US-China Foreign Language, April 2021, Vol. 19, No. 4, 75-79
doi:10.17265/1539-8080/2021.04.002
A Satisfaction Survey of APPs About English Learning for
Undergraduates in Baoding
LI Siqi
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
As college students have a desire for diversified skills in a fast-developing society, a variety of English learning
mobile phone APPs appear in college students’ mobile phones. Given this situation, this paper investigates and
analyzes the current status, needs, and satisfaction in the u of English learning APPs among college students. In
this study, questionnaire method and interview method are ud to collect related information. According to the
survey, it is found that the market prospect of English learning APP is extremely promising, but there exist
problems from three aspects. From the urs’ perspective, it is difficult to choo an APP that suits non-English
majors’ actual level. From the APPs’ perspective, leaking privacy, virus, or advertiments are their problems.
What’s more, in tho APPs, professional knowledge was not systematic and rigorous, and the scheme design,
ideas and methods provided were not scientific and reasonable. From another perspective, other APPs for
entertainment are English learning APPs’ competitor. In respon to the above problems, the author propos
improvement suggestions for English learning APPs from four aspects, content editing, cooperation ction,
风云会personalization, and feedback so that bring some improvement direction for English learning APPs industry. Keywords: APP, English learning, satisfaction
Introduction
As a valuable subject and communication vehicle, English is already a “headache” for many college
students, whether in the studying process or communication with others. Traditionally, learning English
财务共享中心requires holding a thick book of words and short ntences packed in bus, subways, and corridors. At prent,
in the various media situations, English majors begin to rely more on modern technology, and informal learning
has begun to ri in English learning. In informal learning, the learning model bad on the English learning
app is one of the main manifestations (Ou & Lei, 2019). In various application markets of Android phones or
the official “iTunes App Store” of Apple’s IOS system, there are more than a thousand English-related APPs.
Whether in daily communication or encountering English problems that have not been learned in the cour of
learning, urs can learn through the English learning APP. It is a better way for college students to learn. The
quality of mobile learning resources is an important factor in determining whether the mobile learning can give
full play to the role (Hou, 2014). Therefore, the quality of English learning APPs should be paid attention. And
varied requirements for English learning APPs hold by college students and many problems expod in the
development process are also worthy of our further investigation.
LI Siqi, Master of Arts, postgraduate student, College of Foreign Languages, University of Shanghai for Science and
Technology, Shanghai, China.
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A SATISFACTION SURVEY OF APPS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING
76 The purpo of this rearch is to analyze some issues that affect college students’ u of English learning
APPs with the help of some methods and tools. Therefore, through the rearch of college students’ satisfaction
with English learning APPs, we could analyze the existing problems bad on the survey results and ek
solutions to provide effective theoretical support for better implementation of mobile English learning APPs’
development.
Materials and Methods
Questionnaire survey is one of the most frequently ud methodologies in survey rearch. To understand
the actual u of English learning APPs by college students, this rearch designed a questionnaire on “The
Current Situation of College Students’ Usage of English Learning Apps” and conducted an online questionnaire
survey in five universities in Baoding. In addition to the information about the popularity, software type, usage
habits, loyalty, learning motivation and content, u effect, ur evaluation of college students when using the
English learning APP, the author also investigated college students’ problems in using the English learning
APP, and their related suggestions and outlook. 160 questionnaires were distributed and 156 questionnaires
were collected from Baoding. The recovery rate was 97.5%.
Result and Discussion
After a ries of work such as questionnaire production, questionnaire distribution, questionnaire recovery,
questionnaire statistics, etc., the author analyzed the survey results.
Current Situation of Undergraduates in Using English Learning APPs
The survey of the number of English learning APPs ud by college students shows that among the college
students surveyed, only 3% of college students have not ud an English learning APP. It can be en that
English learning APPs are widely welcomed by college undergraduates, reflecting the high acceptance and
demand of such APPs by college students from another side, further proving that such related issues derve
attention and rearch.
In terms of choosing the type of English learning APP, the investigation indicates that most
undergraduates u word memory APPs, listening improvement APPs, and assisted translation APPs while
speaking improvement APPs and English reading APPs are the types of APPs that are rarely ud by college
students. It can be en that college students are mainly inclined to ability-improved APPs when choosing the
type of APP. That kind of APPs is straightforward, simple, quick-resulting, and fruitful.
The survey on the frequency of using the English learning APP of college students shows that
undergraduates who frequently u English learning APPs account for 19.9%, and 66.7% of college students
宝宝吃奶u it when they encounter English problems, and college students who download English learning APPs but
rarely u them account for 13.4%. It can be en that many college students choo APP to cope with the exam
or solve irregular English problem.
The reasons why college students utilize English learning APPs tell that personal needs and the APP’s
good features and ur experience are the key fascination, and undergraduates are also affected to some extent
by the promotion of personal interests, the need for lesson learning, and the influence of teachers’
recommendations. It can be en that, whether passive or active, college students who u English learning
APPs have a positive internal motivation and good external motivation, so it is an irreversible trend for college
students to u more English learning APPs in daily learning.
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A SATISFACTION SURVEY OF APPS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING 77
For the effect of the u of English learning APPs, 74% of undergraduates think that English learning
APPs are helpful to improve English proficiency and are intuitively reflected in scores reached. English
learning APPs are currently in a good development trend, which has played a good role in boosting college
students’ English learning.
Reasons for the Popularity of English Learning APPs
From the perspective of undergraduates, the advantages of English learning APPs are shown in Table 1. It
can be en that with the promotion of smart phones, the portability, pertinence, intelligence, and
professionalism of English learning APPs are the main advantages that attract college students.
Table 1
Advantages of English Learning APPs
白宇吻戏Option Total
30多岁的男人Ratio Portable 127
81.41%
Feature-rich 97
62.18%
Learning-related 90
57.69%
Funny & personalized 85 54.49%
Performance-enhancing 64
41.02%
罚没
Record of learning progress 72 46.15%
Problems With English Learning APPs
About the problems found in the process of using English learning APPs, the participants’ views were
shown in Table 2, from which one thing can be affirmed. If the ur experience and product quality of English
learning APPs want to be improved, it is the key to solve the above problems.
Table 2
Problems With English Learning APPs
Option Total
Ratio Payment 118
75.64%
Advertiment 126
80.77%
Lack of professionalism 90 57.69%
Heavy schoolwork 85 54.49%
Little effect 73 46.79%
No need to learn English 30 19.23%
The interface of the app is not good 89 57.05%
Easy to be disturbed during learning 109 69.87%
Participants’ Suggestions and Expectations
Regarding the suggestions and expectations for English learning APPs, the participants made their own
choice. The options in Table 3 are the valuable suggestions made by the respondents on the development of
English learning APPs after their personal u, which are worthy of our in-depth thinking and implementation.
From the above analysis, the author summarized the problems with the English learning APP market.
Except for college students majoring in English, other major college students have a weak English
foundation and a limited level of proficiency. In the face of good and bad APP products in the market, it is
difficult to choo an APP that suits their actual level. In addition, the non-English majors have a heavy
professional curriculum and are under great pressure. Therefore, little energy can be paid on English learning.
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A SATISFACTION SURVEY OF APPS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING
78 Less time is available to learn with the APP. Over time, the enthusiasm and interest of urs will eventually
diminish.
Table 3
Expectations for English Learning APPs
Option Total Ratio Professionalism 145 92.95% Feature-rich 121 77.56% Reduce advertising 138 88.46%
App’s interface is beautiful 90 57.69%
Convenient communication and sharing 93 59.61%
Many APPs still cannot maximize the fragmented time of students, and many students are still in the
unconscious and purpoless learning stage. The reason is largely due to the APP itlf. Through interviews,
the author learned that the one-time learning plans formulated by many APPs have a large amount of
knowledge, and the content is complex, which makes people feel difficult to remember. Also, the risk of
leaking piracy, advertiment, etc., are problems of APP itlf.
Although English learning APPs have tried to combine entertainments and learning, other entertainment
and social APPs are more popular. Therefore, when using the English learning APP to learn, urs are easy to
be attracted by other types of APPs, thereby interrupting learning.
And from the expectation of urs, if English learning APPs could provide planned multimedia content,
generate ur performance interactively, and remember everything related to learning, maybe the popularity
and satisfaction will increa.
Suggestions for Improvement of English Learning APP
According to the survey result and analysis, four aspects of the improvement and promotion of English
learning APPs can be carried out:
In the English learning resources ction, teachers can participate in APP development. Teachers can短篇童话故事
provide rich learning materials and ensure their professionalism, design and build APP client and learning
space for downloading resources, and develop and utilize many types of resources bad on the practicability,
functionality, fragmentation, and fun of the APP.
The purpo of the cooperation and communication ction is to build a collaborative learning
environment for students to discuss problems, exchange ideas, share information, and answer questions with
each other. During the learning process, learners can voluntarily form groups to help each other with
like-minded learning partners and make progress together. So they can have an effective way to improve
spoken English and improve students’ communication skills while completing tasks on APPs.
The third ction is about personalization. Different students have different needs and different
requirements; it is recommended that if there is individual customization, it may better meet urs’ needs and
increa ur viscosity.
The last ction concerned with evaluation and feedback. English learning APPs need to make intelligent
judgments at any time, make statistics and analysis on the effect of learning, and feedback the results to learners.
The evaluation and feedback are real-time, targeted, and can reflect the changing state of the learner’s grasp of
the content. At the same time, English learning APPs can also make intelligent decisions bad on the learner’s
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A SATISFACTION SURVEY OF APPS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING 79
learning level, learning status, and the rules of learning itlf, providing learners with content that needs to be
consolidated and content that requires further learning.
绝密文件Conclusions
With the frequent u of English in the international world, undergraduates have the pressure to learn English well. The occurrence of English APPs, on the one hand, suits the development of internet and mobile
technology, and on the other hand, benefits undergraduates from learning English without the limit of time and
space. However, in the development of English learning APPs industry, tho APPs’ own defects and new
needs of its urs should be paid attention. In this paper, the author ud the questionnaire to investigate the real
situation of English learning APPs industry and its main urs’ real requirements, and the corresponding
suggestions were provided. Due to time and space limit, the participants were all in Baoding, Hebei Province. If
given the opportunity to do a further validation of this result, the author may test it in universities of Shanghai.
References
Hou, Z. X. (2014). The rearch on the building mode of learning resource under mobile learning environment (Master’s thesis, Beijing Jiaotong University, 2014).
Li, X. Q. (2020). Rearch on the construction of a new model of college English teaching by mobile APP. Journal of Heilongjiang Institute of Teacher Development, 39(8), 142-144.
Meng, Y., & Chen, J. L. (2021). A study on mobile learning mode of English language learning bad on smart phone applications (APP). Journal of Liaoning Normal University (Social Science Edition),(1), 118-124.
Ou, X. Y., & Lei, W. Q. (2019). A study on the informal learning of English majors bad on English learning APP. Frontiers in Educational Rearch, 2(11), 58-62.
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