For this week’s blog on Duolingo I have done some research on the effectiveness of this app for learning a new language. The study I looked at was done over the course of 8 weeks. These users were done on users who were studying Spanish, were at least 18 years old, and English native speakers. The results showed that users who are learning Spanish for travelling are more successful than people who are learning for personal interests. Also, Duolingo is more effective for users who are beginners compared to users with previous knowledge in the language. The report stated, on average, 34 hours of work on Duolingo would cover the same amount of material in a first year college course. In my opinion, I believe a first year course would cover the basics of Spanish; therefore, in order to meet my goal for this term, I would need to spend this large amount of time on Duolingo. I believe this is accurate but I am unsure how much time I have spent on this app and how much I know of the basics.

I agree with this article because I believe I would be more determined to reach my goal if I had more of a reason than personal interest. For example, going on a trip. I believe this because having a strict deadline would be more motivating for myself. Personally, I believe Duolingo is effective as long as the user is motivated. 

 

The article: 

http://static.duolingo.com/s3/DuolingoReport_Final.pdf