Comparative analysis of mobile applications for foreign language learning by students of non-language majors with a focus on the trajectories of mastering vocabulary, grammar, and professionally oriented terminology

Abstract

In the context of the digitalization of higher education and the growing requirements for professional foreign language training of students in technical fields, the study aims at a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of mobile applications for foreign language learning with a focus on the trajectories of mastering vocabulary, grammar, and professionally oriented terminology by students of non-specialized majors. Over two semesters, 648 first- and second-year students from three federal universities were examined and divided into four experimental groups using different mobile applications (a gamified lexical drilling app, a communicative app, a flashcard and spaced repetition-based app, and a context-oriented platform), and a control group trained by traditional methods. B1-level testing, activity log analysis, surveys, content analysis of written tasks, calculation of overall and terminological vocabulary growth indicators, grammatical accuracy coefficient, terminological density index and retention rate, as well as statistical data processing in SPSS (Student’s t-test, correlation and variance analysis) were employed. It was found that the flashcard-based application with spaced repetition algorithms demonstrated the highest and most stable growth in vocabulary and professional terminology with minimal variability in results, while the gamified application, despite ensuring rapid growth of basic vocabulary, did not contribute significantly to grammatical accuracy or long-term retention of terms. The greatest improvement in grammatical competence was achieved with the context-based platform emphasizing text-centered learning. A negative correlation was identified between the degree of gamification and the depth of grammar acquisition, as well as a strong positive relationship between the possibility of creating one’s own content and the motivation to study professional vocabulary. It was concluded that mobile applications represent a heterogeneous class of didactic tools requiring differentiated, methodologically mediated integration into hybrid courses combining gamified, spaced, and context-based solutions to form a holistic foreign language competence among technical university students.