Language Learning App
Voluble
_____
Be confident, Be heard
Introduction
Voluble enables language-learners to interact with real-humans in everyday scenarios in order to practise their speaking skills in a safe immersive way.
My Roles & Responsibilities:
User Research, Strategy, UI Design, Design thinking, Prototyping, Interaction Design, Usability Testing
Team:
Zil, Squid, Adam, Mindy
Timeline:
3 weeks
Tools Used:
Figma, Miro, Google slides, Zoom, Google Doc.
ℹ️ The problem
In a globalized world with increasing multiculturalism and opportunities for exploration, there is a rising demand for learning new languages. However, language learners often struggle with practicing and gaining confidence in their language skills due to unfamiliar phonetics and cultural nuances. Despite the availability of modern language tools and apps, many independent learners lack an immersive way to use their conversational skills. As a result, they might struggle to keep their confidence and motivation when learning their chosen language.
💡Solution
To address this challenge, our team aimed to develop a language learning solution that provides immersive practice opportunities for independent learners, fostering confidence, cultural understanding, and motivation to continue learning.
Research
We started with a hypothesis…
Despite the help of modern language tools and apps, we suspect many independent learners lack an immersive way to use their conversational skills. As a result they might struggle to keep their confidence and motivation when learning their chosen language.
Research Plan
We began our UX design process with research plan: thorough research and understanding of the target
audience and their needs are essential.
Initial thinking
Target Users
Research Methods
- Age 20 - 35
- multilingual, have experience learning a new language or Learning new language.
- Have exposure or appreciation for other cultural and linguistic backgrounds
- Are familiar with independent language-learning tools
- Use Interviews
- Qualitative research ( In-person and Virtual Interviews )
- Quantitative research ( User Survey ) - Competitor analysis
ℹ️ Qualitative research
Understanding people's behaviours better
We asked about their thoughts on being multilingual, their favourite ways to learn and stay motivated, and their use of technology and multimedia.
We conducted in-depth interviews with 18 independent language learners from diverse cultural backgrounds.
We developed an interview script to understand their motivations, challenges, and experiences related to language learning and conducted user interviews with participants. Interviews were done in-person and over the phone.
🔎️Research Goals
what makes them feel successful?
1
What motivates different users to study new languages?
(who are the users and why do they want to learn)
2
What are user's patterns and experiences with learning new languages?
(tools, habits, preferences, communities, why do they do these things)
3
Why do users struggle or succeed to meet their language-learning goals?
(obstacles, feelings, success and failure stories, why)
Quantitative Research:
And this is what they said...
“gestures, and your use your facial expressions and the tone of voice - if that could be taught, that would go a long way towards basic understanding“
“the most beneficial way to learn is to be immersed in the culture/environment where the language is used“
“biggest hurdle is no one to practice with and provide feedback“
“most beneficial way to learn a new language is through human interaction and feedback on mistakes“
“Learning english fluently has allowed me to feel understood and connect better in more places “
Language barriers
Learning difficulties
Relationships in their communities
Define
After going through our interview transcripts and identifying behaviour and need patterns, research was synthesized into a set of deliverables, to guide us in keeping the users as a priority in the design process.
Meet Shanon Li.
From all of our research data, we created Shannon Li; a bilingual software developer in Vancouver who loves pushing herself to grow. She moved to Canada from China for school and would like to improve her English fluency to open up her career opportunities and better connect with her english-speaking peers.
User Insight
Career-oriented language learners need more confidence in their pronunciation to feel included amongst their peers and achieve better opportunities in their professional lives.
👥putting the research together
So why people often find language learning difficult?
Cultural Differences
Understanding cultural norms and nuances can be as important as vocabulary and grammar. This cultural gap can make language learning more difficult.
Complexity of Language
Languages have complex grammatical rules, vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural nuances.
Motivation
If a person lacks motivation or a clear reason for learning a new language, they may find it difficult to stay committed.
Fear of Mistakes
Many people are afraid of making mistakes or being judged when trying to speak a new language. This fear can hinder their progress.
Lack of Exposure
For many, especially in monolingual environments, there may be limited exposure to the target language. This lack of immersion makes it harder to learn and practice.
Lack of Practice
Consistent practice and exposure are crucial for language acquisition. If learners do not use the language regularly, they may struggle to retain what they've learned.
Ineffective Learning Methods
Using the wrong or inefficient methods for language learning can make the process more challenging. Effective techniques, such as immersion, conversation practice, and exposure to authentic materials, can greatly aid in learning.
📌 Main Takeaways
- User seeking help with pronunciation and speaking struggle to find a resource to practise these skills.
- Users appreciate visuals, videos and detailed, specific feedback for their pronunciation
- Many apps that promised to help with speaking have become over-complicated and confusing.
- Users want interaction and feedback from other humans
- Other apps consistently perform poorly in voice recognition.
- Users enjoy fun, gamified learning and storytelling
- Many tools don’t recognize regional accents and variations of their languages
- Encouragement, rewards and progress tracking helps users commit and stay motivated.
Problem Statement
Non-native English speakers entering the professional world lack confidence in their speaking skills, hindering their ability to seize better opportunities and establish meaningful connections.
“ How might we understand their needs and develop solutions that effectively enhance their confidence, enabling them to thrive in their careers and personal lives? ”
Ideate
💡ideation
We brainstormed.. with the problem statement in mind, ideas were formed...
Ued brainstorming techniques like I Like, I Wish & What If to come up with any ideas we could based on our research and HMW
👁 prioritization
And then re-organized our ideas according to Impact & efforts, to prioritize them.
🌐 storyboarding
Created a storyboard to imagine our solution in action:
The Problem:
Non-native English speakers entering the professional world lack confidence in their speaking skills, hindering their ability to seize better opportunities and establish meaningful connections.
“ How might we understand their needs and develop solutions that effectively enhance their confidence, enabling them to thrive in their careers and personal lives? ”
The Solution:
A fun, simulation-style app where users enter real-life scenarios (with real humans) and respond out loud to the characters as they progress the scene.
Users will:
- Be immersed in communities with native-level speakers.
- Experience language-learning in context with culture, emotional expression, facial movement, and posture.
- Receive AI coaching and unique feedback on their pronunciation.
Prototype
Task Flow
User Flow
Sketch Wireframe
Low-Fidelity wireframe
🔬️User testing
We tested and iterated and tested and iterated. We had users test our onboarding process, scene interaction screens, and view their progress meters. Here are some changes we made to our prototype after feedback:
- pop up to ask you if you want to spend your stars (kinda like enable location pop up, just to make it clearer what’s happening. between these screens)
- user don't need to upload a profile pic or create an avatar.
- Add search bar
- Stars and point system was a bit confusing
- Have intro scenes available as a tutorial to get the user’s familiar
- Have coaching screens available at the beginning and in the home screen
- Be able to change the language - Changing the language will reset everything you’ve unlocked
- Have Easy, Medium, Hard options for each scene with different star values
- Categorize scenes based scenario and importance of the interaction (ie, introductions - easy, shopping - medium, interview - hard)
- Have a progress bar of how well you do each phrase - Circle button with a percentage
- Expand on the lifeline button. What does it do?
- Is it strictly American English or UK English
✨presenting Voluble...
Onboarding
Scene play
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🏆 What's next?
Testing the MVP with target audience
- Social element, speak with real people or peer-evaluation, visual recordings/facial recognition, partner with real communities/people/cultures in various regions of the world, regional filters versions of language.
- Uses for travellers, speech therapy, actors, anyone trying to improve pronunciation by region and dialect.
💭 takeaways
Should have done more research layouting Language lerning conversation to make it more efficient.