In 2020, Duolingo launched its Research Grant program to support master's and doctoral student research about language learning and teaching with technology. PhD student Ben Naismith was selected as one of the seven winners for his work on "Examiner judgments of collocational proficiency in L2 English learners’ writing."
Ben's study investigates how aspects of collocations (words that commonly go together) affect the quality of English learners’ essays. In this experiment, experts rate versions of essays in which the collocations vary in specific ways. These ratings are then compared to established vocabulary measures to determine which variations are most important.
Congratulations, Ben!