On mobile platforms, there’s perhaps no better expression of the relationship between games and education than Duolingo, the language-learning app with nearly 28 million monthly active users.
After watching my wife enjoyably grind German lessons for two days earlier this summer, I began to pick up Duolingo, and it quickly became my go-to mobile game. It’s a funny designation for an app that helps me brush up on my Spanish.
What makes Duolingo so addictive is its gamified user experience. You can compete in weekly leaderboards and climb the ranks like you would in Overwatch or Rocket League, the game regularly awards you with in-game achievements, and you’re rewarded with XP for returning daily and hitting your self-made milestones.
You can even participate in double XP events and spend in-game currency on cosmetics for the app’s mascot, a green owl named Duo. Mine is currently dressed like a superhero. Clearly borrowing a lot from more traditional games, Duolingo has carved out its own space, blurring the line between play and instruction — and studies keep telling us it’s working.
To learn more about the intersection of gaming and learning, I spoke to Duolingo’s Senior PR Manager Michaela Kron about the company’s vision for gamified learning, which video games inspired Duolingo’s design, and just how many people are taking lessons on High Valyrian. Dracarys!
GameSkinny: Duolingo is heavily gamified to keep users engaged. What specific resources, like studies or other examples in educational gaming, did you consult to build Duolingo?
GS: What does your data tell you about how these gamified mechanics of Duolingo influence the way people use the app?
Many members of our team are avid gamers and draw inspiration from the games they play. One specific game technique that we’ve adopted is “appointment mechanics”, as evidenced through our daily streak feature. This means that in order to succeed, a user must return to Duolingo at least once per day and meet their daily goal in order to maintain a streak. We reward learners who come back to Duolingo each day with in-app currency that can be spent on various rewards. Not to mention, besides the reward, the streak on its own is a powerful motivator for many of our learners!
Another key part of our approach is A/B testing and iterating on all new features before they are rolled out widely to all users. In doing this, we want to make sure that any changes to the app or website experience are optimized for improved engagement, learning, and more.
GS: What are some unexpected user behaviors that have manifested during the growth of Duolingo?
GS: I find myself competing daily in the leaderboards to maintain the very top spot — currently fighting through the Sapphire League — but I wonder how a leaderboard group is chosen. For an app of 30 million people, what’s going on behind the scenes that groups me with a set of 49 other people? How are those competitors chosen?
Something else that’s been pleasantly surprising is the unexpected fan love we’ve gotten from learners who celebrate streak milestones in unique ways, like this person who made a cake to celebrate a 1-year streak.
“Next-day retention is 55%, which is on par with successful mobile games rather than education apps.”
GS: Did any specific video games inspire any elements of the app? Does Duolingo have a lot of gamers in the office?
GS: What other elements of video games might you like to implement in the future?
Because gamification is one of our core differentiators as a learning platform, our team members are encouraged to play games and consider which features of those games might apply to Duolingo. Proposed features are then A/B tested across portions of our user base, and if the tests are successful, they then get rolled out widely for all learners on all platforms. Last year, for instance, we introduced the biggest redesign to Duolingo’s courses in years: Crown Levels. This added a lot more content — including more challenging content — to each course by introducing the ability to get up to Level 5 in each skill of a given Duolingo course. While this was a big improvement to the learning experience on Duolingo, the feature was actually inspired by a similar feature in Clash Royale – a popular game among many of our employees.
GS: Do you have any plans to implement live multiplayer lessons, either something competitive or maybe something like a classroom setting?
GS: The app also offers some languages from fiction like High Valryian from Game of Thrones and Klingon from Star Trek. What do the statistics reveal about the way people are interacting with these courses?
One interesting observation we have recently made is that our High Valyrian course tends to be a “gateway drug” of sorts to other courses we offer on Duolingo; in fact, we’ve found that 44% of people who came to Duolingo to learn High Valyrian went on to practice other languages.
GS: Duolingo just announced a partnership with Twitch, the video game streaming platform. Can you talk about your intentions and hopes for this program?
“We’ve found that 44% of people who came to Duolingo to learn High Valyrian went on to practice other languages.”
GS: How effective has Duolingo been with helping users learn a language? What sort of measurements are available?
Overall, we have been very encouraged by the response to our partnership with Twitch and the launch of the Duolingo Verified Streamer Program. Many of those in the streaming community are excited about this partnership and all of the possibilities that come along with it in terms of opening up new ways for people to engage with the languages they’re learning.
We always hear from people who learned a language from watching TV shows or listening to music. Our hope is that in a few years, we’ll start hearing from people who learned a new language from watching streamers on Twitch.
Thanks to Michaela and Duolingo for taking the time to speak with me. You can find Duolingo on PC, iOS, and Google Play. The app is free with ad support, although it offers a Plus subscription starting at $6.99 a month.
