A language app has been developed to deal with the lagging number of Australian students studying foreign languages in school, as numbers drop in the past 50 years from 40 per cent of Year 12 students studying a second language to 12 per cent.

Key points: A total of 35 apps were developed for the trial

A total of 35 apps were developed for the trial Five languages offered: Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, French and Arabic.

Five languages offered: Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, French and Arabic. Since the 1960s, the number of Year 12 students studying a second language has dropped from 40 per cent to 12 per cent.

The Federal Government has been trialling a program for preschoolers, giving them the chance to use a tablet to learn one of five languages, including Indonesian.

The results of the trial will be released today.

The play-based app is part of the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) trial, which is now going to be extended to another 1,000 preschools at a cost of $6 million.

In 2015 the Government committed $9.8 million to trial online language services for children in preschool or kindergarten programs, with the purpose being to determine the effectiveness in teaching children foreign languages.

A total of 35 apps were developed for the ELLA trial, consisting of seven unique apps for each of the five offered languages — Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, French and Arabic.

Since the 1960s the number of Year 12 students studying a second language has dropped significantly.

But the Government hopes to change that and has begun first by targeting the young, trialling the language app with four and five-year-olds.

Indonesian the most popular language on the app

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the trial had been operating across 41 different preschools.

"It's provided them with access to language-based apps for preschool students offering them five different languages."

Senator Birmingham said Australia had seen a marked decline in the study of Indonesian over recent years.

But so far, the most popular language when using the app has been Indonesian.

"If there's a sign that we can inspire interest at a younger level, then that's something to really work upon," Senator Birmingham said.

Nesha O'Neil owns two early learning centres and said both facilities had been trailing the language app.

"The application has little characters called polyglots, that do all sorts of things with language and sing and do that kind of stuff, and the kids essentially learn through play," she said.

The Polygots: Playroom was the first app to be released, described as "an exciting place filled with characters, animation, play-based learning and surprises".

Children explore the world and while doing so are exposed to languages through characters greeting and speaking to them.

Ms O'Neil said in the beginning some of the parents were worried the program would not be effective, or they feared the app would encourage children to misuse tablet devices.

But she said the results were so encouraging that now all the parents at the centre were on board, and some had even requested additional material.

She said the app had also helped to teach children about different cultures.

Ms O'Neil said one girl, who was the only Arabic-speaking child at the centre, had been too embarrassed to speak her language or to have her grandparents speak to her in Arabic in front of the other children.

But the app helped to change that situation.

"She became the champion of that particular program there," Ms O'Neil said.

"We got her grandmother in to talk to the kids and sing songs with them and do all that kind of stuff and it was really amazing.

"And that kid completely came out of her shell."

Wi-fi black spots won't limit opportunities, Senator says

Senator Birmingham said he does not believe Australia's notorious wi-fi black spots would limit the program.

"Pretty soon the new NBN satellite services will be picking up more and more of these types of locations," he said.

"I'm confident in terms of access to good, affordable broadband services that will be coming online at a pace that will keep up with these types of opportunities."

Senator Birmingham said if the second trial was successful, the digital program would be rolled out nationally in 2017.

There are also plans for it to be extended to maths and science.