The Estonian Language Institute (EKI) envisions the planned app's primary users being seventh to ninth grade students learning Estonian as a foreign language, along with their teachers and examiners.

Last academic year, Estonia began the transition process to Estonian-language only instruction in all schools. The process is due to be finished by the start of the 2029–2030 school year, from kindergarten level upwards.

Dubbed Keelekratt ("Language goblin"), the app is being created in cooperation between the state Institute and the Education and Youth Board (Harno) and the EKI.

The latter organization says Keelekratt will address two concerns: First, in the school system, teachers do not have enough time to provide every student with the individual feedback needed in order to develop their speaking skills, a skill particularly important in foreign language acquisition.

Many students also lack an Estonian-language conversation partner outside of school, and some are apprehensive about practicing their Estonian.

The student or examinee would be able to interact with the app, which is envisaged to be able to guide a conversation on a given topic, ask questions, listen to answers, pose follow-up questions, and provide feedback to the student.

A second issue the EKI has identified is that the oral part of the Estonian as a second language exam given to basic school (Põhikool) finishers involves the examinee conversing with the interviewer or the interviewer guiding a dialogue between two students. Every year several thousand students take this exam, and each has about 18 minutes for the oral part.

As things stand, the speaking part is recorded and assessed by suitably qualified Estonian teachers. This means, however, that for several days, most Estonian as a second language teachers have a particularly high workload during exam time.

The tender conditions specify that what distinguishes the "language goblin" from other language practice tools includes it being based on the interaction of three phases: First, a student's speech is recorded and converted into text. This transcribed content is then analyzed and appropriate feedback or a response is generated, and finally, the response is converted into natural speech and presented to the student. The response reaches the student as speech that imitates a smooth real conversation.

The tender is estimated at €600,000, with the EKI recommending potential bidders examine Finland's Digitala project, a digital solution for learners of Finnish and Swedish as a second language, aimed specifically at supporting oral language skills.

Bidders are required to base their solution on the thematic areas set out in the national curricula for basic and upper secondary schools, and to ensure that it complies with the principles of European language learning.

Another requirement is that the app can handle exams with at least one thousand simultaneous users.

This is not the first time a solution of this kind has been floated. In 2023, Harno developed a beta version of an app called EISKratt, intended to support those taking the oral part of the Estonian as a second language exam. Initially intended as a component of the examination info system (EIS), the platform was tested in schools in February but was not adopted.

The new app is being developed as an independent solution.

Funding is due to come from a set EU program "Eesti keele õpe ja keeleõppe arendamine" ("Estonian language learning and the development of language education") and from the Ministry of Education.

A total of 3,378 students took the Estonian as a second language final exam at basic school (junior high) last academic year, plus a further 2,468 students who did so as part of their high school exams.

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