Learning a foreign language is no longer limited to a classroom with a teacher. Learning apps with gamification features, game-based apps, and the possibilities of AI in education can make the tedious process of vocabulary training and grammar drilling more pleasant for students.
The most popular language learning app today is Duolingo, with over 16 million users worldwide. People are aware of digital solutions that can help them master their foreign language skills. Thus, educational institutions, training courses, and EdTech startups apply the newest technological developments to their programs and teaching methods.
Games increase motivation
It is always more challenging and exciting to solve a puzzle for a prize. In reality, you are a student who struggles with verb tenses. While in a game, you are a brave knight saving a princess or an intelligent agent looking for the traces of a criminal.
While developing an app, it is important however to differentiate the gamification vs. game-based learning approaches. According to Dmitry Baraishuk, the Chief Innovation Officer of the Belitsoft software development company with 19+ years of expertise in EdTech, the right approach directs the e-learning business toward a chosen aim.
Game-based learning implies certain scenarios and roles. For the student, it is like plunging into the game, where learning becomes a tool that helps to achieve the goal, be it to save a girl or find a burglar. This approach is effective, as players do not realize they are being forced to learn something.
The first language-learning game appeared in 1996 and was called “Who is Oscar Lake?” The game was available for the PC and taught players German, French, and Spanish. According to the plot, a player is accused of stealing a diamond and is mistakenly taken by the police for a notorious thief, Oscar Lake. The player has to prove their innocence by speaking a foreign language. Players could learn over 1,200 foreign words, record their speech, and listen to native speakers while playing.
Modern examples of game-based learning apps can be found in teaching sciences and basic skills for school children. For example, the Coding Adventure course teaches programming skills to children aged 7 to 16. Children play a game and help a monkey gather bananas or fight with a gorilla. To cope with those tasks, they have to write basic programming codes.
Gamification as an approach for developing apps to learn a foreign languageis more common. Such apps are easier to build, they suit both adults and children, and they lead to learning results. Constant practice with tools like Duolingo or Babbel can bring learners to improvements in grammar and vocabulary.
With gamification, there are no particular plots or heroes. Users just cope with tasks and receive bonuses, stars, or badges for their progress. Duolingo, Memrise, and Babbel are the most well-known examples.
Artificial Intelligence allows games to be more interactive, leading to more speech practice for the learners. Harvard students took part in an experimental session on their French lessons. As a classroom activity, they had to interrogate two suspects in the murder and find the killer.
Each student created their own virtual hero, chose appearance and voice, and uploaded the hero’s stories and alibis previously written by the students. In class, students asked each other’s heroes questions about the murder and the victim. Virtual heroes generated answers based on uploaded data. Besides, they demonstrated emotions of anger or regret, depending on the situation.
As a result, students could practice their writing and speaking skills. They could also check grammar and vocabulary, as the system enabled automatic transcription of the conversations.
ChatGPT for learning a language
People learning a foreign language can use the possibilities of ChatGPT for various purposes. However, the expertise of ChatGPT may vary depending on the chosen language. Thus, it will use more diverse expressions in Spanish than less well-spread languages like Swahili or Mongolian. Here is a list of tips for language learners while interacting with ChatGPT:
- Voice control for the ChatGPT plugin allows learners to ask a question orally and listen to the answer. It helps trainlistening comprehension skills. Besides, the plugins allow setting the situation, be it ordering a meal at the restaurant, booking tickets, or chatting with a friend on a selected topic. ChatGPT models real-life situations and allows for oral practice.
- Students can ask the chat to create a text with the most frequently used vocabulary on a particular topic. Understanding and memorizing active vocabulary in context is better than struggling to remember lists of separated words.
- Voice control tools help master the correct pronunciation. Simply ask the chat to pronounce the word and try to repeat it.
- ChatGPT may generate grammar rules for students. For example, you can ask a question about the usage of gerund and infinitive in English. Further, you can require examples of gerund and infinitive usage. It may serve as a source of theory in case you need to revise the information.
- The ChatGPT plugin for YouTube can summarize a video with an available transcript. It might be useful for grasping the gist of the video before watching it for details.
- Ask the ChatGPT to correct your mistakes in the text that you have written and comment on them.
How do AI learning apps help students?
Learning with avatars 24/7
Learning vocabulary with flashcards is a working tool that most teachers trust. The language-learning app Praktika has gone further. It involves more than just exercises for mastering vocabulary and grammar. It also creates avatars of virtual language tutors. Unlike Quizlet, where students cannot see the tutor behind the cards, Praktika allows seeing and talking to the avatar of a virtual teacher. The more users communicate with the avatar, the better the latter adapts to the student. Developers claim that their avatars can understand the tone of voice and emotions and speak with various accents. It makes the digital experience more human-like.
Practice makes perfect
While some apps focus on drilling, others choose verbal skills as their aim. The app Speak started in South Korea as a tool for repeating and practicing English expressions. Users interact with an AI tool that recognizes the speech. The app asks users to repeat and communicate in English aloud, which helps them start talking fast and minimizes the language barrier.
Increasing the competence of a human tutor
Learning a language with a professional teacher and supplementing the process with discussion sessions with a native speaker will eventually pay off. However, human teachers might lack competence in some specific areas. For example, the principles of building a financial discussion, conducting a business meeting, or a seminar on a narrow topic. AI tools with machine learning algorithms come in handy in such situations. Loora is a conversation assistant that can discuss sports, fashion, business, technologies, interviews, etc., and provide feedback on users’ answers. First, it is good for practice. Second, even high-level students can learn and practice. Most of the apps target lower-level students.
Bottom line
The main advantage of AI tools for language learners is their availability. First, language-learning tools can be used 24/7. Second, the price for an app is usually lower than that for a lesson with a tutor or in class. Besides, students can practice for as short a period as they wish, depending on their preferences. AI solutions are handy additions to the language-learning process. They help make the drilling less tiresome.
