Duolingo
Critique Blog - Post 1
Game Metadata
Game Name: Duolingo
Designer/Developer: Founders: Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker, Company: Duolingo
Platform: iOS App, Android app, and web
High-level instructional goal: Upon successful completion of a Duolingo level (lessons), a player will have furthered their knowledge of a foreign language in the forms of speech, writing, and overall comprehension.
Link to Game: https://www.duolingo.com/learn
Learning Objectives
As far as prerequisite knowledge, the requirements to successful ‘play’ Duolingo are minimal. As long as the player has some comprehension of language, they will be able to partake. Of course, the more advanced their language skills are, the faster they will move through the levels.
Duolingo can support learners across a range of learning objectives; many of which are determined by the learner themselves. Some users are looking to learn basic communication skills (words or common phrases) to put into use while traveling to a foreign country while others are learning with the intent of speaking a different language in an academic or professional setting. Both ends of the spectrum though, include reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.The allows for the potential of transferable learning, where the user can apply the language and comprehension skills they are learning in a variety of contexts.
A recent study found that the completion of Duolingo’s beginner level-content in their Spanish and French courses, was comparable to four university semesters of language classes. While acknowledging that their learner’s objectives vary, Duolingo designs their courses to get learners to a B2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference, which is essentially a level in which the individual could work in a professional setting, using the language they have learned.
Game Elements
Learners or “players” for the sake of this critique, will see a learning tree upon selection of a language course.. This allows users to track their progress throughout the course and see available lessons. Through either testing out or working through the individual lessons, a player will work to earn the five available crowns per skill.
Upon the successful completion of each lesson, a player opens access to more lessons in their learning tree. While playing, each individual will notice a heart count (that essentially serves as lives) that must exist in order to try a new lesson as well as a collection experience points (XP) that they can earn as they play. In addition to unlocking achievements, players are also ranked on leaderboards that allow users to compete with other players. When you make it to the top 10, you are promoted to the next league.
One of the reasons I felt Duolingo would be an interesting game to critique, is because from a player experience it offers a very self-contained game experience, while simultaneously allowing you to compete with other players around the world. To be honest, I don’t think I realized the full extent of leaderboards and external rankings until I had been using Duolingo for quite some time. Even now, I have found the personal streak and self-set daily goal to be the most motivating factors in continuing to play (beyond the intrinsic motivation of wanting to learn a new language).
Learning Principles
The Duolingo experience is littered with learning principles, which is to be expected of a game whose primary purpose is to provide personalized tutoring experience and to make language learning universally accessible.
The beginning of a level often begins with a variety of activities derived from sense-making category of principles. New words are introduced through multimedia (using illustration to depict the word in the player’s new language) and as the player works through their lesson, they are presented with activities utilizing the temporal contiguity principle as new words and phrases are accompanied by audio and visual elements .
As the player advances, while still utilizing many of the sense-making principles, we also see an influx of both memory and refinement principles. Scaffolding plays a huge role in the structure of the lessons. As the player learns new words, they learn to identify it as it is paired with an image, then as used in a sentence, and eventually they are asked to translate it from English to German (as an example) and from German to English in both written and spoken language. The lessons are clearly segmented, allowing the user to approach language learning in small, approachable pieces.
Throughout the activities, a player receives immediate feedback as they work their way through the lesson and will know immediately if they have made a mistake and what the correct response should be. In addition to linking connections and learnings across lessons/levels while encouraging players to use language and information they already know (active preconception) to complete the lessons.
Overall Critique
I think Duolingo is an excellent example of an educational game that properly utilizes learning principles in their efforts to further their players language acquisition goals. They have created something that has made what could easily become a daunting and overwhelming goal, and broken it down into friendly, approachable, and consumable pieces. As shown by their research, what they have designed does have the potential to be an effective tool in language learning.
I do however, think of Duolingo more as a learning experience than a game and while I do believe this supports the approachability factor that has become synonymous with their learning system, I also can’t help but wonder how else they could expand on their platform to make it feel as such for those desiring a more externally motivated competitive experience.