The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using

Duolingo to Learn English: A Study with

Young ESL Learners
by

Marcelo Ivan Vizcarra Bazan

Submitted to the

Department of English and German Studies

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master’s in Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign

/ Second Language

at the

UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI

June 5, 2017

1
Signature of Author ____________________________________________________

Certified by ____________________________________________________________
Dr Carmen Rueda
Master Thesis Supervisor

Accepted by ___________________________________________________________
Dr Isabel Oltra-Massuet
Master’s Coordinator

2
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract………………………………………………………………………….….4

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………4

1.1. Literature review………………………..…………………….….……9

1.2. Research questions and hypotheses.………..………..…………..…..11

1.3. Objectives.………………………………………………....…….......12

2. Method……….…………………………………………………………….12

2.1 Context of the study and participants………………………………….13

2.2 A questionnaire for young learners using Duolingo…………………..14

2.3 An interview with English Teachers…………………………………..15

3. Analysis……………………………….……………………………………16

3.1 Results from the students´ questionnaires…………………………….16

3.2 Results from teachers´ interviews……………………………….…….25

4. Discussion……………………………………………………………………27

5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………..………29

6. Appendix…………………………………………………………….……….31

7. References………………………………………………………..……….......37

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The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Duolingo to Learn English: A Study with

Young ESL Learners

Abstract

This project explores the benefits and drawbacks young learners experience when using the

app Duolingo to learn English. Data collected from young people themselves as well as the

opinion of two teachers in the field have been taken into account in order to weigh up this

language learning tool and its suitability for this specific group of learners.

A survey was carried out at Vedruna Sagrat Cor High School, during which young learners,

boys and girls aged 14 – 17, completed a questionnaire on their experience using Duolingo.

These opinions were later analyzed statistically in order to reach conclusions about the

effectiveness of the Duolingo application. Interviews with two teachers with extensive

experience of MALL and CALL were also carried out, and their opinions were used to

inform recommendations towards the use of the Duolingo application in an ESL classroom.

This study found that Duolingo helps students to improve their level of English, mostly in

reading and writing skills, and that young learners with a lower level of English find the

application more effective than those with a higher level. Experts recommend that this

application be used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching where other skills are also

being developed.

1. Introduction

According to Flores (2015): As the 21st century moves forward, the field of second

language learning and instruction has become more technology oriented. For today‟s young

4
learners, technology is a natural part of their lives and so is e-learning. However, the

unfortunate result is that when students enter our schools, we frequently require them to

“power down.” Where is the interaction? Why is their world shut down because they enter

a classroom? (Taranto & Abbondanza, 2009). As the world becomes more and more

connected through advances in information and communication technologies, classroom

experiences will need to reflect those same changes. Therefore, adjustment in the teaching

strategies required is in accordance with the type of learners that the educators are receiving

in their classrooms. Plenty of second language (L2) learners are part of a generation that

Prensky (2001) describes as “Digital Natives”. These learners process information

differently and the educational system does not always fit their needs. In addition, more

learners are aware of the benefits of the Internet and the strength of “Connectivism” as

explained by Siemens (2005), where knowledge resides outside nodes of specialized

information.

At one point Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) was instrumental in

connecting with the L2 learner. Then, later the integration of Web 2.0 moved the L2

learning process further away from the typical classroom setting. Both technology oriented

strategies fitted their purposes and were successful. But none of these two strategies worked

directly with the psychological aspect of motivation. Brown (1994) sees motivation as a

necessary factor that the learner needs in order to acquire an L2. Students are innately

motivated by using technology because it is a natural part of their lives (Ribble, 2009).

Therefore, teachers need to understand what opportunities Web 2.0 tools provide for

teaching and learning, what kinds of barriers they may encounter when using them, and

how to effectively implement the new tools in their teaching. “Teachers of students who

5
regularly use Web 2.0 technologies must develop an understanding of new digital literacies

and infuse them with their instructional practices” (Greenhow, Robelia, & Hughes, 2009).

Over the past ten years. The use of the mobile phone as a learning tool has

increased greatly (Gholami & Azarmi, 2012). Mobile learning brought to light diverse

methods and techniques to assist language learning and learning in general. What

essentially characterizes the use of mobile phones for learning is their portability. Thus, in

MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) there is no need for learners to sit in a

classroom or at a computer to get the material. The use of mobile devices was considered

by Miangah and Nearat (2012) as an extension, but not a substitution for existing learning

devices.

According to Deng, Q. & Trainin, G. (2015): Mobile devices with robust internet

connections have proliferated in educational use since the advent of the iPad in 2010. The

new mobile device ecosystems led to the rise of thousands of free or low cost applications

(apps), which refer to computer programs designed to run exclusively on mobile devices.

For instance, more than 775,000 apps were available as of January 2013 (Pure Oxygen

Labs, 2013), and certain apps have the potential to help learners individualize immediate

learning in ways that has never happened before. For example, empirical studies reported

that iPad apps support the development of speaking, reading, and writing skills (Harmon,

2012; Lys, 2013; McClanahan, Williams, Kennedy, & Tate, 2012) and the enhancement of

learning motivation (Kinash, Brand, & Mathew, 2012).

The importance of learning languages in our modern global world and the advanced

technology we have nowadays have led to the creation of different electronic options for

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language learning. Applications for smart phone/tablet are the most used options, and

within this area there are a wide range of choices available for people who want to learn

different languages. Duolingo is an app designed for the smart phone that is leading the

market, and the majority of its users use it to learn English, in over 100 countries around

the world as we can see in graph 1, Sonnad N (2016). Therefore, it is worth analyzing

whether this application is effective at helping young users to learn English, which skills it

helps to improve, and which methods the application employs to teach English to its young

users, as there is currently no Duolingo study specifically aimed at young learners.

Graph 1

Duolingo is based on the idea of games and that helps make the application more engaging

for its users. The idea of using games for learning is not new. This is customary even in the

case of direct interaction between teacher and student, and gamification is equally utilized

in the e-learning process. Gamification (Deterding et al, 2011) is the use of game-play

mechanics for non-game applications. Any application, task, process or context can

7
theoretically be gamified. The main goal of gamification is to increase the engagement of

users by using game-like techniques such as scoreboards and personalized fast feedback

(Flatla et al, 2011). Gamification is used in several different contexts, mostly business and

marketing, but it can be useful and important in the educational environment as well.

Incorporating game elements into work activities raises motivation (Shneiderman, 2004).

But we also need to pay attention to the integration of tasks and exercises within the game

design (Von Ahn and Dabbish, 2008).

To understand why Duolingo is leading the market as opposed to other language

learning applications such as Babbel and Memrise, we need to understand how it works and

what it offers to its users. Jaskova (2014:15) defines Duolingo as the future in learning

languages and in global communication. As of November 2016, the language-learning

website (https://www.duolingo.com/) and app offer 66 different language courses across 23

languages; with 22 additional courses in development. The app is available on iOS,

Android and Windows 8 and 10 platforms with about 120 million registered users across

the world, and the popularity of the Duolingo application suggests that it can help learners

with English. The software uses images as well as matching tasks to teach vocabulary, and

uses a trial and error translation method to teach grammar points (students translate English

sentences into their native language and vice versa, but no explicit teaching of grammar

aspects are provided). The application is gamified in that users must complete each short

bite-sized level before they can move onto the next, and points are earned upon completing

each level, which can be highly motivating. Clearly another big positive aspect of Duolingo

is that it offers all of its language courses free of charge, and it is available to anyone with a

8
smartphone or a tablet. The application is easy to use, visually attractive, and users also

receive instant feedback and corrections for any mistakes.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks. The application is not

communicative and there is little speaking involved. Additionally, in its very nature it is

focused on accuracy rather than fluency; for the application to give feedback to the user,

there needs to be a predictable answer so there is usually only one correct acceptable

answer. Also the translation method is heavily employed by the application. Therefore, if

your first language is not commonly spoken there may not be an option to select this on

Duolingo. There are only 21 first languages from which you can choose to learn English.

The content of the software is not necessarily suited to the students‟ cultural background,

and it is not tailored to what the student wants or needs to learn. The level of Duolingo only

covers to about B1, so it may not be suitable for more advanced learners.

1.1 Literature review

The methodological basis for mobile learning using apps has already been pointed out by

authors such as Klopfer (2008), who discussed the main advantages of applications such as

Duolingo: their portability, their ease of access and connection to networks and social

interaction, as well as their possibility of personalization.

Vesselinov and Grego, in 2012, used an experimental design to focus on how

Duolingo helps adults to learn English. They concluded that their students gained a mean

rate of 8.1 points on a standardized test for each hour of study. There was, however,

substantial variability in rate: the standard deviation was 12.1.

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 Chen carried out further research in 2016, comparing 7 different language learning

applications, and the result of that study was that Duolingo came first in comparison with

six other applications. Chen found that there is no single language-learning app that

provides a one-size-fits-all solution to meet adult learners‟ language learning needs.

However, mobile learning apps (especially Duolingo) provide multiple methods for adult

learners to practice language and to enhance their skills, Chen X (2016). It should be

mentioned that this study was done with adult immigrants in the USA, not with young

learners. Therefore, the results of Chen‟s study contribute to the literature of mobile

learning targeting adult learners and there is a necessity to do a study with young learners

and compare the results.

This research is aimed at weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of using Duolingo

as a language learning resource and finding out whether the use of the Duolingo application

improves young students‟ level of English. My study aims to investigate how effective

Duolingo is as a language learning tool for young ESL leaners, which skills young learners

are improving through Duolingo, and which methods that the application uses are most

effective in the opinion of young learners.

Unlike Vesselinov and Grego´s study which focused on adults my study is focused

on young people´s opinions and perceptions of the effectiveness of the app, rather than on

measuring the efficiency of language learning after using Duolingo. In other words my

study is more qualitative, and focuses on opinions rather than on the effectiveness of

Duolingo.

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1.2 Research questions and hypotheses

The purpose of my study is to find out if, in the opinion of young learners, using Duolingo

helps them to improve their English level, and if so, which skills specifically it helps them

to improve. Additionally I plan to discover which level of students find the application

more useful. Therefore, these are the three research questions I hope to answer through

carrying out this study:

a) Do young students feel Duolingo helps them to improve their English level?

b) Which skills do young students think Duolingo helps them to improve?

c) Do young low level students (elementary – pre-intermediate) view Duolingo as

more effective than high level students (intermediate – advanced)?

My hypotheses for the above research questions are the following:

a. Young students believe that Duolingo helps them to improve their level.

b. Young students believe Duolingo helps them mainly to improve receptive skills

(listening and reading) but it is less effective with productive skills (writing and

speaking).

c. Lower level young students believe Duolingo is more effective for them

(elementary – pre-intermediate) than higher level students (intermediate –

advanced).

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1.3 Objectives

Through this study I plan to achieve the following goals:

1. To analyse the different techniques that Duolingo uses to teach English.

2. To evaluate which methods students most like and find useful, and what

improvements they would suggest.

3. To gather data from students´ opinions and perceptions about Duolingo in order to

analyse its benefits and drawbacks, and to see to what extent they feel the use of the

application has improved their different skills in English.

2. Method

This project has been divided into different sections. The second chapter includes the

method that I used to collect data and how the process was designed in order to gather the

information. The third chapter presents and analyses the results. Chapter four includes the

discussion of the data collected in relation to my research questions and hypotheses. Finally

chapter five presents the conclusions and recommendations for future study.

The following chapter presents the method I designed in order to gather opinions

and information from different sources (students and English teachers) on the benefits and

drawbacks of Duolingo. I decided to follow a qualitative and quantitative approach to the

design method. The quantitative data was collected by asking participants to rate different

aspects of Duolingo on a scale of 1-4. The qualitative data was collected by asking
12
participants to write a couple of sentences summarising their views about Duolingo. The

benefit of collecting quantitative data was so that I could have concrete figures to analyse in

order to answer my research questions and test my hypotheses. The benefit of collecting

qualitative data was to get more detailed opinions from the young users that could be

compared and contrasted with the teachers‟ opinions as well.

The reason I used this type of research design is because it fits with the theoretical

nature of my research. It is an effective way to gather opinions and data from the target

population (different classes of students). I was able to collate the quantitative and

qualitative data collected from these questionnaires in order to evaluate to what extent

students feel Duolingo helps them improve their English level, which skills in English are

most improved thanks to the application, and which methods used by the application are

most effective according to the users.

2.1 Context of the study and participants

I gathered my data at Vedruna Sagrat Cor High School which is located in Tarragona city.

The school has a good reputation and the level of the students is good. The school used to

be a religious high school but not anymore. The population I used were 124 students from

Sagrat Cor High School, specifically students from BAT 1 and ESO 2. The students were

boys and girls, Catalan & Spanish speakers between 14-17 years old. Therefore, they are

´digital natives´: they are used to using and learning through technology as they grew up

with it and, therefore, I had assumed that many of these students had had experience with

Duolingo to learn English.

13
2.2 A questionnaire for young learners using Duolingo

I wrote and conducted my own questionnaire to collect data and opinions from young

learners to find out if they use the application and if so, to find out about their experience of

using it and how they feel their skills have been improved thanks to it. Using a

questionnaire allowed me to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. I decided to use

printed questionnaires that participants filled out by hand, rather than an online survey, so

that I could observe the process and ensure they were not being influenced while answering

the questionnaire.

The survey was done between the 17th of April to 21st of April 2017. It included

both quantitative and qualitative questions, 20 in total, 17 quantitative and 3 qualitative. For

the quantitative data participants were asked if they use the application, and if so how

frequently. With this information I collected, I was able to see how many people use the

application in each course and calculate the average frequency of use of the application.

Participants were also asked to rate on a scale of 1-4 to what extent each of their English

skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary and grammar) have been improved

by the application, and therefore I was able to determine which skills Duolingo is most

useful for, according to users. Participants were also asked to rate on a scale of 1-4 how

much they enjoy the experience of using Duolingo to find out whether their opinions about

this application were positive or negative overall. This survey is shown in the appendix.

I also had quantitative questions to analyze the different techniques that Duolingo

uses; participants were asked to rate on a scale of 1-4 how effective they find each of the

methods that Duolingo uses e.g. translation method, dictation method etc. and I included

screenshots from the application to illustrate the techniques I was referring to. Through the

14
data gathered, I was able to determine exactly how Duolingo helps students to improve

their English. The program that I used to process the data was Microsoft Excel. The

qualitative question asked participants to write freely their opinions about what they like

most and least about the application and what improvements they would suggest.

The questionnaire was designed with young learners in mind; the questions were

worded as simply as possible, but using English because I deemed that the students had a

good enough level to understand the questions in English. The content of the questions

were created with the research questions and the objectives of the study in mind. The

question sequence began with more general questions i.e. „How much time a week do you

spend using Duolingo?‟ to more specific regarding certain methods Duolingo uses i.e.

„How effective do you find the dictation method that Duolingo uses?‟ When asking about

the specific methods of Duolingo, the questionnaire included pictures to clearly illustrate

the method in question. The questionnaire began with the quantitative questions, which

were all on a scale of 4, and ended with the 3 qualitative questions, this was so they could

get into the mindset of thinking about Duolingo and all its aspects before writing more

detailed comments.

2.3 An interview with English Teachers

In order to compare students‟ opinions with the opinions of teachers with experience of

technology as a learning tool, I also conducted 15 minute interviews with English teachers

who are experts in the field of MALL and CALL in order to collect their opinions about the

usefulness of Duolingo. These eight questions are shown in the appendix (see questions to

English teachers). Although the questions are different, the aim is to see if the trends that

15
students´ answers show are sustained by teachers´ opinions. Also teachers´ answers can

lead to topics of a deeper study into Duolingo and other apps.

The interview design was structured, with the same eight questions asked to both

teachers, and the audio from interviews were recorded for later analysis. The questions

began more generally about e-learning as a whole, before asking specifically about the

benefits and drawbacks of Duolingo. The last question was an open question which gave

the opportunity for any other comments about the application to be made.

3. Analysis

3.1 Results from the students´ questionnaires

25 students, who were the only ones who had used Duolingo, completed the questionnaire.

The majority of these 25 students (60%) use Duolingo for less than one hour per week,

followed by 36% who use it between one and two hours per week, and 4% who use it

between three and four hours per week. These results are shown in table 1 and graph 2

below.

Table 1

Time per week young learners spend using Duolingo

less than 1 hour 1-2 hours 3-4 hours more than 4 hours

Number of 15 9 1 0
students
Percentage 60% 36% 4% 0%
of students

16
Graph 2

25 100%
24
23 90%
22
21
20 80%
19
18 70%
17
16
15 60%
14
13 50%
12
11
10 40%
9
8 30%
7
6
5 20%
4
3 10%
2
1
0 0%
less than 1 hour 1-2 hours 3-4 hours more than 4
hours Results
time they use
Percentages of
students

The majority of students agreed that there had been an improvement in their general

English level after using Duolingo. 68% of the students recognized the improvement as

either some improvement or a great deal of improvement, whereas the other 32% said that

there was either a small improvement or no improvement at all. See table 2 and graph 3

below.

17
 Table 2

Skills improved in young learners

Scale Reading Writing Speaking Listening
General level skills skills skills skills Vocabulary Grammar
1 no improvement 3 2 7 13 21 0 13
2 small improvement 5 8 15 12 4 2 4
3 some improvement 11 9 3 0 0 12 8
4 great improvement 6 6 0 0 0 11 0
Results in
percentages %
1 no improvement 12% 8% 28% 52% 84% 0% 52%
2 small improvement 20% 32% 60% 48% 16% 8% 16%
3 some improvement 44% 36% 12% 0% 0% 48% 32%
4 great improvement 24% 24% 0% 0% 0% 44% 0%

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Graph 3

25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11 1 no improvement
10
9 2 small improvement
8
7 3 some improvement
6
5 4 great improvement
4
3
2
1
0
Listening skills
General level

Writing skills

Speaking skills
Reading skills

Grammar
Vocabulary

Skills improved in young learners

The skill that students felt had improved the most after using Duolingo was reading,

with 60% of respondents rating the improvement made as some improvement or a great

deal of improvement. Another skill that students reported had improved after using

Duolingo, but on a lesser scale, was writing with 72% of respondents rating the

improvement made as a small improvement or some improvement. The other two skills

speaking and listening had more than 50% of respondents rate them as having made no

improvement at all. However, 48% rated the speaking skill as having made a small

improvement, while only 16% rated the listening skill as having made a small

improvement. The results show that students think that Duolingo helps them to improve the

receptive skill of reading more than any other skill, but they don‟t think that Duolingo helps

19
them to improve the receptive skill of listening more than the productive skills (writing and

speaking).

The other two items that were analysed to see how students felt they had improved

were vocabulary and grammar. Students recognized that their vocabulary had improved

after using Duolingo, with 92% rating improvement made as some improvement or a great

deal of improvement. On the other hand, 52% of students said that their grammar did not

improve at all, and only 32% said that their grammar made some improvement. See table 2

and graph 3 above.

The methods that Duolingo uses to teach English were also analysed: translation

method, dictation method, oral evaluation method, matching vocabulary and meaning

method, matching vocabulary and meaning using pictures method, and sentence ordering

method. Of these methods, the one that students found most effective was the sentence

ordering method. 100% of students rated this as quite effective or very effective. The two

matching methods (matching vocabulary and meaning, and matching vocabulary and

meaning using pictures), were also found effective; 68% and 96% respectively rated them

as quite effective or very effective. The oral evaluation method was the least popular with

only 16% rating it as quite effective or very effective. The dictation method was also quite

poorly rated, with 36% of students rating it as not effective at all. See table 3 and graph 4

below.

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Table 3

Effectiveness of methods that Duolingo uses in young learners

Scale Oral Matching Matching
Translation Dictation evaluation 1 2 sentence ordering
1 not effective 0 9 4 0 0 0
2 slightly effective 11 7 17 8 1 0
3 quite effective 4 8 2 3 11 10
4 very effective 10 1 2 14 13 15
Results in
percentages %
1 not effective 0% 36% 16% 0% 0% 0%
2 slightly effective 44% 28% 68% 32% 4% 0%
3 quite effective 16% 32% 8% 12% 44% 40%
4 very effective 40% 4% 8% 56% 52% 60%

Graph 4

25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13 1 not effective
12
11 2 slightly effective
10
9 3 quite effective
8 4 very effective
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Translation Dictation Oral Matching 1 Matching 2 sentence
evaluation ordering
effectiveness of methods that Duolingo uses in young learners

*Matching 1 Matching vocabulary and meaning

Matching 2 Matching vocabulary and meaning using pictures

21
 The majority of students (68%) said that they enjoy using Duolingo a bit or quite a lot,

20% said they enjoy it a lot, whereas only 12% said they did not enjoy it at all. See table 4

and graph 5 below.

Table 4

Scale How much do young learners enjoy using Duolingo over all?
1 not at all 3
2 a bit 10
3 quite a lot 7
4 a lot 5
Results in percentages %
1 not at all 12%
2 a bit 40%
3 quite a lot 28%
4 a lot 20%

22
 Graph 5

25 100%
24
23
90%
22
21
20 80%
19
18
70%
17
16
15 60%
14
13
50%
12
11 Results
10 40% Percentages of students
9
8
30%
7
6
5 20%
4
3
10%
2
1
0 0%
1 not at all 2 a bit 3 quite a lot 4 a lot
How much do young learners enjoy using Duolingo over
all?

Duolingo is designed for low-level students and the students at Sagrad Cor felt

that way too. Overall, students studying at ESO level found Duolingo more effective than

students at BAT level. I analysed the amount of improvement felt by students according to

their school level, this enabled me to compare how students with lower or higher levels of

English perceive the effectiveness of Duolingo. There were 15 students in the low level and

10 students in the higher level. 100% of lower level students rated Duolingo as having

either made a great improvement or some improvement to their general level of English,

whereas only 20% of higher level users rated the app as having made some improvement to

23
their general level. 50% of higher level users found it useful in a small way and 30% did

not find the app useful at all. See table 5 and graph 6 below.

Table 5

Students
How much has using Duolingo low level (ESO) higher level (BAT)
improved your general level of
English? %
1 no improvement 0% 30%
2 small improvement 0% 50%
3 some improvement 60% 20%
4 great improvement 40% 0%

Graph 6

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% low level
20% higher level
10%
0%

The last three questions in the questionnaire were open questions to see what young

learners had to say about Duolingo. The first open question was „What do you like most

about Duolingo?‟ And the most repeated answers were that they like it because they can

have fun at the same time as learning English, that the app is free, that there is a variety of

24
methods, and that you can use it any time anywhere. The second open question was „What

do you like least about Duolingo?‟ And the most repeated answers were the low level of

English in the app, the oral exercises, the translation exercises and that the dictation

exercises are very fast. The third open question was „What improvements would you make

to Duolingo?‟ And the most repeated answers were to add exercises for higher English

level students, and add reading comprehension exercises with longer texts. Also, to

improve the vocabulary part, the dictation part and the translation exercises.

3.2 Results from teachers´ interviews

Two English teachers were also interviewed as part of this research in order to compare

their opinions with the young learners‟ opinions about Duolingo. The set of questions that I

used in the interview with the English teachers can be seen in the appendix, under the

heading „Questions to English teachers‟. The questions and summarised answers are below:

1) Is e-learning helping young learners to learn English? If so How?

They think e-learning definitely helps because it makes the learning process more fun and

also because young learners are digital natives, so they use mobile phones, tablets, laptops

all the time and it‟s motivating for them.

2) In your opinion why do people prefer Duolingo over other apps?

They cannot tell what people prefer or if people do prefer Duolingo over any other app

unless they have some data.

3) In your opinion what are the benefits of Duolingo?

25
They think that by using this app students can have fun going from one level to another

without noticing because students will learn in a gamified way, enjoying the different

methods that this app uses.

4) In your opinion what are the drawbacks of Duolingo?

The teachers think that the level that this app offers is not very high, which means that this

app does not really take you very far in your knowledge of English. There is not realistic

communication going on and the vocabulary is not suitable sometimes. Students can miss

having a group of people to talk about the activities.

5) Do you think there is any benefit to using Duolingo in the classroom?

For this question one teacher said that she would not use Duolingo in the classroom and

that she would prefer to use it outside as extra practice for students. However, the other

teacher said that if you think your students will like it then yes and try to use it for group

activities preferably.

6) Do you think Duolingo could ever replace face-to-face teaching?

They said it could not. Not Duolingo at least, but maybe in the future other methodologies

that use technology might.

7) In your opinion what skills are most improved by using Duolingo?

They both agreed that writing, reading and vocabulary are the skills that are most improved.

26
 8) Do you have any other comments about Duolingo as a language learning

application?

Duolingo is a fun app but it does not really help you to learn more than the basic or

elementary things. It has some spelling and grammar errors. It also depends on your mother

tongue to see what languages are available. There should be teacher training in how to

incorporate this platform into the classroom. To sum up, it is a very good app but the

learning process ends up being a little mechanical like other apps.

4. Discussion

My first research question was „Do young students feel Duolingo helps them to improve

their English level?‟ I found out that young learners do feel that Duolingo helps them to

improve their English level with 68% between some improvement and a great deal of

improvement. This was in line with my hypothesis. My second research question was

„Which skills do young students think Duolingo helps them to improve?‟ I found that

young learners feel that Duolingo helps them to improve their reading and writing skills the

most. 60% of respondents rated the improvement made in reading as some improvement or

a great deal of improvement, while 72% of respondents rated the improvement made in

writing as a small improvement or some improvement. This was surprising to me as I had

hypothesised that young students would believe Duolingo helps them to improve the

receptive skill of listening as well as reading. My third research question was „Do young

low level students (elementary – pre-intermediate) view Duolingo as more effective than

high level students (intermediate – advanced)?‟ My hypothesis was proved correct that

young learners with a lower English level view Duolingo as a more effective digital tool to

27
improve their English level than young learners with a higher level. 100% of lower level

students rated Duolingo as having either made a great improvement or some improvement

to their general level of English, whereas only 20% of higher level users rated the app as

having made some improvement to their general level.

I think that the reason why the students feel their reading skills have been most

improved by the app is because most of the app‟s popular methods are related to reading, at

least at word or sentence level (sentence ordering method and matching vocabulary

methods). However, students felt that the app would be further improved by including

reading comprehension exercises with longer texts.

The skill that students felt was the second most improved was writing. This may be

because there are many exercises aimed to improve vocabulary, which obviously has an

effect on improving writing, although both students and teachers mentioned that the

vocabulary element of the app could be improved. In terms of speaking students do not feel

they are improving, perhaps this is due to the fact that there is no interaction, and the app is

mainly mechanical. Although Duolingo does try to work on pronunciation, the oral

evaluation method that Duolingo includes is the least popular of its methods.

Another of research objectives was to analyse the different techniques that Duolingo

uses to teach English and to evaluate which methods students most like and find useful, and

what improvements they would suggest. I found six different methods and as part of the

questionnaire students rated each of these methods on a scale of 1-4 so I could find out

which students think is the most effective method that the app uses. I found out that the

method that students found most effective was the sentence ordering method. 100% of

students rated this as quite effective or very effective, while the oral evaluation method was

the least popular with only 16% rating it as quite effective or very effective.
28
 Finally I believe that the reason that only 16% of students between 14-17 years old at

Sagrad Cor high school use Duolingo to learn or improve their English is because they feel

like they are exposed to a lot of English practice already. They have 4 hours of English a

week including extracurricular practice where they have to do different activities such as

singing, writing summaries of a documentaries, role plays, presenting products that they

create, etc.

5. Conclusion

The results show that the benefits of using Duolingo are that students feel it helps them

improve their level of English, mostly in reading, writing and vocabulary. These results

were backed up by the English teachers´ opinions who also think the same. The results also

show that improvement was more pronounced in young learners with a low level

(elementary, pre intermediate), rather than students with an intermediate or advanced level.

Of the six different Duolingo methods that were analysed, the one that students

found most effective was the sentence ordering method, followed by the matching

vocabulary and meaning method, and matching vocabulary and meaning using pictures

method, and the least effective according to young learners was oral dictation method.

In terms of the drawbacks of Duolingo young learners and English teachers had

shared opinions, such as the low level of the exercises in the app, the lack of possibilities to

improve speaking, and the unsuitability of the vocabulary exercises at times. On the other

hand, the benefits of the app were that it was described as a fun way to learn English, that

you can use it anytime anywhere, that it is free and it has a large variety of methods.

This study has demonstrated my initial hypotheses that young students believe that

Duolingo helps them to improve their English, and also that low level young students
29
believe that Duolingo is more effective than higher level students. I was partially correct

with the hypothesis that young students believe Duolingo helps them mainly to improve

receptive skills( listening and reading) because, the results show that young learners believe

that the two skills that are most improved after using Duolingo are reading and writing.

Therefore, the aims and objectives of my study have been met.

The recommendations by English teachers are that Duolingo should be used in

combination with face-to-face tuition, as well as with other technological resources as tools

of improvement in the English language learning-teaching process. One English teacher

interviewed also pointed out that there should be teacher training in how to incorporate this

platform into the classroom.

This study shows clear results about what young students and two English teachers

think about Duolingo. But, one limitation of this study is the limited number of young

students who answered the survey. So perhaps a suggestion for further research can be to

increase the population of young students who answer the questionnaire. The research

could also be extended to include two or more high schools instead of one.

30
Appendix

Duolingo Questionnaire

1) Age: ________years old

Course (e.g. BAT 2, ESO 2): ___________________

Gender: Male Female

Number of languages spoken: __________________

1) Years studied English: _________years

2) Do you use Duolingo to learn English?

Yes No

3) How much time per week do you spend using Duolingo?

Less than 1 hour 1-2 hours 3-4hours more than 4 hours

4) How much has using Duolingo improved your general level of English?

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 No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

5) How much has using Duolingo improved your reading skills in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

6) How much has using Duolingo improved your writing skills in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

7) How much has using Duolingo improved your speaking skills in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

8) How much has using Duolingo improved your listening skills in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

9) How much has using Duolingo improved your vocabulary in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

32
10) How much has using Duolingo improved your grammar in English?

No improvement 1 2 3 4 A great deal of improvement

11) How effective do you find the translation method that Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

12) How effective do you find the dictation method that Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

13) How effective do you find the oral evaluation method that Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

33
14) How effective do you find the matching vocabulary and meaning method that

Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

15) How effective do you find the matching vocabulary and meaning using pictures

method that Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

16) How effective do you find the sentence ordering method that Duolingo uses? E.g:

Not effective 1 2 3 4 very effective

34
17) How much do you enjoy using Duolingo overall?

Not at all 1 2 3 4 A lot

18) What do you like most about Duolingo?

19) What do you like least about Duolingo?

20) What improvements would you make to Duolingo?

35
Questions to English teachers:

1) Is e-learning helping young learners to learn English? If so How?

2) In your opinion why do people prefer Duolingo over other apps?

3) In your opinion what are the benefits of Duolingo?

4) In your opinion what are the drawbacks of Duolingo?

5) Do you think there is any benefit to using Duolingo in the classroom?

6) Do you think Duolingo could ever replace face to face teaching?

7) In your opinion what skills are most improved by using Duolingo?

8) Do you have any other comments about Duolingo as a language learning

application?

36
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