simply start thinking in the language, that is something that only comes with time, and I'm not sure you can speed it up much. Reading aids comprehension, and I normally only translate sentences that I deem impossible. To produce the TL,there is no substitute for extended periods of time spent talking to a native. Then again if you haven't done enough reading to add to your vocabulary, you won't get nearly as much out of the conversation.

I feel that the translation method (translating from one language to another) is the worst method of learning another language. It is crucial for us as teachers, to encourage the students to leave their L1 " outside the classroom and endeavour to use the L2 as much as possible. I started to make progress with Spanish and German once I stopped translating everything into my native language and began to use Spanish/German/French to form sentences.

Real-life conversations must be your learning materials. This is the best way to learn the "real " language, and not just rely on your memory power for vocabulary lists that you don't put to use.

To be fair, I have only dabbled in Duolingo. I think it appeals to people because it represents and action and with an immediate outcome, the desired sense of achievement is fulfilled. I don't think that Duolingo will change their approach as they have been successful in what they do.