Review of 5 Apps for Language Learning
For this review, I decided to focus on iOS apps that support language learning. I wanted to look at free applications that would be helpful for ESL students or for foreign language (Spanish) learners. So, I chose three programs that could be used in the ESL classroom and two that could be used by Spanish students. First, the apps for English-language learners:
Sounds: The Pronunciation App
This app is designed to help people understand the pronunciation of English words. Upon opening the app, you can go the this chart, which has all the major pronunciation symbols.
I like how it gives the learner an opportunity to hear what the sound is and then hear it again in context. However, I was honestly a little confused about the symbols. As a native English speaker they did not make sense to me! It took me a while of studying the chart to start to understand them. From the main menu, you can then choose to practice either reading, writing, or listening. If you choose reading, you will see a screen that looks like this:
So, you are shown the pronunciation and must write the actual word. Any guesses what that is? The word is "nothing."
The writing activities reverse that, asking you to write out the pronunciation for a given word. The listening activities then ask you to type the pronunciation for a spoken word.
After practicing, you can then go back to the main screen and quiz yourself using the same format.
Overall, the app is well formatted and easy to use. It is the content that I had a problem with. I went into it hoping it could be used for younger ESL students, but I think these type of pronunciation exercises would be too difficult and unnecessary for English-language learners. Usually pronunciations are written more simply for them, without the complicated symbols. For example nothing = [nuhth-ing].
This could be used to allow older, non-native speakers to:
Practice difficult pronunciations in English (especially hard for speakers of a phonetic language like Spanish). Understanding this system could make it easier.
Understand the phonemic base of English words.
This is a fun little read-along app that would be really engaging for young ESL students. If you sign up for a no-cost membership, it comes with six free books, "Jack and the Beanstalk," The Ant and the Grasshopper," The Field Mouse and the Town Mouse," Rapunzel," and "Snow White." The child can choose to have the story read aloud to them, with words highlighted, as seen below. Or, they can read it themselves. There is also a bookstore where more books can be purchased, ranging in price from $1.99-$6.99. I did click to see if a book could be purchased easily, and it did require my Apple password before any purchase could be made. While appreciate that, I as a parent do not like apps that have things to buy all over them. Kids do not need to see all the things they could buy, and then drive their parents crazy to buy them! Just a personal pet-peeve of mine.
Learners can also start a a Book Club, which is pretty neat. They invite friends via text, email, or Facebook, suggest books, and get suggestions. I do like the idea of getting kids excited about and discussing reading in that way.
It would be nice if the books had some comprehension checking exercises built in along the way, or some other type of interaction with the material. As it is, it is pretty one-dimensional. However, the pictures are vibrant and the speaker has a fun, easily understandable voice.
In a lesson, students could be asked to:
Look at the picture first and predict what will happen.
Pause at the end of each page and summarize, either orally or in writing.
Name all the verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc...on one page.
Read the story alone, aloud with a partner, or to the teacher.
Answer comprehension questions.
Imagine an alternate ending.
The name of this app explains it all! This is a very thorough English dictionary. *Disclaimer - I did attempt to look up some "bad words" on here, and they are there. No words appear to be filtered or blocked, so think about that when working with those kids who would go straight to that section in a regular dictionary. You can look up words by typing or by pressing the microphone in the top right of the screen and recording the word you want. Once the word is found, you can hear it by clicking on the speaker icon, move it to your favorites list by pressing the star, or send the link via email, Twitter, or Facebook by pushing the send icon. The orange "T" is a thesaurus link you can press to find synonyms of the word.
As you can see, at the bottom there is a fairly large, ever-present, ad banner. I always find these annoying. They are too easy for kids to accidentally press! Underneath the ad banner is a row of icons. "Daily" will show you a word of the day. "Favorites" will lead you to all those words you marked as a favorite. "Search" will begin a new search. "Trends" is an interesting place to go see what words are trending on the app, and you can even go to a Google map to see what people near you have been looking up.
A few other things you can do from the "more" icon: change the background color and enable "shaking" in which you can shake your device in order to get a random new word.
In the classroom, this app could be used to have learners:
Look up unfamiliar words in a reading assignment, video, activity, etc...without disrupting class.
Define content area words.
Have a "Twitter" race to define a new word. Whoever posts the correct definition to the class profile first, wins!
Expand their vocabulary by utilizing the word a day or thesaurus.
Mark words that need to be studied by adding to the favorites list.
And now on to two apps that focus on Spanish.
This is a translation app that includes over sixty languages! You can paste or type text into the upper box, then select the "to and from" languages by selecting the correct map (the country/language is listed as well in the pull-down menu). Touch "translate" and there you have it! You cannot speak the word you want translated without upgrading the app.
You can then swipe the translation to the left to hear a native speaker pronounce your word or phrase. There is a 1000 character limit, so very long passages can not be translated. But, an app like this really should not be used for that anyway. I did try to trick the machine and gave it some notoriously difficult-to-translate phrases, and it actually did a pretty good job!
You can then choose to save the translation as a favorite, copy it, or send it as an sms, email, Tweet, or Facebook message.
In settings you can adjust the volume, gender, and speed of the spoken translation.
In the classroom, this app could support learning by allowing students to:
Quickly look up a word needed to complete a conversation, answer a question, comprehend a reading, etc...without disrupting class.
Send a text of a translation to a classmate and ask them to reply with the translation.
Test grammar rules and see if computers can follow them correctly (teaching the importance of not over-relying on computer translators).
Spanish Free 24/7 Language Learning
This is one of many Spanish learning apps. This "lite" edition, has 5 categories to study: town and country, home and family, opposites, basic phrases, and questions. They are all the the basic, Spanish 1, level. Once you choose a category, you can then study the list of words or phrases in Spanish with the English translation. You can touch the word to hear a native speaker say it.
Above, you can see the choices for quizzes. Each one is pretty basic, not a lot of flash or feedback is given, but it is efficient.
A unique feature of this app is the priority mode. Basically, as you go through your list, you can assign each word or phrase a priority. A ranking of 1 is most important for you to study, and 5 is the least. You then set a priority threshold which causes the items above the threshold to be excluded from the quiz. For example, I set my threshold at 3. Only words that I marked as priority 1, 2, or 3 will be included in that quiz. I like this feature, as it gives learners some control over the content.
In the classroom, this could be used for learners to:
Work alone or with a partner to study vocabulary, phrases, etc...
Personalize the content by prioritizing what they need to know.
Tweet a Spanish word using a classroom hashtag. Others must reply with the English translation.
