EFL Students’ Attitudes towards the Use of Duolingo Language Application to Enhance their Vocabulary: the case of junior degree in the Department of English at MMUTO
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Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation is concerned with EFL students’ attitudes towards using Duolingo language application to enhance their vocabulary. It has dealt with L3 LMD students in the Department of English at Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou. It is intended to determine the type of attitudes the students hold towards Duolingo use, and the factors that have influenced them to accept or reject this tool to learn vocabulary. In order to achieve the stated objectives, Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM, 1989) is applied. The study has adopted a mixed methods research combining both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis. For data collection, an online questionnaire is administered to forty-eight (48) L3 LMD students who use Duolingo selected based on convenience sampling, and a semi-structured interview conducted with three (03) of them at the Department of English. Concerning data analysis, the computer program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is used to analyze the numerical data obtained from the closed-ended items of the questionnaire, and Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) is applied to interpret the findings reached from the open-ended questions of the interview and the questionnaire. The results of the study have demonstrated that L3 students have positive attitudes towards using Duolingo to learn vocabulary. Moreover, the outcomes have revealed that a set of factors, such as “easiness and usefulness of Duolingo”, “anytime anywhere feature” and “students’ willingness to improve their learning”, have influenced the students to accept this application. In addition, factors such as “difficulty of access to internet” and “feeling of boredom”, have pushed the small number of students to reject Duolingo after using it.
Description
30cm ; 67p.
Keywords
Attitudes, Duolingo, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Vocabulary learning.
Citation
Didactics of Foreign Languages