goFLUENT, a lprovider of business English via distance learning, has launched a Business English Training iPhone App. This App, which has been approved by Apple and is now available on Apple’s App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gofluent-elearning/id484994915?ls=1&mt=8), is the mobile version of goFLUENT’s e-learning portal for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

Christophe Ferrandou, CEO of goFLUENT, commented: “With more smartphones being sold every three months than computers, mobile learning is not only growing in popularity but it’s beginning to overtake other forms of e-learning as the most popular technology-delivered learning mechanism. Learning & development departments in large organisations need to offer their employees a mobile learning solution that’s far more than merely using a browser on a mobile phone. Through this delivery technology, they’re looking for a new approach to learning. Mobile learning can offer great value to learners because it can connect employees to the knowledge and expertise they need, when and where they need it.”

Robert de Ocampo, Marketing Director of goFLUENT, added: “This will not only allow students even further flexibility to learn as and when they want to but it will also enable them to use our learning materials as performance support tools too – to provide linguistic reminders as and when they need it.”

The new goFLUENT mobile app for iPhones includes regularly updated news videos relating to, among others: Economics, Energy, Finance, Healthcare, Lifestyle and Technology. As with all other goFLUENT English language learning materials, these videos are used as tools to help students learn English. goFLUENT does this by:

• Assigning each video a ‘level’, corresponding to the content’s degree of difficulty for those learning English
• Providing subtitles to the videos, in order to aid comprehension for the students
• Creating a vocabulary list, highlighting and defining difficult words in the video
• Highlighting a grammar point used in the video ,to help learners review useful grammar rules
• Providing a quiz to help learners check their comprehension of the video – particularly of the main ideas contained in the video, along with some selected words which are intended to help students build their vocabulary of English.

Christophe Ferrandou, of goFLUENT.

Comment: This is yet another example of e-learning materials migrating to ‘mobile’. It appears to be only a matter of time – and not a lot of time at that – before more learning materials will be available and accessed via a mobile device rather than, say, a desktop PC (especially true if you include e-book readers as ‘mobile learning devices’).