Learning vocabulary is one of the main priorities when it comes to a new language. It helps to express yourself better and build conversations easily. It is also one of the challenging parts of learning a new language, as it takes time and effort. However, with student apps, it becomes much easier and more fun.
Language Learning Apps
Expanding your vocabulary is an effective way to get a better hold of the language. Because no matter how good your grammar is, if you do not have suitable word stock, you won’t be able to express yourself clearly.
This is what a lot of students who learn English as a second language struggle with, particularly when it comes to academic writing and college assignments. Such tasks require advanced knowledge of specific styles and terminology. Of course, there is help out there; you can use a service like Buy Essay Go to polish their papers without any hassle. It is a professional academic writing service that helps all students with their college papers.
Experts assist with writing, proofreading, and editing so that your text is outstanding. But it is still essential to learn vocabulary to advance one’s language skills.
Overall, you can learn new words incidentally or intentionally. The first one means acquiring knowledge without instructions or exercises. For instance, in daily communication, by reading books, or watching movies.
Intentional learning uses various techniques, exercises, and methodologies to actively memorize and use new words. It is often based on spaced repetition. It helps to remember terms for a long time. The idea is to practice words with time intervals that get bigger as you learn.
As for language apps, there are several types students can benefit from:
- Lesson-based tools like Duolingo;
- Self-study flashcard apps where you can create your own materials;
- Flashcard apps with a fixed curriculum (you cannot create your own cards);
- Dictionaries;
- Translation applications.
All of them are useful for various purposes. If you are a beginner, the lesson-based and fixed curriculum apps are great. They offer the necessary basis and organizational approach. But if you are an advanced speaker, flexible solutions are better as they provide you control over what you are memorizing.
Now, let’s review the best applications for students that want to enrich their word stock.
The Best Apps to Expand Your Lexicon
Anki
It is one of the long-standing yet powerful tools. It is free as a web-based app, but if you want to use it on mobile, there is a subscription fee.
It is a perfect tool for spaced learning and memorizing anything, not only words. You can practice dates, terms, or crucial concepts as well.
Students are able to create their flashcards and work with them.
Anki gives full freedom, but it comes with the fact that you’ll need to do it all yourself. For instance, if you want to add pronunciation to flashcards, you need to add them one by one.
Heylama
It is a great application designed specifically for language learners. Students can create and add new flashcards to memorize all types of words.
It is also based on spaced repetition and allows tracking your progress, which is amazing. Some of the great features are:
- Automatic pronunciation;
- Translation;
- Suggested examples of use;
- Minimalist interface;
- Telegram coach (you can learn directly in the messaging app).
It is a well-designed and effective app to try.
Quizlet
Quizlet is a flashcard application created specifically for college students. It works with all types of subjects and materials, so it is not focused on languages. It is great to prepare for tests and exams as well with spaced repetition.
Students can create their own sets and can access the already made ones. There is a huge number of users and a tremendous library of various flashcards to use. It can be a bit overwhelming as it features all the subjects and topics, but it is free.
Lingvist
This one is perfect for beginners who want to take hold of the frequently used lexicon. The app offers:
- Vocabulary courses;
- Lists of essential words for particular situations;
- Several widespread languages;
- Opportunity to memorize the most widely used words;
- Ability to create your flashcards.
And there are examples of use as well.
Busuu
Those who enjoy gamification will love this one. It makes learning English more entertaining. And it uses real-world examples and word stock that will come in handy. One of the benefits is that the app gives you pronunciation and examples of usage in sentences.
The content is based on a variety of topics, from travel to business and economics. Another major benefit is testing functionality with questions and exercises to fill in the gaps. You can track your progress and see what words you need to work on.
Memrise
Memrise is more helpful for beginners and intermediate speakers. It focuses on the most common word stock that people use daily. What makes it different is the use of video content. For every word or phrase, you’ll get a short clip of a native speaker using it.
This is quite useful to get the natural conversation context and clear pronunciation. And it is simply more fun than plain examples. There are immerse videos as well, with captions, so you can train yourself. And translation functionality is pretty convenient.
WordReference
This app serves a bit different purpose. It is the top one when it comes to dictionary translation. This is a great tool to turn your incidental learning into an intentional one. When you see or hear a new term, you can look it up here and get several dictionary translations for it. It also delivers examples of use in both languages.
One of the strong benefits is that it also translates slang and colloquial words.
In Summary
Expanding your lexicon with applications is easy and entertaining. You can hop on flashcards whenever you have free time. Or you can look up new words and translations. The majority of such tools are free or affordable, so students can get the best use of them.
