Learning collocations with FLAX apps

Abstract

The rise of Mobile Assisted Language Learning has brought a new dimension and dynamic into language classes. Game-like apps have become a particularly effective way to promote self-learning to young learners outside classroom. This paper describes a system called FLAX that allows teachers to automatically generate a variety of collocation games from a con-temporary collocation database built from Wikipedia text. These games are fun to play and mimic traditional classroom activities such as Collocation Matching, Collocation Guessing, Collocation Dominoes, and Related Words. The apps can be downloaded onto Android devices from the Google Play store, and exercises are automatically updated whenever new materials are added by teachers through a web-based interface on the FLAX server. Teachers have used these games to provide supplementary material for several Massive Open Online courses (MOOC) in Law discipline.