The science behind FonoBeat
In FonoBeat, children learn a language by singing. The lyrics in the language they are learning move along with the music, and the word being sung lights up. Under each line there are aids that the family can switch on or off. That is how we chose to build it, and here we explain why. Each principle on this page draws on research into how people learn a second language, and for each one we explain what those studies found and where you will see it in the app. They are the foundation of the design, not a promise of results: every child learns at their own pace.
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Songs for learning words
What the research says
A meta-analysis brought together 28 studies with 1,864 participants on using English songs to learn English vocabulary as a second language. Overall, the effect it found was large, although it varied with factors such as the length of the activity and the learners’ age or first language. The author recommends songs as a complementary strategy and calls for more well-designed studies.
How FonoBeat applies it
All the learning happens inside songs written for the app, organised into themed worlds and levels. After singing, the lesson invites children to discover the song’s words with cards and to play with questions about them.
Source
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Murphy Odo, D. (2022). Examining the influence of English songs on English L2 lexical learning: A quantitative meta-analytic review. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 35 (4), 386–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2021.2022684 (opens in a new tab)
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Singing the phrases, not just hearing them
What the research says
In one experiment, 60 adults learned phrases in Hungarian for fifteen minutes. They listened and repeated in one of three ways: speaking, rhythmic speaking or singing. Those who sang did better on the tests that asked them to recall the phrases and say them out loud.
How FonoBeat applies it
There are three ways to sing each song. In Sing, a slider lets you turn the original voice up or down to sing over it. In Practise, the voice drops out on some words and your child sings them. In Challenge, which needs a grown-up’s permission, the app listens to the pronunciation and replies with friendly tips.
Source
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Ludke, K. M., Ferreira, F., & Overy, K. (2014). Singing can facilitate foreign language learning. Memory & Cognition, 42 (1), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0342-5 (opens in a new tab)
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Hearing the sounds inside a song
What the research says
In two experiments with 108 students who were beginning to learn French, a short session of listening to words within a song reduced foreign accent more than listening to them in rhythmic speech, and singing the song brought a similar improvement to listening to it. The song helped above all with how the words sound (the study’s own title makes clear that it did not help with remembering their meaning).
How FonoBeat applies it
Every word is heard inside the song, with the original voice separate from the music. Under the line, the phonetics (switched on at the start) spell out how it sounds using the alphabet of your own language. Anyone who wants the exact pronunciation can switch on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which starts switched off. And for meaning, the lesson offers cards and questions after singing.
Source
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Baills, F., Zhang, Y., Cheng, Y., Bu, Y., & Prieto, P. (2021). Listening to songs and singing benefitted initial stages of second language pronunciation but not recall of word meaning. Language Learning, 71 (2), 369–413. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12442 (opens in a new tab)
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Hearing and reading at the same time
What the research says
There is a great deal of research on watching videos with on-screen text in the same language as the audio (known as captions). A meta-analysis of 49 studies found that people who watched videos with that text picked up more vocabulary, without setting out to, than those who watched them without text, with a medium-sized effect. That research uses videos, not songs, but it shares the central idea: text in the language being learned accompanies the audio.
How FonoBeat applies it
The lyrics in the language being learned are always on screen: they are the only line that never switches off. They move along on their own with the music, and the word being sung lights up so your child always knows where they are. They can pause, go back five seconds or drag the lyrics.
Source
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Kurokawa, S., Hein, A. M., & Uchihara, T. (2025). Incidental vocabulary acquisition through captioned viewing: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 75 (4), 939–987. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12697 (opens in a new tab)
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Help that appears when it is needed
What the research says
A meta-analysis of 26 studies with 2,189 participants compared brief explanations of words written in the learner’s first language with explanations in the language being learned: those in the first language helped more overall, especially for beginners. In another study, 112 learners of English watched a documentary with subtitles in both languages or in English only: the translation helped them recognise the meaning of new words, the English-only text helped more with recognising how they are spelled, and the more attention they paid to the English words, the more they learned. Translation is a valuable aid, especially at the beginning, and the word in the language being learned remains the main focus.
How FonoBeat applies it
Under each line there are three aids: the translation and the phonetics, switched on at the start, and the IPA, switched off. The family switches them on or off for each profile, because two siblings of different ages do not need the same ones. The lyrics in the language being learned are always what lights up with the music.
Sources
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Kim, H. S., Lee, J. H., & Lee, H. (2024). The relative effects of L1 and L2 glosses on L2 learning: A meta-analysis. Language Teaching Research, 28 (1), 7–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820981394 (opens in a new tab)
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Wang, A., & Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (2022). Incidental vocabulary learning from bilingual subtitled viewing: An eye-tracking study. Language Learning, 72 (3), 765–805. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12495 (opens in a new tab)
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Meeting the same word many times
What the research says
A meta-analysis of 26 studies with 1,918 participants found a medium-sized relationship between how many times someone encounters a new word and the likelihood of learning it without setting out to. That relationship varied with factors such as spreading the encounters out over time, having visual support or being engaged in the activity.
How FonoBeat applies it
A song can be listened to and sung as many times as you like, and the same words come back in the steps of the lesson. With the heart, a song goes into your favourites and can be added to your own lists. The streak invites coming back on different days.
Source
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Uchihara, T., Webb, S., & Yanagisawa, A. (2019). The effects of repetition on incidental vocabulary learning: A meta-analysis of correlational studies. Language Learning, 69 (3), 559–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12343 (opens in a new tab)
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What we are still looking into
There are questions that research has not yet fully answered, and they matter to us:
- How many aids it makes sense to show at once. The translation, the phonetics and the IPA can help, but more lines are not always better. We want to understand which combination works for each age and level.
- What singing adds to listening. Some studies find advantages in singing, and others find similar results for singing and listening.
- How pronunciation written in each language’s own alphabet works. There are hardly any studies on this aid, and it also depends on each family’s first language.
- What happens with the youngest children. Much of the research has been done with young people and adults.
We keep reading new studies and reviewing our design in light of what we learn.
