Product Tips

Foreign Language Software: An Alternative to Classroom Learning?

Volume 8 / Issue 1 / Fall 2007

There is a consensus among linguists and educators that second language acquisition is valuable in itself as personal educational development, but studies have shown that children who acquire a second language tend to do better in cognitive functioning and score higher in achievement and IQ {aptitude?}  tests than single language students.  If your child desires to learn a foreign language, the earlier that he or she begins, the more likely that near native fluency can be attained.  However the majority of schools don’t teach foreign language in elementary or even middle school. And schools that do offer foreign language usually don’t offer the ones  that are becoming more important for the United State’s economic and security interests like Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.

One alternative to traditional learning language, especially for home schooling, is language learning software.  With advancing technology, the companies who produce these programs are able to claim a more complete language education experience, but do they really deliver on their claims?

Rosetta Stone by Fairfield languages is available in 27 languages. Its methodology is to teach a second language in the same manner that a first language is acquired; they call it a natural learning process.  Instead of drilling vocabulary lists and having students translate words from the target language to their primary language, Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1 & 2 uses a native speaker of the target language to recite a word or phrase, then iconically associates it with an image and as written text. In the Russian Language program “the boy jumps” is spoken in Russian, written in Russian, and depicted in an image among a choice of four photographs.  The student is to select the corresponding picture from the four choices, i.e. the picture of a boy jumping.  Rosetta Stone assumes that by matching the word or phrase with an image, students will develop strategies for assigning patterns and associations in order to further learn on their own. 
While the theory interesting, it may fall short in two key areas:

• More abstract concepts, which are usually associated with academic work, would be very difficult to represent with the “word equals photograph” method.
• Rosetta Stone does not start out with a one-to-one word-to-image mode. 

The simplest mode forces students to guess from a four picture collection as to the definition of a word.  There should be a beginning mode with a one-to-one picture-to-word ratio where students do not need to guess the meaning of the word.  In an unfamiliar language, , Arabic, the reviewer found the method to be a frustrating experience of trial and error.    
This said I still think that Rosetta Stone is a fine program for learning language to a lower-intermediate degree but would work best as a supplementation for a tutor or for a lab in a language class.

The next product is Complete Russian Learning Suite by Transparent Languages. Transparent Languages offers learning in over 100 different languages, and their methodology is based on Barcroft’s Five Principles of Effective Second Language Vocabulary Instruction:

1. Present new words frequently and repeatedly in input – The more frequently language learners are exposed to foreign vocabulary the more likely they are to remember it
2. Use meaning-bearing comprehensible input when presenting new words – in order for learners to successfully make the association between a foreign language word and its meaning, that meaning must be conveyed in a comprehensible manner
3. Limit forced output during the initial stages of learning new words – Forcing language learners to rush into incorporating new words into sentence formation can actually interfere with vocabulary learning
4. Limit forced semantic elaboration during the initial stages of learning new words – in addition to not forcing beginning language learners to produce whole sentences immediately, a vocabulary program should also avoid other kinds of elaboration that might produce negative effects on the learning of new words.
5. Progress from less demanding to more demanding vocabulary-related activities – vocabulary learning is most effective when learners start off with a small group of words, then gradually add more terms as the first ones are mastered

The language learning program is divided into two main components: 1) a vocabulary-building component called “Before you know it” and, 2) the main language learning component “Learn Language Now.”  “Before You Know It” is a powerful flashcard vocabulary drill which allows the student to preview the flashcards before going into the scored learning mode. The student hears a word or small phrase spoken by a native speaker, then the program leads the student through a process of vocabulary building activities ranging from word identification to word recall in the secondary language.

Once a basic vocabulary has been built, the student can move on to “Learn Language Now.”  This section is the core of the Transparent Language Learning Suite and uses a variety of media, including native texts, videos, and stories to immerse the student in the target language. Grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, and pronunciation skills are emphasized from a series of activities ranging from word games, pronunciation-through-word recognition, dictation, and role play.

The program is comprehensive and easy to use.  To provide context, each screen usually includes a video in the native language, the text of the video, a translation of the text into the student’s primary language, and another window which gives even more detailed information about highlighted words or phrases.  There is also a synergistic relationship with “Before You Know It,” where any particularly difficult word from “Learn Language Now” can be highlighted and automatically transferred to a “Before You Know It” flashcard for further study. 
The suite also contains a word processor so that the student can free write in the foreign language and an alphabet driller for those languages with unique alphabets.  The program is highly useful  as a supplementation to tutoring or a traditional class., It is even good enough that it could be used as a stand alone method for beginning and intermediate language learning.
—Jeffrey R. Perry, MA, ABD

Jeff Perry holds a Master’s Degree in Russian Language and Literature from Duke University, where he taught in the Duke in Russia study abroad program and the Russian Focus undergraduate writing course.

Reviewer’s note: Both Rosetta Stone and Transparent Languages have voice recognition software for pronunciation purposes.  However these features were not reviewed, because the technology only compares the student’s voice to the native speaker’s individual voice. Since the voice of the user’s may not match in pitch and tone, I do not believe it  truly evaluates the student’s competency in native pronunciation.