The battle of language learning apps:a cross-platform overview
Athanasios Karasimos

Learning foreign languages has become a very appealing and important ability in the contemporary world. Technology, nowadays, permeates all aspects of people’s lives, and it has consequently also reached the domain of education. Oftentimes, learning a foreign language involves using language learning platforms (LLPs). There is an abundance of language learning software tools available, but we can only find a small amount of research specifically dealing with such tools and investigating their effectiveness in language learning. This paper narrows down the focus on five language learning platforms. It is a comprehensive evaluation of the popular and rapidly growing online language learning platforms, such as Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, Memrise, LingQ and Busuu. In the process of this evaluation, the participants will present features of these platforms and underline their strengths and weak points, while addressing certain limitations and providing suggestions for further improvement of the learning platform.

Key words: language learning platforms, asynchronous education, distance learning, Duolingo, Memrise, Rosetta stone