Wands, Spells, and Magic Pills:�The Lingo of Language Learning Products

Gabriel Guillén & Sarah Springer�Middlebury Institute of International Studies�

#Calico2016

May 13

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• We have a background on Language Learning & Technology
• We have a strong interest on Social Entrepreneurship (theory, practice, and pedagogy)
• We found 300 language learning startups on angel.co 4 months ago…
• We wanted to connect with the work of Cruz-Piñol...
• … who found 207 websites for learning Spanish, back in 2002!
• We admire the momentum, the energy of the industry and the outsider perspective!
• We are also worried and frustrated with the lingo of some language startups
• We believe language startups, publishers, organizations, researchers, instructors, and beneficiaries…
• … are in the same boat

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Are we in the same boat?
• We have language learning entrepreneurship
• Do we have or need language learning Social Entrepreneurship (SE)?
• There are many different definition of SE
• Let’s use this one:
• “A process that catalyzes social change and addresses important social needs in a way that is not dominated by direct financial benefits for the entrepreneurs.” �(Mair & Marti, 2006, p. 36)
• Social entrepreneurs target social problems...
• …. using traditional business tools

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• This is a work in progress…
• … and we are inviting you to analyze the data > angel.co/language-learning
• Two datasets
• Analysis of 404 startup one-line mission > http://go.miis.edu/startups
• Deeper exploration of 72 most active startups
• Frequent keywords, clusters, trends, and assumptions about language learning
• What do they say about learning, teaching, and language? What do (they say) they sell?
• Language taught
• Skills (vocabulary building, grammar accuracy, pronunciation training, spontaneous speaking, writing, scaffolding input for receptive skills)
• Startups traits: founder background, funding, price… Position in the SE continuum

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• From 300 to…
• … 404 companies today!
• $3.8M average valuation
• 74 jobs right now…
• … most of them “tech” jobs
• $80-100bn Market

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Just in May…
• … 7 new projects
• And today is only May 13…

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 404 startups
• On the shoulders of Duolingo…
• Pili Pops (2011): Duolingo for kids
• MonoLibre (2013): Duolingo for Accent Training
• Click and Study (2014): Duolingo for Long-Term Education
• Language Trends (2014): 1.5x better than Duolingo�
• On the shoulders of Rosetta Stone…
• TogoTown (2012): Rosetta Stone meets FarmVille
• Flashcard Tree (2012): A Rosetta Stone that works
• Language Trends (2014): 2.2x better than Rosetta Stone
• The World Phone (2015): Rosetta Stone + ChatRoulette
• TravelLingo (2016): Affordable Rosetta Stone/ Babbel for Travellers�

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 404 startups
• Want to be Airbnb…
• Colingo (2011): Airbnb for English-teaching
• Italki (2011): Airbnb + community for language teachers and students
• Interlinguals (2016): aims to become the AirBnB for language learning�
• Want to be Uber…
• oDesk (2013): Uber for 1:1 Language Tutoring
• Ediket (2014): Uber for Editing
• Tutlo (2015): Private online language tutor; Uber for languages
• Goji (2016): Uber for ESL
• Want to be Expedia (2), Kayak (1), Instagram + Quora (1)

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 404 startups
• Lexical frequency: easy, global, live, fun, social language learning platform or app
• …through video or games �

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 404 startups
• New York (26)
• San Francisco (25)
• London (22)
• Hong Kong, Berlin, Paris (10)
• Shanghai (9)
• Moscow (8)
• Los Angeles, Boston, Seoul (7)
• Madrid (6)
• Tokyo, Singapore (5)
• Santiago, Valencia, Medellín, Vancouver, Taipei… (4)

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• Emphasis on spontaneous speaking and vocabulary building
• Plenty of variation

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• Emphasis on multiple languages and English

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• Most of them are not free

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• Founders background: technology and finance, for the most part

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• Marketing spells
• “the most brain-tinglingly potent, and probably the most unashamedly cheerful, of learning products”�“... on a mission to fix broken English around the world”
• “The most quantifiably effective way to teach a foreign language”
• “We believe that the only way to disrupt the $56bn language learning market is to make language practice at home as easy as playing Cut the Rope or Fruit Ninja”
• “Our platform will disrupt the hundred billion dollar language education industry and relieve the pain of language-learning for one billion bright young minds”
• “Language exchange is a concept that millions of people already practice, though most of it happens through sites like Craigslist, local forums, or meetup groups”

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about learning?
• Wands, spells, and magic pills
• “Two weeks of full immersion can give you the same progress than 6 months of studying a foreign language at home”
• “...upgrades trips for business and leisure travelers by making it easy and fun to learn the local language and culture by providing customized relevant phrases...”
• “... helps you remember everything you want to learn, with a minimum and seamless investment of your time”

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about learning?
• Specific solutions (caveat: pedagogical lingo doesn’t necessarily imply a pedagogically sound tool)
• “Our live, social school blends live group classes, great American teachers, a structured curriculum, and collaborative learning with students from all over the world”
• “Learning language through curriculum-guided online exchanges”
• “An iPhone game that connects language learners so they can have real conversations with pronunciation feedback”
• “Founded by two internationally-minded Oxford and Harvard graduates, EduLift is a bootstrapped edutech startup that combines innovative technology with tried-and-tested pedagogical methodology to empower language self-learners”

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about learning?
• Specific solutions
• “We take interesting, bite-sized video clips, ranging from pop songs to TED talks, and turn them into English lessons. This is achieved by capturing all the new words which learners encounter and then giving them exercises, with their own words, so that they remember not just the words but also the context in which they are used…”
• “The key pedagogical driving force is the spaced repetition algorithm - words are practiced over progressively growing intervals so that they are effectively retained in long term memory”
• “… helps busy people to learn languages by breaking down learning into digestible "bites" and delivering it to users”
• “Because instead of translating or memorizing flashcards, you are solving problems directly in the new language”

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about teaching?
• Wands, spells, and magic pills
• “... attacks boring, generic, and old school pedagogy in education and turns it on its head”
• “... tutors get to make money helping people from around the world practice English”
• “... the 3 reasons traditional language education fails to engage language students: 1) they are not motivating enough, 2) they teach the wrong material, and 3) they do not expose people to the real thing. This combination disrupts traditional language lessons, which are artificial and awkward, and leads to a breakthrough in learning effectiveness.
• “Instead of trudging through a boring classroom lesson, you can make new friends while learning by simply chatting...

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about teaching?
• Specific solutions
• “The average student rating of a teacher is 4.9/5”
• “This video-based platform includes innovative tools for detecting and improving accents”
• “Standards-aligned courses to discover other cultures, learn about global issues, and practice…”
• “Our vision is to build a series of apps that teach specific skills to students such as peer editing, typing, essay writing, and debate”
• “You can roleplay with a live tutor in 6 scenes. In each scene, your tutor roleplays as a character in the scene. For example, in the restaurant scene, your tutor is a waiter”
• “Our multiplayer games pair learners with others learning their same target language and also pair users with natives and experts of their target language”

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• 72 most active startups
• What do they say about language?
• “… lets the world learn to speak real English - from real people”
• “When you can speak another language your world becomes bigger, richer and more inspiring”
• “... Our application is available on your phone anywhere and doesn’t requirement [SIC] the time or money investment that fluency requires by utilizing unique features like...”
• “…the culturally rich experience of connecting with a teacher living in the Spanish speaking world”��

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• In 2002, only 4 of 207 sites allowed oral production, merely “sending your voice” (Cruz-Piñol). Today, many of these products (tools, spaces) focus on spontaneous talk
• Focus on connecting students with “expert” speakers
• There are very innovative and specific tools and spaces, beyond the “unicorn”, disruptive approach (Uber, AirBnB for languages). The niche solution
• Still, a number of projects are no longer working
• Still, a lot of the language used aligns with the magic pill approach (be fluent in 2 weeks)
• Not many of the founders have a background or strong experiences with language learning and teaching (caveat: this is not surprising giving the source of our study)

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Ideal team: Content + Pedagogy + Business + Design + Engineering

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Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Do they care about language learning?
• Are they mission-driven?
• There is a gap… There are synergies…
• Between startups (Duolingo...), �publishers (Pearson...), �federally funded projects (NFLRCs...), �innovators in academia �(Todd Bryan, Jeff Magoto...) and�instructors. We are not free!
• This is an opportunity for social�entrepreneurship

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• There is a space for mission, impact driven language learning startups
• There is a space for magic...
• Not the magic pill, the shortcut, the misleading spells of the language hacker, the crooked wand of Harry Potter
• But the magical, transformative, lifelong experience of language learning
• Using honest, pedagogically sound language
• Truly addressing an important social need
• Language learning access

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Complete the analysis of these +400 startups… Collaborate! �angel.co/language-learning �http://go.miis.edu/startups
• SE Continuum
• Lingo decoder for language learners�Which tool or space should I use if…
• I want to improve my pronunciation �in English?
• Social impact metrics for Language �Learning Startups
• A Social Entrepreneurship SIG?
• Develop!

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

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• Don’t miss this talk

Why > How > Data > Takeaways > Next steps

• Feedback, references, collaborations: ��Gabriel Guillén �gaguillen@miis.edu �@gaguillen ��Sarah Springer �sarah.springer@miis.edu �@sarspri ��