Coventry University Institution Wide Language Programme(IWLP) offers beginners language learning modules toapproximately 3,000 students. Each module is taught over 11 weeks for a total of one hour and 40 minutes and two of the weeks are used for in class tests, so tutors generally agree that students need to practise their skills outside the classroom in order to pass the module. One way of doing this was to use the language learning app, Duolingo, which helps students to gradually broaden their linguistic, professional competence, and digital fluency through increased learner autonomy.How effective this approach is, however, has never been measured.The project ran from January to April 2018 and explored whether acorrelation exists between regular use of the app by IWLP learnersat Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level A1 ofFrench, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and achieving ahigh formal coursework assessment mark. The views of both learnersand tutors of their experiences of using the software, and the tutortools provided by Duolingo Schools, will also be canvassed. A virtualclassroom was set up within Duolingo Schools for each participatingcohort of students and they were encouraged to use the app on aregular basis. The tutor tools allowed the monitoring of how manydays learners were active, how many lessons they completed, howmany courses they completed, and how many points they wereawarded while using Duolingo. These statistics were compared with the overall formal assessment grades on modules and further datawas collected at the end of the project from a representative sampleof learners (182) and tutors (ten) to establish whether the softwareinfluenced module marks
