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Developing Little Bridge as an evidence informed English language learning platform for 6–12 year olds

Rogers, E; Weatherby, K; (2021) Developing Little Bridge as an evidence informed English language learning platform for 6–12 year olds. Research for All , 5 (1) pp. 52-66. 10.14324/RFA.05.1.06. Gold open access

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Abstract

English is considered by many to be the global language of business and communication and, as such, parents and educators in countries in which English is not a native language are now encouraging children to study English at a young age. Much second language teaching and learning, however, does not take into account the real-world context within which language will be put to use. Little Bridge has developed an English language learning platform for students aged 6−12 years, within which learners acquire English vocabulary and skills and are able to apply what they have learned in real conversations with other English learners around the world. As part of UCL’s EDUCATE research accelerator programme, Little Bridge worked with a mentor to design and conduct mixed-methods research into the relationship between this social aspect of their platform and students’ achievement in learning English. Findings suggested that Little Bridge users who are the most active participants in the platform’s social network also complete more of the platform’s learning activities and achieve better results than those with the lowest social participation rates. The relationship between the academic mentor and Little Bridge enabled the company to develop a research mindset, understand the value of the

Type: Article
Title: Developing Little Bridge as an evidence informed English language learning platform for 6–12 year olds
Open access status: An open access publication
DOI: 10.14324/RFA.05.1.06
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.05.1.06
Language: English
Additional information: © 2021 Rogers and Weatherby. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
Keywords: online community, English language learning, language acquisition
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10123577
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