Is there some sort of science behind them doing it this way that allows you to learn faster?? I dont understand how you learn from guessing?
Treat me like I’m 5, please.
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Professional at language teaching here. I have a problem with your question : what do you mean by “instead of teaching you ?”. How would you want an app to “teach you” ?One thing I can say, is that the teaching you want is probably based on the teaching you’ve received at school and it’s usually very inefficient (learning by rote, new notions introduced without stakes, etc.)I don’t like learning apps for a simple reason : you don’t get a proper feedback and they usually introduce you to a language through grammar, which is the worst way of doing it. That said, the “question&answer” type has the advantage of engaging you, whereas the “listen& repeat” type is keeping you passive most of the time.
If you want “the science” behind it, here it is : in the “listen&repeat” type, the person asking you to repeat (teacher or app) has no means to know what you heard, and maybe you’re repeating EXACTLY what you heard, it’s just that you heard it bad. Basically, that kind of exercice is inefficient, detrimental to your motivation and doesn’t require you to try to understand the language, because you’re already offered the answer (= you just have to repeat what you’ve been told), whereas the Q&A type of app has you facing a problem : there is a sentence, and you’re asked something about it. So FIRST, to be able to answer the question, you have to be able to understand the question and the sentence that’s written/told. Then you have to elaborate an answer and provide it. This is a much more complex process than just asking you to repeat a sentence. Because of that active part (understanding + processing an answer), you’re more engaged in the language, hence the “better” learning.
This is of course a very poor “better” learning, but the “science” behind it is absolutely right : students should be very active and engaged in their learning. Having a teacher tell you stuff won’t do shit because **knowledge is not a skill**. Just because you know how to run doesn’t make you an athlete, training a lot does.
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