Learning a brand-new language through Duolingo: A case study of a gifted student

Abstract

This article describes a case study of a gifted student who spent about two months learning a new language through the use of a mobile application. The purpose of this study is to investigate how a gifted student perceives the effectiveness of Duolingo, as well as how the participant improved his language skills. The participant was a 14-year-old Turkish male who began using Duolingo knowing nothing about French. Data was gathered through interviews, self-reports, and language tests. According to the findings, Duolingo provided a user-friendly, enjoyable, and competitive learning environment for the participant, but it was not regarded as an all-in-one language-learning tool. The participant appeared to gain various language skills, particularly reading and writing skills, without referring to other sources. When considering the improvement level in this case, Duolingo should be a reciprocal learning tool as an addition to language courses rather than a replacement for regular language courses.