How learning works

Thoughtful practice, informed by learning research

Euphemo brings together spaced review, remembering without a prompt, and practical communication. Here is the thinking behind the practice.

Return to useful language over time

Reviews bring words and phrases back across different days. Research on second-language learning supports spacing practice out rather than doing it all at once.

Informed by Kim and Webb (2022).

Try remembering before looking

Some activities ask you to recall a word or phrase before you see it. Practising recall can strengthen later memory, and recognising an answer and recalling it are different kinds of practice.

Informed by Karpicke and Roediger (2008).

Use English for a purpose

Practise asking, explaining, comparing and writing in everyday situations. Lessons have practical “can do” goals, drawing on teaching guidance that puts communication at the centre of learning.

Informed by Council of Europe.

Notice a change, then try again

Feedback gives you something specific to work on. Try again, then use the language in a different situation later. Research on classroom feedback helps inform this approach.

Informed by Lyster and Saito (2010).

Research informs these methods, but it cannot promise you a particular result from Euphemo. A successful retry is useful practice; using the language later without help is a separate step.

Explore the research and teaching guidance

These are a few selected sources behind the principles above, not a study of Euphemo. Some links show only a summary; the full text may need a library or a subscription.

Research

• Kim and Webb (2022): The Effects of Spaced Practice on Second Language Learning: A Meta-Analysis. Language Learning, 72, 269–319. A review of many second-language experiments that supports spacing practice out. Effects depend on the task and on how long after practice learners are tested.
• Karpicke and Roediger (2008): The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning. Science, 319, 966–968. Repeated recall improved later recall of foreign-language words in this experiment. Recalling words is not the same as speaking fluently.
• Lyster and Saito (2010): Oral Feedback in Classroom SLA: A Meta-Analysis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 265–302. Classroom studies support a useful role for spoken corrective feedback. They did not test AI feedback, and no one style of feedback is always best.

Teaching guidance

• Council of Europe: Action-orientation in the classroom. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Official guidance that links meaningful tasks, communication beyond the classroom and learner choice. It is teaching guidance, not an endorsement of any app.
• Council of Europe: CEFR descriptors (Companion volume, 2020). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. “Can do” descriptions that inform the practical goals of lessons. Euphemo does not give certified levels.

Further reading

Our course planning also draws on Paul Nation’s writing about vocabulary learning and about balancing understanding, communication, focused study and fluency practice.

• Nation (2022): Learning Vocabulary in Another Language, 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press. A book on vocabulary learning that balances meaning-focused input and output, focused study and fluency practice. Further reading, not a test of this app.

Why we keep it affordable

Serious practice. An accessible price. We want useful English practice to fit more people’s budgets. Your subscription supports the lessons, people and technology behind Euphemo. Plans with the cloud coach include clear allowances, which help keep their prices predictable.

Why do you aim to keep the price low?

Cost should not make regular English practice harder to start. We design Euphemo to stay affordable, with useful core practice that does not need a cloud AI call at every step. Your subscription helps fund course content, development, support and the services that keep the app running. The AI and Pro plans also help cover the AI services used by their cloud features.

Does every feature need a paid AI plan?

No. Lessons, reviews and recorded comparisons work without cloud AI. The free plan includes the first course units, daily practice and the dictionary, with no account and no AI. Basic gives the whole course, sync, and AI on your phone where your phone supports it. The AI plan adds the Euphemo cloud coach, with weekly coach time. Pro, with pronunciation scoring and spoken AI conversation, is coming later.

Thoughtful English practice, informed by learning research and designed to stay affordable.