There’s a reason why gamified mobile language learning apps such as Duolingo have taken the world by storm. Whether you want to one day read War and Peace in Russian (that would be me), or you are a Game of Thrones fan that simply wants to brush up on your High Valyrian, you have probably jumped on the language-app bandwagon, and for a good reason—if you stick at it, they work. Such apps make masterful use of language learning strategies with spaced repetition and contextualisation of vocabulary. If there was a magic recipe for language learning, it would be: do it often, put it in context, and make it fun (and therefore memorable).
How can we apply the wins of these language-learning apps to vocabulary and language reinforcement for the general learner in the world of microlearning? EdApp provides simple vocabulary learning strategies with their game templates such as Image Pair or Missing Word, and when it comes to contextualization, the sentence construction authoring feature is a brilliant way to reinforce language learning such as key sales phrases. Wherever possible, try to tap into your inner comedian when creating content from these templates. Molly Ness from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education notes that humorous world play has a significant impact on increased vocabulary recall.6 It turns out that joking around is one of the most effective ‘brain hacks’ in your toolbox of vocabulary-building strategies, and if you were taking a leaf out of the Duolingo book, the more absurd, the better.
There’s no shortage of strategies that cater to multiple learning styles…but sometimes, navigating the various types of learning strategies can be a little overwhelming. By embracing AI-powered microlearning such as EdApp, the process of differentiating learning, and embedding active learning strategies into your training course has never been simpler. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, and you don’t need to do it all at once. Using a variety of learning strategies that cater across the learning style spectrum is key.
