In the world of language education, apps are often met with some skepticism from learners: Language learning in a classroom or with a tutor has been happening for thousands of years, while language learning with an app has only been around for about 10 years.
That’s why Babbel’s team of over 150 learning experts is always keen to prove just how effective the product is. Here’s what researchers at Yale University, Michigan State University, the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina have to say about Babbel.
1. Babbel Is Research-Proven To Improve Your Communication Skills
One of the real benefits that traditional learning has over most language apps is that it forces learners to start speaking their new language from the very beginning. That’s why Babbel’s team of linguists and language teachers focuses on real-life conversations. (Anyone can create a basic app with flashcards, but it takes skilled professionals to create an app that teaches proper pronunciation and conversation skills.)
But does the work of these 150+ language experts actually pay off?
The answer is yes, according to researchers at Yale University. These researchers looked at Babbel’s effectiveness over a wide range of ages, with 75% of participants being over 40, and over 50% over 55. They found that 100% of participants improved their oral proficiency in 3 months. This confirms that learning with Babbel, even after a short period, empowers learners of all ages to have their first real-life conversations.
Better yet, researchers at Michigan State University also found that Babbel improves users’ speaking skills. These linguists used the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) scale to rate Spanish learners at the beginning and end of a three-month study. They discovered that after only three months studying with Babbel, nearly all learners improved their oral communication skills.
2. 15 Hours With Babbel Is Equal To One University Semester
Before the studies at Yale and Michigan State, Babbel’s effectiveness was verified by researchers at City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of South Carolina. This study aimed to find out how much a learner could progress in Spanish with just two months of learning time. Eighty-five percent of the participants described themselves as having little or no knowledge of Spanish, with the remaining 15% having some competency in the language already.
So what did they find? Complete beginners needed only 15 hours of total study time to cover the requirements for one college semester of Spanish. If you break that down into study hours per day, that’s just about 15 minutes of study time per day!
3. Learners Love Using The Babbel App
In all of these studies, it’s clear that users love using the Babbel app. From the research conducted at Yale, 95% of participants agreed that Babbel makes it convenient for them to learn a new language, and 91% said that they enjoyed using Babbel. Considering that these participants had to finish a whopping 76 lessons (and some went up to 375!), this is high praise.
Meanwhile, 99% of learners in the study from CUNY said they would continue learning with the app after the study ended. Why is that? Because these same participants rated Babbel as easy to use, helpful, and, most importantly, it gave them a fun learning experience!