Coordintor: Musa Nushi
Email: M_nushi@sbu.ac.ir
Media Review Template
Title plus author’s full name and affiliation
Abstract (not more than 200)
The abstract is a crucial element of any academic article; it not only
summarizes your paper but also helps it reach the right audience. Your abstract
should be written in both English and Persian; it should appear in block
format, single spaced and justified. The abstract should include: 1) a brief
(one or two sentence) introduction; 2) the media selected for the review and
the significance/ purpose of the review/ selection; 3) major findings and; 4)
recommendations.
Introduction (approximately 450 words)
The introduction should give a broad view of the field of educational
technology with a focus on the role of technology in second/ foreign language
education. It then narrows the focus on the media selected for the review and
how and why the review can contribute to second/ foreign language learning and
teaching.
Description (approximately 550 words)
The authors need to describe the media tool as accurately as possible,
preferably using photos and graphics that make the description engaging and
interesting to read. The description should tell the readers about where they
can find/download the media, what its different sections are and what the
features and purposes/functions of each section are, etc.
Evaluation (approximately 350 words)
In this part the overall value of the media review and its contribution
to second/ foreign language is given, followed by its strengths and/or possible
weaknesses. The authors can offer their own and research-supported suggestions
on how those shortcomings can be removed or taken care of.
Conclusion (Approximately 250 words)
The review ends with a conclusion that summarizes the main points and
make specific recommendations on the use of the media for second/ foreign
language learning and teaching.
References
References should be up to date and written in APA style. The number of references
should not exceed 10.
Drops: A Mobile Language Learning Application to Add to Your Screen
Elahe Tirandaz, Shahid Beheshti University
Email: elaheh.tirandaz@yahoo.com
Elham Vakili, Shahid Beheshti University
Email: eli_vakili@yahoo.com
چکیده
رشد گسترده دستگاه‌های قابل حمل و در
دسترس بودن آن‌ها،
مانند تلفن‌های
همراه هوشمند و تبلت‌ها،
نحوه یادگیری زبان دوم را تغییر داده است. امروزه، نرم‌افزارهای بسیاری وجود دارند که زبان‌آموزان می‌توانند آن‌ها را به‌راحتی بر روی دستگاه‌های الکترونیکی سیارشان نصب کنند و از
آن‌ها
در فرایند یادگیری زبان کمک جویند. این مقاله به بررسی یکی از این نرم‌افزارها به نام دراپس
( Drops)
می‌پردازد.
دراپس زمان یادگیری در روز را به پنج دقیقه محدود می‌کند و زبان‌های زیادی را، از آلمانی و پرتغالی
گرفته تا کره‌ای،
آموزش می‌دهد.
این نرم‌افزاربه
گسترش واژگان با ارائه تصویر برای هر کلمه تأکید زیادی دارد. با این حال Drops نواقصی نیز دارد. در این مقاله محاسن و معایب این نرم‌افزار مورد بررسی
قرار می‌گیرد.
کلید‌واژه‌ها: فناوری، برنامه های کاربردی تلفن‌همراه، زبان دوم،
دراپس (Drops)
Abstract
The widespread growth and availability of hand-held devices such as
smartphones and tablets have changed the way we learn a second language. There
are now many applications that language learners can easily install on their
portable electronic devices to help them with their language learning. The
present study focuses on one such application named Drops. Limiting the
learning time to five minutes per day, Drops teaches many languages, spanning
from German and Portuguese to Korean. The app places a heavy emphasis on
building vocabulary through providing pictorial data for each word. Drops,
however, has a few shortcomings and, in this review, the merits and demerits of
the app will be discussed.
Key Words: Technology, mobile applications, second language, Drops
Application details
Application name: Drops
Developer: PLANB LABS OU
Product type: Smartphone application software
Category: Education
Language(s): multilingual
Level: Beginner/ Intermediate
Media Format: APK/IPA
Age rating: 4+
Operating system: IOS/ Android
Hardware requirements: Smartphone
Size: 95.4 MB
Price: Free
Introduction
We live in a world in which technology permeates every aspect of our
lives. The growing use of technology has been also changing second language
(L2) teaching and learning. Technology makes learning engaging, flexible, and
heuristic. Additionally, it boosts productivity and efficiency (Halverson &
Smith, 2009). As Reinders and White (2011) have aptly pointed out, “technology
has the potential to not only provide access to resources for learning in a
superficial sense, but also to offer increased affordances for autonomous
learning,” (p. 1). They maintain that technological advancements have increased
“opportunities for interaction, situated learning, and support for learning
outside formal contexts,” (p. 1). Moreover, technology can provide a source of
real language, inspire creativity and bring new opportunities to people, and
motivate learners to produce more language (Stanley, 2013).
Mobile and hand-held devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops and
various audio and video players stand out among the technological innovations,
thanks to their practicality and popularity (Nushi & Eqbali, 2018). In
fact, mobile assisted language learning (MALL), a subset of e-learning, is a
rapidly growing field with promising implications for language learning
(Pachler, Bachmair & Cook, 2010). Mobile phones with user friendly
interfaces, ubiquitous access and improved data storage and retrieval
capacities offer a good platform for learning (Gabarre, Gabbarre, Din, Shah,
& Karim, 2014; Godwin-Jones, 2011; Miangah & Nezarat 2012). Jalalifarahani and Ghovehnodoushan (2011)
also write that “among the most noted affordances for MALL is ubiquitous access
to learning anytime at any place that the user has reception” (p. 527). The idea of learning an L2 anytime and
anywhere through the use of mobile devices can provide motivation owing to the
fact that the learners shoulder the responsibility of their own learning
process, which in turn gives them a feeling of authority over the process
(Thornton & Houser, 2005). Furthermore, this flexibility makes it possible
for adult learners to minimize their unproductive time, which may enhance their
work-education balance.
More recently, and perhaps more liberatingly, mobile technologies also
allow learners to have access to resources in out-of-school contexts. As a
result, there is now a much richer appreciation of the role of learning outside
the classroom, mainly in terms of the time learners spend learning, practicing
and using the language in non-formal learning environments.
In order to get the most out of the time spent on learning, developing
autonomous learners is of paramount importance. Developing learner autonomy is
a process engaging students in assuming responsibility for their own learning.
It is not surprising, given the emphasis on student-centered pedagogy and on
accommodating student diversity. The dramatic increase in online resources,
network services, and educational software together provide new opportunities
for self-directed autonomous learning.
Extensive usage of mobile devices has spawned numerous mobile
applications in English language learning, yet lack of information on many of
the apps is evident. The necessity for research on the available apps,
therefore, is of the essence to the present theories related to MALL. The
present study, thus, narrows the focus down on one such app, Drops, and explores
its potentialities for second language learning.
Description
To use Drops, users must download it from Google Play/ iTunes and
install it on their Android/iOS devices. Next, learners are given a list from
which they can choose their target language. The list provides learners with 28
options: Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese and
Mandarin), Danish, Dutch, English (American and British), Esperanto, French,
German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese,
Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Russian, Spanish
(Castilian and Latin American), Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish and Vietnamese. The
app has a dictionary which includes more than 1700 words that are relevant for
60 percent of everyday conversation (Jones, 2017). Compared to similar apps on
the market, Drops provides a wide range of languages.
After choosing the target language, the learners are provided with two
options to choose their language proficiency: Beginner and Intermediate. In
this study we are taking the English course, and for the sake of argument we
will put the curser on Intermediate (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Language levels
Next, a list of topics is presented to the learners from which they can
choose. The first topic is related to food and is available; other topics are
locked until the learner makes progress and unlocks them. The topics include
food, drinks, essentials, numbers, transportation, relations, body, colors,
emotions, pronouns, navigation, mathematics, baby, car, marriage, agriculture,
ecology, magic and fantasy, pets, prison, bicycle and jobs, to name a few.
The app is gamified, meaning that it is designed in a game form using
quick swipes to keep the users in tune with the rhythm. After the learner has
chosen the topic, the first word will appear with its picture along with a
voice narration pronouncing the word. Drops pronounces each word and phrase
throughout the lesson. If the language chosen is not English, the English
translation of the word is also provided. The first task that appears is shown
in Figure 2. Learners can drag the word down to learn a new word, or drag up if
they would rather skip it.
Figure 2. First word appearance
When 5 minutes is finished, learners have to wait 10 hours until the
next session begins. Each lesson takes five minutes a day. During that time, a
number of new words will be introduced and a set of exercises is presented. The
lessons demand focus and the fast pace of the game keeps the user challenged in
reacting quickly when recalling the words. The methods used to design the app
are based on memory techniques (Damanhouri, 2016). Therefore, the exercises
seem more like quick games rather than classroom worksheets. Various exercises
such as visual association, spaced repetition, adaptive learning and quick pace
learning are provided which will be discussed in detail further in the paper.
Visual association is matching pictures to their translations, sometimes
two pictures are shown and sometimes four. The examples are provided in Figures
3 and 4.
The next exercise includes unscrambling letters to practice spelling.
Learners have to pull down letters in the right order like in Figure 5. Another
spelling exercise requires learners to swipe along or tap on the letters in the
right order as in Figure 6.
Tapping on the right choice to
indicate whether the word that comes with the picture is correct or incorrect
is another type of exercise included in the lessons. An example is provided in
Figure 7.
Figure 7.Correct or incorrect word association
One more activity involves tapping on the right bubbles to pair the
correct match. Six bubbles appear on the screen. Three of them contains a
picture and the other three have the words. A sample is provided in Figure 8.
In order to relieve some of the pressure of learning a new language,
Drops offers two opportunities daily by cutting the learning time into two
five-minute bursts. There are also multiple opportunities to get more session
time. By maintaining a daily streak,
learners can earn time bonuses from forty to three hundred seconds and get
extra time added to their daily lesson.
An interesting feature of Drops is that the learners’ idea is asked at
the end of the session and they can write a report and share their thoughts
about the whole procedure, whether they like the app and its features or not.
Figure 10. Asking learner’s idea
At the end of the lesson, learners can view their stats, including
accuracy percentage and streak bonuses, as well as review the words used in
that session.
Evaluation
Drops is a user-friendly application which in five minutes teaches
learners new words and tests them by using various activities that keep
learning interesting. A wide range of topics is also provided for the users of
this application. It is also notable that Drops works both online and offline,
and therefore removes the necessity for an Internet connection. One unique
feature of drops is that it gives learners pictures paired with the word you
are learning to help stimulate the brain and create language learning
connections. Besides, the colors used in the activities are vibrant and
attractive, and the style of memorization is very effective. This would be a
perfect option for visual learners who learn and remember better when the
materials are colorful and visual such as flashcards, images, illustrations,
posters and so forth (Kumar, 2017). No matter what word category you are in,
the older words are repeated so that you do not forget them. Repetition has
been considered as one of the best ways to learn a new language. The importance
is verified by Ghazi Saidi and Ansaldo who argue that “Since 1631, the most
successful methodologies in L2 teaching and learning have included repetition
and imitation of words” (2017, p. 1). The way that learners have to match and
spell words in so many ways keep the brain active and working to learn
everything.
With this application, learners do not need to type out words; they
simply match words with objects or tap on letter combinations to spell out
words, which saves more time for learning. Drops is designed in a way that
learners navigate the interface using only rapid swipes and taps. Furthermore,
there is almost no ads in Drops. Ads remove the fun out of the process,
especially when they are notified with several pop-ups. There is only one ad
displayed at the end of the session, and that is only if you click “x” on the
window offering you more time.
Compared to other language applications like Rosetta stone and the
amount of content learners are provided with, the paid version of Drops is
rather inexpensive, with about $48 per year. This is of course true for the
non-Iranian learner who can actually pay the fee. There are plenty of more
expensive programs that charge you not only when buying the program, but also a
monthly fee when using it. An example of such applications is Rosetta Stone.
Besides, to have access to about 100 topics in various languages is incredibly
beneficial.
In spite of all the positive features of this application, there are
still some cautionary notes. First of all, Drops is a vocabulary app only. It
does not focus on grammar. It places a strong emphasis on building vocabulary
through nouns, and pays little attention to grammar, usage and conjugations.
Furthermore, learners will not be tested in speaking and pronunciation. For
that reason, learners who are looking to become completely fluent in a language
should consider Drops as a supplement resource. Second, Drops is related to the
logographic languages like Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. Users have to know the
alphabet of their target language or else they will be lost in the fast-paced
world of Drops. There is no preliminary alphabet course. Third, sometimes the
images provided for the word are so leading, meaning that the word ‘rainy’ for
instance, is displayed on the screen, but the images that appear are a rainy
cloud and a face of a person. So, in this way there is a mismatch among
pictures and words in some occasions. Another downside to Drops is related to
the syllable specification of the words. It would be a better idea if the
syllables of the words were specified and words with one syllable precede the
others, because the length of the word will affect the learning process.
Finally, although users can purchase unlimited time for 48$ per year, five-minute
blocks mean that they learn at a relatively slow pace. This would not be a
problem for the ones who are not in a hurry to learn a language. For those who
are very interested in a language and want to take their daily lessons farther,
by paying for a fuller version they can boost what they are learning and it
allows for multiple language studies, extended/ unlimited lesson times, and/or
extra features that assist learning.
Conclusion
Mobile devices like smartphones, have become part of our daily lives,
and self-regulated learning can be
developed by transforming
these devices usage
for learning the language. Designed
with a pleasing display, a fast pace and a fine balance between gaming and
learning, Drops is a great app for learning another language. The thing that
makes Drops distinguishable from other language learning apps is that it is
extremely engaging and it keeps you constantly focused on the lesson
Vocabulary learning is an important part of language learning and mobile
devices can play a role in enhancing vocabulary learning. Several studies have
also shown the impact of mobile devices on vocabulary learning (e.g., Abbasi
& Hashemi, 2013; Agca & Ozdemir, 2013; Amer 2010; Chen, 2013). Drops,
as well, aims to instill motivation in beginners to learn common words in a
language. Breaking down the experience
into bite-sized chunks of five-minute learning sprints can make a complex
learning process accessible and easy. Furthermore, Push notifications and
motivational techniques keep learners coming back.
Damanhouri, the co-founder of Drops elaborates on the issue of time
limit by arguing that “It is enough for casual learners who travel to a new
country and want to understand and speak basic expressions. For more serious
learners 5 minutes may be too slow and can seek the app’s premium options”
(Damanhouri, 2016, para. 4).
Some suggestions can be made for further improvement of this
application. Since the co-founders of Drops stated that the application is
sufficient for people who want to travel to a new country and understand the
basic conversation, it would be a good idea to add some everyday expressions
and chunks or even sentences to the lessons, because knowing only vocabulary is
not practical and does not enable learners to speak and communicate with
others. Even grammar instruction could be added to the app in order to help
learners produce structurally proper sentences on their trips. Another recommendation is to add
pronunciation test to the activities to make sure that learners have learned
the word completely in terms of both meaning and pronunciation. Furthermore,
the learners will benefit more if they are provided with some kind of feedback
in their learning process
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