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EDIT 732 | Fall 2012 | Group 2. ESL2Go:Why? Where? For whom?. Phase 1:. Background:. Section 1. The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities - 723,277 (2010-11 academic year).
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ESL2Go:Why? Where? For whom? Phase 1: Background: Section 1 The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities - 723,277 (2010-11 academic year). GMU is one of the most multicultural university campuses in the U.S. (e.g., a total of 1,727 international students from 129 countries enrolled in the Fall 2010 semester). Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: The client: The English Language Institute at GMU Phase 5:
ESL2Go|Identifying Stakeholders • ELI Director • ELI Key SME • ELI Faculty • ELI Students • External ESL Faculty • External ESL Students
ESL2Go:What do they need? Data Collection: Phase 1: Phase 2: • Learning Problem Research/Literature Review • Competitive Analysis of Existing Applications • Kickoff Meeting with ELI Director and Faculty • 4 Surveys: • Survey for ELI Faculty • Survey for ELI Students • Survey for External Faculty • Survey for External Students • Observations & Informal Interviews • Follow up Face-to-face Meetings with SME Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
ESL2Go|Data Collection Results ELI Faculty Survey Results What instructional/pedagogical strategies do you use?
ESL2Go|Data Collection Results ELI Faculty Survey Results • What are the most common learning problems? • Issues with academic writing & difficult grammatical constructs • Reading comprehension, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar accuracy • Writing grammatically correct essays • Consistency and accuracy in academic English • Difficulty in decoding words when they read, slow reading and writing skills, lack of practice in using skills outside of classroom • Grammar, spelling • Fear of speaking • Grammar
ESL2Go|Data Collection Results ELI Students Survey Results • 18 students, ages 18-30, consider their proficiency “intermediate”, communicate in English 30-50% of the time • Enjoy talking in small groups, playing games, making friends, and talking about current events to practice English • Don’t like classroom presentations/lectures. • Challenges: putting in the time to learn and becoming engaged and motivated • Preferences: interactive games, conversational learning
ESL2Go|Data Collection Results External Survey Results • 8 External Faculty – similar to ELI faculty: lack of awareness of available online tools; focus on dictionaries and grammar exercises. • But different suggestions for an app popped up: “a kind of interaction with feedback”, “social interactions”, “role-playing”. • 85 external students • 44 indicated that they prefer to learn in face to face classes • 20 prefer to learn on their own or a combination of both • Every single one of them owns a mobile device • Would like an app that includes: games, conversations, podcasts/voice/narration, something to help with vocabulary & slang words, with feedback, interactive, fun, social network…
ESL2Go: Gaps Identified? • ELI teachers: • 1) Textbooks, presentations, reading, and discussions as their preferred delivery methods. • 2) Faculty stressed poor grammar and writing skills • ELI students: • 1) Games and learning activities that are authentic and social. • 2) Overestimated their grammar skills Gap Analysis: Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 5:
ESL2Go|Goals Analysis Goals • Increase confidence in interacting with native speakers • Improve grammar • Increase the percentage of time speaking and writing in English outside of classroom • Build a more extensive vocabulary
ESL2Go: Individual Personas • Persona #1: Alejandro VargasELI student (Low-Intermediate) • Persona #2: NoyPramkatokELI student (Intermediate-Intermediate) • Persona #3: AnjumFarooqiELI student (High-Intermediate) • ELI Instructors: • Persona #4: Margaret Anne Baxter • Persona #5: Kelly Neill Gap Analysis: Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4: Phase 4: Phase 5:
Alejandro Vargas • Goals and Motivations • Wants to learn English well enough to interact and socialize with non-Spanish speaking students. • Wants to do well enough in ESL classes to move up to intermediate and eventually advanced levels • Needs an English learning mobile application that will keep him interested such as one that would include some sort of online social interaction. • Challenges • Communicating effectively with university personnel, both students and faculty. • Feels isolated and lonely • Still needs a lot of practice • Technology Level • Owns an iPhone and HP laptop • Level is high – high enough to probably create his own mobile application • Loves learning anything new in the technology space Age: 19 Marital Status: Single Native language: Spanish ELI Level: Low intermediate “I wish learning the English language was as easy for me as learning about computer science.”
NoyPramkatok • Goals and Motivations • Noy would like to be able to help her children with their homework. • Wants to communicate effectively with native English speakers as well as socialize with neighbors and members of the community. • She would like to make some native English-speaking friends • Challenges • Noy’s children have already surpassed her in their studies of English. • She can't communicate with her children's teachers or other parents at their school. • Noy can't help her children with their homework and has a hard time making native English speaking friends. • Technology Level • Moderate. She is computer literate and has a smart phone but uses it mostly as a phone, to check email and text. Age: 30 Marital Status: Married Native language: Thai ELI Level: Intermediate-intermediate “I love my ESL classes at Mason and I think I'm making good progress.”
AnjumFarooqi • Goals and Motivations • Wants to learn the American accent so she can blend in socially and professionally • Hoping to land a job after graduation and get a green card • Eager to be able to hold conversations at a professional level • Needs to write academic papers in correct, graduate level English • Expects to be able to eventually conduct job interviews in English • Challenges • Still needs a lot of practice • Growing bored with drilling of it (worksheets). Doesn't want to do worksheets • Looking for guided practice apps that provide feedback • Gets frustrated if she doesn’t get corrected in pronunciation and structure • Technology Level • Owns a smart phone and an iPad • Loves apps that help her with everyday life activities • Willing to try new technologies to help her learn English, especially voice recognition software Age: 23 Marital Status: single Native language: Urdu ELI Level: High-Intermediate • “To understand the culture, I have to master the language first.”
Margaret Anne Baxter • Goals and Motivations • Help her students improve accuracy in speaking and writing • Would like her students to practice more outside of the classroom • Challenges • Students are distracted by their “portable toys” and expect “instant gratification and fun” • Students struggle with grammar & reading comprehension; they don’t practice enough • Technology Level • Interested in learning about technology use for teaching languages • Not comfortable with new technology; needs training and support Age: 46 Marital Status: Married with children Native language: English ELI Level: Teaches Intermediate • “Their goal should be achieving accuracy in academic English.”
Kelly Neill • Goals and Motivations • To improve students Academic English language skills • To increase students motivation and engagement in learning English through thoughtful employment of technology • Increase students’ vocabulary bank and motivation to read • Challenges • Limited access to computer labs and smart classrooms • Students’ lack of intrinsic motivation to read on their own • Limited classroom time • Technology Level • Kelly currently owns an iPhone 5, an iPad, and a MacBook. She loves using social media • She is very comfortable with technology and tries to stay on top of newly released applications • The “go to person” whenever a technology issues arise in her department Age: 29 Marital Status: Single Native language: English ELI Level: Teaches Intermediate High ““Reading, how do you get them to do that?”
ESL2Go: Finally, Prototype • Features • Requirements • Meeting the Requirements • Flow chart • Wireframe Application Design Strategy Gap Analysis: Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase4: Phase 5: Phase 5:
UI Design • Best Practices • Competitive Analysis • Emerging Technology
