considers the various levels of ability in utilizing digital tools (Jenkins et al., 2009).

The

considerable opportunity gap for participation has negative impacts on overall learning outcomes

of the class, and therefore entails additional attention and individualized instructions from

teachers.

Practical Guidelines

The project tackles the teaching tasks of foreign language acquisition, especially the

speaking skills. Through the use of Duolingo, videos, and a YouTube channel into

middle-school language classrooms, Canadian students will practice their spoken Mandarin and

receive feedback from their peers in China. They will also give back to this learning community

by providing suggestions to the Chinese students who are developing their English-speaking

skills.

In order to implement the project and pave the way for its further operations, the teacher

or facilitator should take care of the following conditions. Firstly, the class should have access to

a computer lab with Internet access and enough desktop computers for every student, depending

on the class size. While desktops generally come with built-in camera applications, each student

should have access to an external headset with a microphone attached, for the purposes of video

recording. Once a student is ready to record practice videos, he or she can use the ‘video’ mode

in the camera application. After the student finishes recording and saving the video, he or she can

upload it to the YouTube channel that is reserved for the class, which should be created by the

teachers in advance. Instructions regarding how to set up a channel on YouTube are available and

accessible on the Internet for teachers who need additional help. They should also practice

recording and uploading videos in case students ask for help during the activity. TThe instructor
needs to become familiar with the Duolingo website and practice using all its features, especially

the discussion forum. The teacher is also advised to play with the Duolingo mobile application to

become acquainted with its modules. Although the students will only use the website in the

classroom, they should be encouraged to practice their language skills with the application in

their free time. Thus, the teacher should be prepared in case students have questions regarding

the Duolingo mobile application.  

At the beginning of the lesson, the students will register their own Duolingo accounts for

learning on the website (note that they can log in to the application on their own mobile devices

using the same account). In order to easily identify their peers when engaging in conversations in

the discussion forum, the teacher should advise students to set their usernames using a standard

format such as “last name & student number.”After registration, the students will take a

placement test on Duolingo to evaluate their current Mandarin-speaking proficiency. According

to the exam results, the teacher will pair each student with a Chinese student that has a similar

level of spoken English. For instance, a Canadian student with an intermediate level of spoken

Mandarin should be paired with a Chinese student that has an intermediate level of spoken

English. The paired students become ‘language partners’ and will help each other remotely with

their respective foreign languages throughout the project. Afterwards, the teacher will show

students the discussion forum on the Duolingo website as well as the common YouTube channel

(the one that is already set up) where they will share their practice videos and comment on their

peers’ work. In order to provide a brief tutorial of video recording and uploading, the facilitator

should also demonstrate how to make a short video using the built-in camera application on the

computer and share it on the YouTube channel. In order to address the issue of cyberbullying
discussed earlier, the teacher needs to show students the webpage of the Duolingo help center,

where users are informed how to identify abusive language and how to report them to Duolingo.

The teacher should also show students the screenshot feature of computers for evidence

collection purposes in reporting the cyberbullying issue, and emphasize the principles of

inclusion, diversity, and respect in online communication.

For the first half of the class time, students are asked to practice their spoken Mandarin

on the Duolingo website using modules of different topics. Students are advised to discuss with

their language partners prior to the class about the topic that they would like to practice in that

session. According to the principles of connectivist and constructivist pedagogies, whenever

students have problems regarding either the language content or the website operations, they are

encouraged to ask questions in the discussion forum first and engage in collective problem

solving, rather than immediately turn to the teacher for help. They should also check the

discussion forum regularly to interact and have meaningful conversations with their peers,

demonstrating the pedagogical concept of connected learning. The rest of the class time should

be devoted to recording and sharing videos. Students will use headphones (along with the

microphones) and the built-in camera application to record their practice videos about the

respective theme that they choose with their language partners. Then students should upload their

videos to the common Youtube Channel, where they also view their partners’ work and

responses to the videos concerning pronunciation and sentence structure.

Given that the project unfolds under the pedagogical framework of constructivism, all

learning activities should follow the student-centered principle. Students are encouraged to lead

their own learning processes whether they are practicing spoken Mandarin or exploring the
Duolingo website. They should actively engage in PCs, the discussion forum and the YouTube

channel, and bring transformative changes to foreign language learning by utilizing these

progressive spaces optimally. Through high levels of participation and peer-based problem

solving, students and their language partners overseas form an organic learning community that

shares language-speaking skills and celebrates achievements in language proficiency. 

Although the constructivist classroom structure focuses on students, the teacher still plays an

essential role in the learning activities. Apart from providing instructions for video recording and

communication norms prior to the class as discussed earlier, the facilitator should also offer

technical support when necessary. The teacher can also visit the discussion forum on the

Duolingo website frequently to observe how participation varies among students. Based on the

observations, the facilitator should encourage the students with low motivational states and

follow up with their study regularly. 

The project may encounter the following barriers that impede the processing of the learning

activities. These impediments necessitate creative solutions and certain strategies. As mentioned

earlier in the text, students should be informed that only the Duolingo website, not its mobile

application, has access to the discussion forum. Thus, the teacher should encourage more uses of

the website for peer-learning purposes in class while students can practice with the application

out of class for self-learning and reviewing content. Another potential concern for the teacher is

distractions from advertisements on both the Duolingo website and its mobile application.

Although Duolingo offers a premium ad-free version named “Duolingo Plus,” it entails extra

costs. Thus, students should be informed to predominantly use the Duolingo website rather than

the application, given that advertisements appear smaller and therefore less distracting on
computer screens than on mobile devices. Students can purchase the premium Duolingo on a

voluntary basis if needed, which is not a prerequisite for the learning activities. 

Considering that the levels of technical skill vary among students, the teacher should take

concrete steps to implement differentiated instructions, responding to different needs and

interacting more effectively with the class. In order to help the students with lower-level digital

literacy skills who thus require additional assistance, the teacher should encourage them to watch

tutorial videos about Duolingo usage, which are readily available and accessible on YouTube. It

is worth noting that Duolingo also has its own YouTube channel, providing how-to instructions

in video format. The students who struggle with video recording can choose to save their

practices in audio format and share them as podcasts. They are also encouraged to communicate

with language partners to devise alternative solutions that work for them such as real-time video

chat using applications like Zoom or Skype. For students who are equipped with technical skills,

the teacher can assign additional tasks such as giving a presentation on Duolingo usage and

sharing useful features that they discovered in learning. 

At the end of the project, the teacher can assess students’ language proficiency by asking

students to take the tests featured on Duolingo. In order to use multidimensional approaches for

assessment purposes, the teacher can also adopt peer evaluations. The language partners in China

will be asked to provide feedback on the Canadian students’ overall progress in spoken Mandarin

as well as their levels of participation in peer-based learning, such as their frequency of

commenting on their partners’ videos and the helpfulness of those comments. Thus, the project

critically examines students’ competencies in a collaborative digital learning and assessment

environment of foreign language acquisitions.