The Lexicum Cycle of Learning

This week we are at the Innovation Arabia 10 congress. A colleague here asked us about the theoretical model that we use, so here are a few words on it.

How Does Lexicum Reviewing Mechanism Work?

In order to remember any new word you encounter when you learn foreign language you must refresh it periodically. Let’s say that you hear the following word in French: “aneth” (dill). If you don’t use this word in any way you are very likely to forget it soon. If, however, you encounter and use this word over and over, for example because you might enjoy cooking or you happen to like this particular spice a lot, then obviously you will retain this word in your brain for much longer.

With the latest update Lexicum is turning into a powerful tool for teachers

Lexicum has been helping learners improve their vocabulary for a while now - our web and mobile apps have been live for months. However, with our latest release we add some exciting new features that will not only make the platform more useful for learners but also turn it into a powerful tool for teachers. The most significant addition is the word lists feature - users can now organize their words into groups and can also share these groups with other users. The new functionality allows teachers to prepare lists of words based on topic or a work of literature covered in class. These lists can then be shared with the students so they can use them as a reference in class and practice them later, on any device.

Here is a quick overview of how the new functionality works (no audio):

Become part of a learning community

At Lexicum we know how important it is to get support while learning. Be it a teacher that knows what's right and what's wrong, or be it a friend to hold conversations with, it always helps when you have someone to discuss with. In educational research they call it cognitive scaffolding, to remind of the way scaffoldings help workers erect buildings. There's no question about the benefits of a learning conversation. Yet, it is not always possible for everyone to attend language classes for years, as students traditionally do. Because of that at Lexicum we are gathering a community of language learners to help one another.

This is how your effort becomes tangible

What we do here at Lexicum is making vocabulary learning more accessible with the use of technology. Part of our vision is making it easier for learners to feel that they are making progress. Now with the new version we have made one more step towards this goal. This article is meant to explain how we track your learning and convert it into points.

Use your dictionary interactively

Lexicum makes it easy for you to search for words interactively. You can find translations, not only of the language that you are learning, but also in your native language. With this, the dictionary is useful, not only when you want to understand what something means, but also when you want to learn how to say something new.

Make the most out of Lexicum with keyboad shortcuts

Lexicum is all about making the process of learning vocabulary smooth. We are not trying to impose a tool-centered way of learning words - we just provide a tool that fits in your learning process seamlessly. With Lexicum you get rid of the more mundane tasks and get more time for what matters the most: experiencing the language. Thus, we've added comprehensive keyboard shortcuts to automate more tasks and spend even less time on tools. Here is the comprehensive list.

Vamoooooooos! Lexicum update with new look and Portuguese for the world cup

Once again the world is gripped by the football fever and all eyes are set on Brazil where the top 32 teams in the world will contest the most prestigious title of all. At the same time, Lexicum releases a major facelift, including adding Portuguese to our list of supported languages.

More than 3 million will get immersed into the unique vibe at the stadiums and probably up to half a billion will watch the games on TV, some of them - at very awkward times. In Europe most games will be at reasonable times, only occasionally going past 2am - but believe most employers will tolerate mild delays due to football fever on the previous night; Lexicum, for one, surely will!

Lexicum releases a native iPhone app

As you all know, Lexicum started as a desktop web site but we've known from day 1 that the smartphone is going to be a key platform for learning vocabulary. Thus, mobile apps have been central to our vision and we've had a mobile web app since March. We have now backed this with native app which will provide for a smoother experience for iPhone and iPad users. If you own any of these devices feel free to give it a try: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexicum/id869779000

Lexicum has arrived on mobile

In the past weeks we've been working on ways to make language learning part of everyday life. We help you expand your vocabulary by making it more accessible to you so that you don't see it as extra work but as an opportunity to improve. One major step to achieve this is bringing vocabulary learning to your mobile. Read on to see how...

Now progress in vocab learning is easy to track

At Lexicum we are making vocabulary learning progress visual. We've introduced this, along with several other improvements, to make language learning easier. Read further to find out how.