engleski

Benefits and Deficiencies of Mobile Foreign Language Learning Applications

In recent years we have seen a considerable increase in the use of mobile applications specialized for independent foreign language learning. The opinions on the usefulness of such applications, their benefits and deficiencies vary from enthusiastic to negative. The paper is based on a research into opinions of students from the Faculty of Teacher Education, the University of Zagreb, Croatia, regarding the effectiveness and usefulness of online foreign language learning applications. 60 % of the respondents of that research do not use any such application, while 21.9 % use Duolingo and 24.5 % claim that they use Google Translator to learn foreign languages. The percentage of all other applications is negligible. Due to these results the researchers have carried out a follow-up research in which students were asked to use a couple of mobile foreign language learning applications (Duolingo, Memrise) for a week, after which they were asked to form opinions on the benefits and deficiencies of these applications. The respondents’ opinion was that said applications had more advantages than disadvantages when compared with traditional teaching methods.

mobile foreign languages learning applications, effectiveness, usefulness

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