Genius Hour: Choosing the Apps and Qualifications
Hi again everyone!
After some more research, I have narrowed down the two apps I will be focusing on Memrise and Duolingo. I chose these two apps because they are both free (you have the option to pay for premium features) and they are available on both a desktop computer as a website or as an app at the Apple App Store and Android's Play Store. I think it's important to make sure the apps would be accessible to both teachers and students who may be on a budget.
Duolingo is an app I've heard of before. Most people are familiar with the little green bird logo. Some of my fellow language learners at the university level have recommended the app because it gives daily short 10-30 minute lessons at a level of your choosing. This makes it easy to incorporate the app use into your daily routine. I have also heard there was some negative feedback from users because the app would send too many reminder notifications if the user did not use the app daily. I think this option would probably be useful to younger students to help them develop time management and self-discipline skills.
Memrise is a new app to me. I discovered it after searching top 10 lists of language learning apps and finding articles such as "The 8 Best Language Apps That Really Work" and "The 7 Best Free Language Learning Apps." What appealed to me beyond the accessibility, was the fact the focus is on learning how to pronounce words and phrases that you would use in everyday conversation. A common complaint about second language education is that students feel they are being drilled to learn multiple grammar tenses but not enough common spoken vocabulary. Language is only worth knowing if you can apply it, and I can tell you now, never did I need to know the plus-que-parfait tense when travelling in Montreal or Paris.
That got me thinking, I wonder how diverse are these apps will be in terms of teaching styles? Will it be simply flashcards with an image and corresponding word? Or will the user be required to create sentences? Will users get exposure to different French accents or just a robotic Google Translate type voice? Will they distinguish between regional vocabulary? ---Let's not forget the French have a proper word for the act of parking, le stationnement, whereas us Canadians just say le parking!
And so with that in mind, I finally went ahead and downloaded the apps. Neither gave me much difficulty but I wanted to asses user-friendliness as I began the signup process. It's worth noting that Duolingo gives the option to sign up using a Google account which a lot of tech-savvy classes are already assigning to students. Memrise just asks you to create a username and password which is a bit of a faster process and allows you to keep a little more privacy. Both apps prompt you to upgrade to their paid premium versions but Duolingo also presented me with a 3rd party advertisement with the header stating this was "how they kept education free". (On a later note, I found Memrise also has internal ads.)
Both apps ask you to select the language you are looking to learn from a comprehensive list and then ask you what level you are at. For the sake of this project, I selected the beginner level for both. Memrise also offered the option to take a competency test to assess levels which was a nice bonus as you will always have some students who are behind or more advanced than the class average. Duolingo on the other hand only offers beginner and intermediate levels to begin.
This brought me to my last qualification. How accommodating are these apps? As educators, we know no two students are the same, so how can we modify these lessons to accommodate for particular learning types? I believe this question cannot be really investigated until I started playing so I soon got started with Level 1 of each app!
I began with Memrise and was immediately presented with a small video clip a French-speaking gentleman saying salut. This was an interesting way to begin an online lesson, as it immediately felt as if I was part of an actual conversation with someone. I had the option to replay the clip as many times as I needed. I could also swipe left to have a more computer-generated sounding pronunciation. I like how they offered both options in case the native speaking example was too difficult to understand on the first try.
Below the clip was the English translation, hi/bye, as well as the literal translation, salute. This is not something we are always exposed to when beginning to learn a new language but I found it interesting how context dictates the meaning of the words. As I went along I was introduced to two more common phrases you'd start a conversation with. I was then tested for the French word, the English translation and the words' literal meanings. This was done through sound clips and word matching.
Next up was Duolingo that took a very different approach. Instead of starting with a salutation, we immediately jumped into common vocabulary words like homme and chat. Instead of providing us with an English translation each card has a cartoon image meant to represent the word. When prompted which word meant cat, the user would simply need to look at the image of the cartoon cat to make a match. At first, this made me wonder how this was going to teach me the word chat if I didn't need to know the word to answer the question. But as the questions went on, the user is asked to pick the proper word from 3 different options (that could be played as sound clips but no pictures this time) then eventually needs to use the learned words to form a full French sentence based on an English prompt. In this sense the user is not only learning vocabulary but sentence structure and conjunction words like et.
After completing both level 1 activities I was provided with incentive points and show a map visual to track my progress. This could be a good motivating factor for students and makes it easier for teachers to track their achievements. I will have to continue exploring to see how hard it is to get from one tier to the next.
To summarize:
The two apps in question:
After some more research, I have narrowed down the two apps I will be focusing on Memrise and Duolingo. I chose these two apps because they are both free (you have the option to pay for premium features) and they are available on both a desktop computer as a website or as an app at the Apple App Store and Android's Play Store. I think it's important to make sure the apps would be accessible to both teachers and students who may be on a budget.
 |
(www.duolingo.com) |
Duolingo is an app I've heard of before. Most people are familiar with the little green bird logo. Some of my fellow language learners at the university level have recommended the app because it gives daily short 10-30 minute lessons at a level of your choosing. This makes it easy to incorporate the app use into your daily routine. I have also heard there was some negative feedback from users because the app would send too many reminder notifications if the user did not use the app daily. I think this option would probably be useful to younger students to help them develop time management and self-discipline skills.
 |
(www.memrise.com) |
That got me thinking, I wonder how diverse are these apps will be in terms of teaching styles? Will it be simply flashcards with an image and corresponding word? Or will the user be required to create sentences? Will users get exposure to different French accents or just a robotic Google Translate type voice? Will they distinguish between regional vocabulary? ---Let's not forget the French have a proper word for the act of parking, le stationnement, whereas us Canadians just say le parking!
 |
| [Image retrieved from https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/do-you-speak-french-vector-15659853] |
Both apps ask you to select the language you are looking to learn from a comprehensive list and then ask you what level you are at. For the sake of this project, I selected the beginner level for both. Memrise also offered the option to take a competency test to assess levels which was a nice bonus as you will always have some students who are behind or more advanced than the class average. Duolingo on the other hand only offers beginner and intermediate levels to begin.
This brought me to my last qualification. How accommodating are these apps? As educators, we know no two students are the same, so how can we modify these lessons to accommodate for particular learning types? I believe this question cannot be really investigated until I started playing so I soon got started with Level 1 of each app!
 |
| (Screenshot of Memrise app I took on my Android) |
I began with Memrise and was immediately presented with a small video clip a French-speaking gentleman saying salut. This was an interesting way to begin an online lesson, as it immediately felt as if I was part of an actual conversation with someone. I had the option to replay the clip as many times as I needed. I could also swipe left to have a more computer-generated sounding pronunciation. I like how they offered both options in case the native speaking example was too difficult to understand on the first try.
Below the clip was the English translation, hi/bye, as well as the literal translation, salute. This is not something we are always exposed to when beginning to learn a new language but I found it interesting how context dictates the meaning of the words. As I went along I was introduced to two more common phrases you'd start a conversation with. I was then tested for the French word, the English translation and the words' literal meanings. This was done through sound clips and word matching.
 |
| (Screenshot of Duolingo I took on my Android) |
Next up was Duolingo that took a very different approach. Instead of starting with a salutation, we immediately jumped into common vocabulary words like homme and chat. Instead of providing us with an English translation each card has a cartoon image meant to represent the word. When prompted which word meant cat, the user would simply need to look at the image of the cartoon cat to make a match. At first, this made me wonder how this was going to teach me the word chat if I didn't need to know the word to answer the question. But as the questions went on, the user is asked to pick the proper word from 3 different options (that could be played as sound clips but no pictures this time) then eventually needs to use the learned words to form a full French sentence based on an English prompt. In this sense the user is not only learning vocabulary but sentence structure and conjunction words like et.
After completing both level 1 activities I was provided with incentive points and show a map visual to track my progress. This could be a good motivating factor for students and makes it easier for teachers to track their achievements. I will have to continue exploring to see how hard it is to get from one tier to the next.
To summarize:
The two apps in question:
- Duolingo
- Memrise
- Accessibility
- Diversity of Learning Style
- User Friendliness
- Accommodation
Goals for next week:
- Reach level 3 of each app
- Continue taking screenshots and making notes
- Maybe brush up on some French skills in the process
Wish me luck!
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