Apps for language learning: their use across different languages in a Korean context

Abstract

ABSTRACT Korea is widely recognized to be among the world’s most advanced digital countries with nearly every university student owning the latest smartphone. Yet language education is largely still taught in traditional classroom methods. This study was designed to see how students in two major universities used smartphone apps to informally supplement their foreign language learning. We surveyed 82 students in two major universities who were studying German and three African languages and also asked them about how they used apps to continue to learn English – a language they’ve been learning since primary school. We asked about the number of apps they used for language learning, the types of apps (dictionaries, language learning, etc.), the apps’ usefulness and time spend on apps and looked at differences across the languages. The results have implications regarding the use of language learning apps in the foreign language classroom, in particular for Asian contexts. We will also discuss possible future directions for language app design.