creative commons
BECAUSE WE associate smartphones with texting, it’s easy to boil smartphone vocabulary down to a bunch of LOLs and BRBs. While that may be the case in the text-messaging world, it shouldn’t give the handy phones a bad reputation as a whole.
There are tons of smartphone apps that actually improve vocabulary and language arts skills. Here are five favorites among vocabulary-building apps on the market today.
Textropolis | Free
The Textropolis app is “English-class-meets-Where’s-Waldo.” Users must discover hidden words in cities throughout the world to build up their “Textropolis.” The game is designed for students 10 and up, but the lower levels might also work for younger students. This takes simple flashcard studying to a whole new level, helping kids learn through a fun video game adventure.
Word Magic | $0.99
Word Magic is a spelling/vocabulary app made for three- to six-year-olds who are just starting to develop their vocabularies. It shows users a picture of an item and then lists most of the letters for it below the image. For instance, it might show a picture of a hand with the letters H_ND. The student just has to fill in the blanks. This app may be targeted at a young group of people, but it gives parents a new way to help their children learn and grow.
SAT Vocab Challenge | $4.99
Created by The Princeton Review, this smartphone app teaches high school students the vocab they need for the SAT college entrance exam. There are two volumes available for download, as well as a GRE version for potential grad students. SAT Vocab Challenge reviews hundreds of rarely used words that often appear on the SAT, giving students the boost they need before their big test.
Vocab Junkie | $1.99
Vocab Junkie is an app designed to help middle and high school students learn their vocabulary words. It has over 800 flashcards with some of the most useful words in the English language. Users are asked to assess how well they know a certain word after the definition is revealed. The app then repeats words that a student may not have been confident about in the hopes of instilling it into his brain.
This app was created by Brainscape, one of the leading organizations for memory training and cognitive recognition in the modern world. You’ll have no trouble learning from this vocab app.
WordWorm | $2.99
This Android app won’t necessarily teach you new words, but it can be used to recall words you already know. WordWorm can be used at any age, and most people just play it for fun. In this game, you have to connect letters together in strings to form words. You must do this quickly though before the fiery letters burn their way to the bottom. Get as many words as you can in an allotted period of time, and maybe you’ll find something new along the way.
Check out these apps the next time you feel challenging your cranium, and you’ll have a better vocabulary in no time.
Stacy Anderson is a freelance writer and holds a bachelor’s degree in Education and Journalism. She writes guest posts for different sites and loves contributing education and school job related topics.
