 Lingua.ly logo | |
Type of site | Online education |
|---|---|
| Available in | |
| URL | lingua |
| Registration | Free |
| Current status | Public |
Lingua.ly was an EdTech startup that took a digital language immersion approach to teaching languages. The company was founded by Jan Ihmels and Orly Furhman, two academics from Cambridge and Stanford respectively. Lingua.ly operated under the freemium business model and existed as a Cloud-based web app and mobile app available for Android and iOS.
After its beta launch in August 2013, the company's extension for Google Chrome saw widespread early adoption in the US, Spain, and Latin America as a spaced repetition vocabulary acquisition tool. [1] Several publications have recommended Lingua.ly as a free platform for language learning. [2] [3] [4] [5]
In April 2014 Lingua.ly launched its mobile app for Android, [6] achieving 100K downloads in its first month on the Google Play Store.[ citation needed ] Lingua.ly released a stand-alone web app in June 2014, which was met with largely positive reviews, including coverage in the New York Times. [7] [8] [9] Most recently, Lingua.ly released an iOS mobile app in July 2014, which was quickly listed as one of the top iPhone apps of the week. [10]
In February 2014 the company won the regional 1776 Challenge Cup's Innovation in Education Award for its patent pending algorithm and language learning platform. [11] In May 2014 Lingua.ly was selected as one of eight global finalists for the Challenge Cup. [12]
While traditional language immersion entails a target language rich environment where the user is exposed to ample linguistic input from various sources, Lingua.ly utilizes digital language immersion, a method of employing a virtual learning environment to simulate the language learning environment. Users are exposed to authentic input in their target language through their computer, tablet, or mobile device as opposed to lesson-based instruction. Duolingo is another example of language education tech startups that also partially relies on a digital language immersion approach. [13] In classroom learning, language immersion is often used to teach children in bilingual or content and language integrated learning programs. Digital language immersion is the E-learning extension of these trends.
Lingua.ly relies on a number of applied linguistics principles, including the Natural Approach and Krashen's Input Hypothesis, which argues that fluent language learners benefit most from language they acquire through exposure rather than direct instruction. [14]
Lingua.ly's platform contains an online and mobile dictionary powered by Babylon that learners can use to look up words from the web in their target language. Through a learner's collected words and click-patterns, the technology maps an individual's vocabulary in the target language. [15] It then rates the suitability of online content suggestions in the target language in order to create an environment for language acquisition based on a 90:10 percentage of known to unknown words. [16] Users customize vocabulary flashcards with images, audio, and example sentences and practice them at spaced repetition intervals to enhance acquisition and transfer into long-term memory. [17]
Lingua.ly is part of a growing trend of digital language education startups including, Memrise, Busuu, Babbel and Duolingo that are attracting significant investment funding and unseating former industry leader Rosetta Stone. [18]
In October 2016, the Linugua.ly Facebook account posted a message announcing that they were shifting their business focus and would "no longer be able to maintain our current line of products." [19]
A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language. A speaker's dominant language, which is the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not necessarily the speaker's first language. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition. This can happen when young children start school or move to a new language environment.
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is regarded by some but not everybody as a sub-discipline of applied linguistics but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.
Rosetta Stone Language Learning is proprietary, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software published by Rosetta Stone Inc, part of the IXL Learning family of products. The software uses images, text, and sound to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. Rosetta Stone calls its approach Dynamic Immersion.
Babbel GmbH, operating as Babbel, is a German subscription-based language learning software and e-learning platform, available in various languages since January 2008.
The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor model, is a group of five hypotheses of second-language acquisition developed by the linguist Stephen Krashen in the 1970s and 1980s. Krashen originally formulated the input hypothesis as just one of the five hypotheses, but over time the term has come to refer to the five hypotheses as a group. The hypotheses are the input hypothesis, the acquisition–learning hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis and the affective filter hypothesis. The input hypothesis was first published in 1977.
italki is an online language learning platform which connects language learners and teachers through video chat. The site allows students to find online teachers for 1-on-1 tutoring, and teachers to earn money as freelance tutors. italki is headquartered in Hong Kong, China.
Busuu is a language learning platform on web, iOS and Android that allows users to interact with native speakers. In 2021, Chegg acquired Busuu for $436 million.
The main purpose of theories of second-language acquisition (SLA) is to shed light on how people who already know one language learn a second language. The field of second-language acquisition involves various contributions, such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and education. These multiple fields in second-language acquisition can be grouped as four major research strands: (a) linguistic dimensions of SLA, (b) cognitive dimensions of SLA, (c) socio-cultural dimensions of SLA, and (d) instructional dimensions of SLA. While the orientation of each research strand is distinct, they are in common in that they can guide us to find helpful condition to facilitate successful language learning. Acknowledging the contributions of each perspective and the interdisciplinarity between each field, more and more second language researchers are now trying to have a bigger lens on examining the complexities of second language acquisition.
Memrise is a British language platform that uses spaced repetition of flashcards to increase the rate of learning. It is based in London, UK.
Duolingo, Inc. is an American educational technology company that produces learning apps and provides language certification. Duolingo offers courses on music, math, and 43 languages, ranging from English, French, and Spanish to less commonly studied languages such as Welsh and Irish. Other services include the Duolingo English Test, an online certification program, and Duolingo ABC, a literacy app for children. The company uses a freemium model, with its optional premium service, Super Duolingo, being ad-free and offering more features.
English as a Second Language (ESL) Podcast is a web-based English language-learning podcast. It is the first and longest-running English language learning podcast on the Internet. It was launched in July 2005 by two former university professors, Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Tse of the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. ESL Podcast produces four main services: free audio lessons, supplementary Learning Guides, a blog on American culture and English learning, and specialty courses.
Social media language learning is a method of language acquisition that uses socially constructed Web 2.0 platforms such as wikis, blogs, and social networks to facilitate learning of the target language. Social media is used by language educators and individual learners that wish to communicate in the target language in a natural environment that allows multimodal communication, ease of sharing, and possibilities for feedback from peers and educators.
Merrill Swain is a Canadian applied linguist whose research has focused on second language acquisition (SLA). Some of her most notable contributions to SLA research include the Output Hypothesis and her research related to immersion education. Swain is a Professor Emerita at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. Swain is also known for her work with Michael Canale on communicative competence. Swain was the president of the American Association for Applied Linguistics in 1998. She received her PhD in psychology at the University of California. Swain has co-supervised 64 PhD students.
Severin Hacker is a Swiss computer scientist who is the co-founder and CTO of Duolingo, the world's most popular language-learning platform.
Fluenz is a digital language learning platform developed by Fluenz Inc., a U.S. entrepreneurial company. The interactive content can be downloadable or accessed online on computers and mobile devices. The product range consists of programs to learn Spanish as spoken in Latin America, Spanish as spoken in Spain, French, Italian, Mandarin, German, and Portuguese.
Hi uTandem, also known as uTandem, is a free language exchange mobile app. It helps people to connect with other language learners in order to carry out face-to-face language exchange sessions and also offers learners lists of businesses in the field of language learning or language exchange.
Tandem is a language exchange app on iOS and Android that connects language learners with native speakers. Members can search for language exchange partners to talk to by either text or voice chat. As of October 2023, the app supports more than 300 languages, including 20 sign languages, 20 indigenous languages and six fictional ones, such as Mandalorian or Klingon.
Lingopie is a subscription-based VOD platform for language learning. The web-based software provides users with television shows and movies combined with interactive language-learning tools. Lingopie offers international content in 10 languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English. Lingopie offers a web version and a mobile app available for Android and Apple devices.