Learning a language by playing with owls

Introduction

In 2012 Luis Von Ahn teamed up with his PhD student Severin Hacker to create an app-based learning platform called Duolingo (Sakalauske, 2022).  Von Ahn, having grown up in Guatemala, and Hacker, who immigrated from Switzerland, understood the possibilities unlocked by learning a new language.  According to Von Ahn, in “Guatemala learning English could double your income” (Von Ahn, 2023)  While he understood the value of learning a second language he also understood the traditionally high cost of a quality education.  These were the motivating factors for Von Ahn and Hacker to create an app that would provide a quality education with no required fees. 

Personalization

One of the key factors behind Duolingo’s success is the platform's implementation of personalized learning.  As noted by Hicham Er-Radi in a 2023 article for the academic journal Conhecimento & Diversidade, because of the availability of technology, there has been an increase in the use of Personalized Learning (Er-Radi, 2023).  

Unlike traditional language courses where students follow a set curriculum with little variation in difficulty and a specific order to follow, Duoling relies on a learning experience personalized for the user.  When starting a new language, users are free to choose the starting point for their first lesson.  They can also choose to jump between lessons whenever they like.  This level of freedom promotes engagement by giving learners control over their learning path.

Duoling uses machine learning to determine the difficulty of the lessons for the user.  The app analyzes the user’s strengths and weaknesses to make recommendations on which lesson to do next.  It sees where students are struggling and can provide helpful feedback if it thinks the user should review previous lessons.  The adapting difficulty provides a learning path that grows with the user, ensuring they are always challenged but not so much so that they are overwhelmed.  

Interactivity

A major pitfall of learning a language through traditional means is the lack of interactivity.  A typical lesson in a traditional classroom might involve a lecture and a speaking portion.  Of these, only the speaking portion provides any sort of interactivity for the student, and neither can provide an interactive experience for all students at the same time.  This gives students a lot of idle time where they may fully disengage from a lesson until it’s their turn to participate. 

By implementing a Personalized Learning Platform into an app, and including different requirements for lessons, Duolingo has added a level of interactivity that is crucial for engagement.  On Duolingo, users can choose the type of lesson they complete.  These lessons range from reading stories in their selected language, listening and speaking exercises, and writing lessons where users form sentences from a pool of choices or fully typing the sentence. The assortment of lesson types and the way user responses are entered promote interactivity with varying degrees of effort required, and better yet because lessons are done on a personal device, this interactive experience is promoted for the duration of the user’s visit. 

Gamification

In The Effects of Gamification in Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Nadire Cavus highlights how incorporating gamification strategies promotes engagement by making the learning process more enjoyable.  Carvus argues that “The teacher’s role is to support, encourage, and assist students in exploring, attempting, and making learning enjoyable for themselves rather than teaching” (Cavus, 2023).  In Duolingo’s case, however, the role of “teacher” is played by an algorithm rather than a human.  As such, an enjoyable experience is crucial for the success of the app.  

In the app, users have a set number of hearts which function as an allowed number of mistakes a user can make on a lesson much like the limited number of lives players have in a video game.  Users can also gain a “streak” which is the number of days in a row a user has completed a lesson.  The fear of losing a “streak” and the limited number of hearts promote daily use of the app and ensure that users pay close attention to the lessons.

The best example of Duolingo’s use of gamification, however,  comes from its implementation of a leaderboard where users compete with other users for the highest rank.  Users can increase their rank by gaining XP (experience points) from completing lessons and challenges.  It also uses “Friends Quests” which are challenges users can complete with help from their friends.  These features use collaboration and competition to keep users coming back. 

Conclusion

The creators of Duolingo, with a noble intention of providing a high-quality yet affordable education for all users, have created a learning platform that focuses on engagement and enjoyment.  Through the use of interactive personalized learning and gamification, Von Ahn and Hacker have grown Duolingo to be one of the most popular learning apps.

References

Cavus, N., Ibrahim, I., Ogbonna Okonkwo, M., Bode Ayansina, N., & Modupeola, T. (2023). The Effects of Gamification in Education: A Systematic Literature Review. BRAIN: Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience, 14(2), 211–241. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.18662/brain/14.2/452

Er-Radi, H., Aammou, S., & Jdidou, A. (2023). Personalized Learning through Adaptive Content Modification: Exploring the Impact of Content Difficulty Adjustment on Learner Performance. Conhecimento & Diversidade, 15(39), 263–275. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.18316/rcd.v15i39.11153

Sakalauskė, A., & Leonavičiūtė, V. (2022). Strategic Analysis of Duolingo Language Learning Platform. Science: Future of Lithuania / Mokslas: Lietuvos Ateitis, 14, 1–9. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.3846/mla.2022.17731