Using Duolingo to Learn French: Does it Work?

Recently, mobile device usage in daily life has rapidly increased, and it has had a crucial impact on all aspects of human life, precisely the educational aspect. Therefore, this study investigated the role of mobile applications in language learning compared to teacher’s instruction in the case of French vocabulary and grammar learning. To this end, Duolingo, a free language learning application, was chosen, and 30 students participated in the study who were English students. The participants’ approximate homogeneity in the English language and their exposure to French were the rationale for selecting them. They had never been exposed to the French language before and had no prior knowledge. Then, they were randomly assigned into two groups: the control group, in which students were taught French through teachers’ instruction, and the experimental group, who used Duolingo as a learning tool to get instruction. Participants in both groups received treatment for 15 hours, one hour and a half for each session, and at the end, all the participants took a test to indicate the amount of progress they had made in each treatment group. The results indicated that the application-users group outperformed the traditionally taught group. The experimental group also performed better on vocabulary test items. However, the traditional group performed better in the grammar part of the test. In line with the research goals in the last section of the study, all the participants were interviewed to determine their viewpoints toward employing mobile applications as a learning tool, showing a positive attitude. The findings demonstrated that most learners had mobile learning. The results of this study may be helpful for learners, instructors, and computer programmers.