COMPARISON OF LANGUAGE LEARNING APPS

All these apps are using different approaches to teaching language as indicated in the section of learning modes. The core part of basically all apps is the vocabulary learning part. Some apps also add dialogues, writing exercises, or basic grammar drills.

Apps can be excellent tools for building your vocabulary and it is in vocabulary learning where technology-based learning has the highest benefits compared to traditional learning methods and can be superior to traditional techniques.

If you are already at a more advanced level with a solid vocabulary base and your objective is to learn to speak a foreign language fluently, other learning methods must also be used, such as immersing yourself in the language by reading, watching movies and attending a language course, ideally in a country where the language is spoken, to be forced to actively articulate yourself in interactions with native speakers.

Within the apps, learning is generally based on an iterative series of 5-6 different learning drills per word, which may be useful to memorize words for absolute beginners. However, with some former knowledge we found it a bit tedious to have to go through a rigid order of numerous drills for each word again and again without the option to reduce the number of quizzes and progress faster. Here the flash card system approach of the Vocabulary Trainer with its numerous customization options allows for faster progress and words you know well automatically appear less frequently due to the spaced repetition methodology.

In most cases the apps were stripped down versions of web learning platforms. Some interesting functions of the web versions were not integrated into the app. Among the paid (freemium) apps, the pricing and limitations of the free versions could be communicated more transparently upfront.