ACADEMIA Letters

The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A

Small Scale Project
Emre Dinç
Ehean Kim

Mobile technologies continue to evolve, and people are getting more and more connected to
those technologies than ever before. Learners increasingly use English learning apps to learn
English (ResearchAndMarkets, 2018). According to ResearchAndMarkets’s (2018) report,
the Global Digital English Language Learning Market will grow at a CAGR (Compound An-
nual Growth Rate) of 22.38% from 2018 through 2022. Two of the reasons for the growth are:
(a) English is a lingua franca of the world and (b) English language enables people to cross
language barriers.
Mobile devices refer to “powerful learning devices” (US Department of Education, 2017,
p. 76) because of their features such as connecting learners with educators and acting as fa-
cilitators for communication and collaboration. Students are ready to use mobile devices for
learning, specifically second language learning (Campos, 2017; Shuib & Yaakob, 2015). Lu
(2008) researched mobile phones’ effectiveness in learning English vocabulary by sending
English words to students via SMS for two weeks. Students had a positive attitude towards
using mobile phones to learn English (Lu, 2008). Hayati et al. (2013) investigated the effec-
tiveness of SMS-based learning on learning English idioms. Receiving the learning materials
on mobile phones positively affected students’ enthusiasm and learning outcomes (Hayati et
al., 2013).
Learning idioms is harder than learning English words (Chen & Wu, 2017). Idioms are
culture-bound (Bai & Qin, 2018), and idioms have unpredictable meanings (Chen & Wu,
2017). Non-native English speakers are exposed to idioms limitedly in their conversations
with native speakers (Mohamadi, 2018) because native speakers tend to simplify their English
speaking while conversing with second-language learners (Kovacs, 2016). Therefore, learning

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

1
English idioms enhances communication skills in daily life communication (Hidayat & Bayu,
2017).
The personalization principle researched by Dr. Richard Mayer could be a framework to
enhance the English learning process within mobile apps. According to the personalization
principle, people learn better when words are in the conversational style (e.g., I and you) rather
than formal style (e.g., he, she, and it). When learners feel that the material talks to them, they
see the material as a speaking partner. So, students focus more on what the material says.
Making minor changes to 12 words, changing the to your, has a large effect on students’ sci-
ence learning within computer-based multimedia presentations (Mayer et al., 2004). Students
learn science content better in the personalized science content provided on computer screens
(Dunsworth, 2005). Notably, there is no significant relation between personalization and
presentation mode (e.g., on-screen text, narration) (Dunsworth, 2005). However, Son and
Goldstone (2009) found that the personalized group learned the medicine content less than
the non-personalized group with the computer-based material. Yeung et al. (2009) reported
no significant difference between personalized and non-personalized groups’ performances
in their chemistry-based study in e-learning environments. Doolittle (2010) also revealed no
personalization effect on learning historical inquiry content within computer-based material.
As seen, the personalization principle does not have an effect on some subjects. In this
small-scale project, the effect of the personalization principle on the acquisition of English
idioms within a mobile app environment was examined with the following question: To what
degree does the personalization principle affect the acquisition of English idioms in a mobile
web-based app environment?

Method
Participants and Setting
Thirty-eight international students studying at a language institute in the northeastern United
States participated in the study and completed the Knowledge Questionnaire, which is the
first stage of the project. Two of the thirty-eighth participants were excluded from the study
as a result of the knowledge questionnaire since they were already familiar with the proposed
English idioms. Thirty-six participants continued the project’s second stage, Two-week Study
App. They took the general test at the end of the study. Participants were randomly assigned
to two groups, control (n = 18) and experimental (n = 18) groups, each of which receiving in-
struction on the same target idioms. Of the participants, 23 were Turkish, five were Taiwanese,
two were Indian, one was German, one was Eritrean, one was Spanish, one was Tanzanian,

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

2
one was Japanese, and one was South Korean. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 30. Partic-
ipants studied high frequency English idioms, designated by thirty native American-English
speakers in this study (Figure 1).

Figure 1 High frequency English idioms designated by native speakers

Instrument
The mobile app was designed and coded on code.org, a visual programming and block-based
app development platform. A mobile application expert checked the developed mobile apps.
Two experts reviewed the suitability of the language.
The first stage of the project is Knowledge Questionnaire, a one-screen app with a user
account logging feature. It consisted of 15 English idioms listed, and all users needed to create
an account to log in with a nickname, age, and country. After logged in, the participants
marked the idioms they already knew from the list, and then they submitted their choices.
This stage aimed to find out if any participant was familiar with the idioms in the study. Since
every participant knew ‘a piece of cake,’ it was removed from the study.
The second stage was Two-week Study App, developed in two versions: non-personalized
for the control group and personalized for the experimental group. Participants studied the
English idioms with this app for two weeks. Two-week Study App has a linear sequence without
back buttons, which means there were only forward buttons on each screen except for the
final screen. There was a home button to take users to the home screen on the final screen.
The aim of designing an app with a linear sequence was to ensure that users review all the
English idioms in the app. There was a confirmation screen at the end asking users’ nicknames
under the statement: “By writing my nickname into the box below, I certify that I completed
studying fifteen English idioms in this mobile app environment.” All participants reached

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

3
the confirmation screen and certified that they studied the 15 English idioms in the app. The
content of the two-week study app was as follows:
After the opening screen (the same for both versions), participants saw the information
screen (Figure 2). The differences between the two versions started here. The text had a
conversational style in the personalized version. Information about the app, the process, and
the goal in both versions were given here. After the information screen, participants came to
Log In and New User screens, which were the same for the two versions. The personalization
principle was not considered on these screens. These screens were used to collect data about
the participants.

Figure 2 Information screens

Each idiom in the study had three screens, which were the presentation screen, sample
dialogue screen, and meaning screen (Figure 3). Let me hear! and Sound were used on the
presentation screens. I and you were used whenever needed in the personalized app’s dialogue
screen. The meaning was presented in the personalized version as if there was a conversation
between participants and the app.
The third stage was taking a general test to collect data. There were eighteen multiple-
choice questions with sentences or dialogues to complete with one correct answer in the test
(Figure 4).

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

4
 Figure 3 Sample instruction screens

Data Analysis
Each correct answer got 1 point, and the incorrect answer got 0 points. The minimum score
was 0, and the maximum score was 18 points. Data were analyzed by using an independent-
samples t-test.

Result
There was a statistically significant difference between two groups (t = -3.092, df = 27, p <
0.05). A comparison of mean scores reveals that participants in the personalized group ob-
tained higher scores. The effect size was large (Cohen’s [1988] d = 1.03) and represents a
substantive difference between the two groups. Table 1 shows the means and standard devia-
tions for the general test scores.

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

5
 Figure 4 Sample question screen

Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations

Discussion and Conclusion

This project aimed to investigate the personalization principle’s effectiveness on the acquisi-
tion of English idioms in a mobile web-based app. Second-language learners whose purpose
was to improve their language skills studied English idioms within a mobile app for two weeks.
The personalization principle significantly affected the acquisition of English idioms within a
mobile web-based app environment. The finding of this project was parallel to the findings of
Mayer’s experiments and Dunsworth (2005). Still, it did not correspond to the findings of Son

Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

6
and Goldstone (2009), Yeung et al. (2009), and Doolittle (2010). Yeung et al. (2009) were
unable to find a significant difference between personalized and non-personalized groups be-
cause of prior knowledge level. In this project, two participants who had high prior knowledge
of English idioms were excluded from the study. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of
the personalization principle on the acquisition of English idioms was investigated for the
first time here. The personalization principle significantly and substantially affected language
acquisition, although it did not have an effect on some other subjects, such as medicine, chem-
istry, history.
The features that distinguish this study from others were the content, which is the ac-
quisition of English idioms, and the instruction environment, which is a mobile web-based
app. A mobile app taking the personalization principle into account could likely provide the
necessary support for English language acquisition.

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Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

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Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.

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Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Emre Dinç, dincemre1991@gmail.com

Citation: Dinç, E., Kim, E. (2021). The Personalization Principle within a Language App: A Small Scale
Project. Academia Letters, Article 1090. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1090.