Reflection
After completing my A2 on speech recognition, and now this A3 forecasting project on language learning, I have taken away a few thoughts. Foreign language education is a topic I am very passionate about, and I feel strongly that mobile technology can continue to address its challenges.
Is this app actually useful? High usability was one of my primary objectives when I began deciding on an A3 topic. I wanted to not only identify a realistic problem, but provide a solution that people actually want to use. Although the wireframes can definitely use some professional UI/UX assistance, I feel the core concepts are indeed useful. In particular, the app offers two things that are of unique value. The first is SmartPronounce. Most applications (even Google's new pronounce feature), does not offer pronunciation tutorial videos that are personalized to the user's mother tongue (this application's design recognizes that each language learning challenges are different). The second is the ability for teachers to upload their own content. I understand that most young learners are not entirely enthusiastic about foreign language learning without extrinsic motivation, and enabling teachers to easily incorporate the app into their curriculum is crucial.
In hindsight, what would I do differently? As an avid user of the Duolingo and Memrise apps, I would say the gamification aspect of this app can be much further developed. For instance, a leaderboard could increase user engagement, particularly since this app is designed to enhance the classroom experience. Secondly, there should be a method for teachers to easily extract and visualize data in the application for grading and analysis. The teacher's user experience begins with the ability to upload content, but should extend beyond this.
What are some possible next steps? At the end of the day, this app focuses on pronunciation and scripted dialogue. Although these are important first steps in language learning, the ultimate goal is to develop the ability to carry out real conversations with real people. Short of actually interacting with others face-to-face, this could possibly be done via virtual language exchange or even the incorporation of an AI that can hold a conversation (e.g. Google's LaMDA). With the goal of practicing English, imagine having an hour-long phone call with an AI bot about your day, or asking it questions about Canadian culture. I suppose this is a bit far off in the future, but one can dream.