The specific goals of the present study were: (1) to evaluate-using standardized tests-the listening and reading proficiency levels of Duolingo users who learned with Duolingo only and completed the beginning-level Spanish or French courses, (2) to determine the amount of time they took to reach the end of the beginning-level course content, and (3) to compare their proficiency scores with those of university students in US-based language programs. Duolingo is a commercial language-teaching platform that offers free 1 online courses available on the web and on mobile apps. This paper aims to address the existing gap in the literature by investigating the proficiency outcomes of the second language (L2) learners using Duolingo. Some claim that online courses provide a valid alternative to face-to-face language classrooms, while many in the language education community remain skeptical (Lin & Warschauer, 2015) and demand “solid research studies in refereed sources comparing the language proficiency outcomes of online and face-to-face programs” (Tarone, 2015, p. Online language courses, offered both by educational institutions and by commercial organizations, have seen accelerated growth in recent years.
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