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Preliminary Research:

 

Preliminary research document

 

Interview 1 — Professor Kroska:

Interview with Kroska - audio file

 

Interview 1 Evaluation (Professor Kroska):

• Born in Sapporo, Japan

• Bilingual

  • First Language: Japanese

  • Second Language: English

• Bilingual

• Teachings focus on fun first and in whatever means connect students to their interest in the Japanese language

  • The popularity of anime has lead to interest in Japanese culture

• Most do not speak standard Japanese - dialects vary greatly

  • Ex: Watashi Wa = Waaaaa

  • Devices such as “Illi” may not be as accurate

• Writing is a valued component of the day to day in Japan

• Looking at language learning as a more immersive experience would be interesting and relates to her focus on expanding the Japanese language program

 

Interview 2 — Ann, student:

*please be mindful of the informal quality of this interview as well as audio silences and long pauses

Interview with Ann - audio file

 

Interview 2 Evaluation (Ann):

• Born in Taiwan

• Bilingual

  • First language: Mandarin

  • Second learned: English

• English was a core subject in her grade school education

  • Focused on reading/writing.

  • Lack of practice in speaking.

  • Learned alphabet through a song along with word association

• Taiwanese Mandarin has vocab differences compared to Chinese

  • Example given: how they call portable battery chargers

• One method she refers to helping her learn English is through American pop culture (e.g. movies, songs, shows)

 

Interview 3 — Jozhua, student:

*please be mindful of the informal quality of this interview

Interview with Jozhua - audio file

 

Interview 3 Evaluation (Jozhua):

• Born in the Philippines

• Bilingual

  • First language: “Tagalog” (Knows 3 different dialects)

  • Second learned: English

• English was a core subject in his grade school education

  • Note: went to private school because public education system is “lacking”

  • Strict enforcement of teaching the language

    • Practice of reading, writing, speaking within class

    • Strict teacher made experience more memorable

  • Belief that learning English will help with bettering the lives of those who learned it

• Language in the Philippines is very diverse

  • Spanish influences + various tribal languages = multitude of dialects

  • Different dialects (practically different languages) developed through cultural and location (separate islands) influences

• Filipino languages are currently being influenced by:

  • Online language

  • Korean immigrants and visitors

 

Interview 4 Evaluation (Emilio):

*the interviewee wished to not be recorded

• Born in Mexico

  • Bilingual, first language: Spanish

  • Second language: English

• English was a core subject in his grade school education

  • Moved to United States in 4th grade and was forcefully learning English with other fluent English speakers, rather than refining Spanish he learned both at once

  • English was not learned by choice, learned easiest when speaking in conversation and being the environment with other fluent speakers

  • Context was picked up through situations

• Spanish holds physicality to a higher standard along with their language such as using gestures or mannerisms like a kiss on the cheek when greeting or hugging plenty and hand pats on the shoulders or arms

  • Portuguese and Italian are the romantics to the language, sound similar

  • But with every language there are distinct differences, there is no such thing as dialect, simply that a businessman vs. a farmer sound differently, formal vs informal

  • Some phrases and sayings do not make sense in Spanish, explains why some song lyrics sound awkward when translated

• English was more difficult to learn since Spanish is phonetic, letters actually sound all one way, the only difficulty is with pronouns

• Discussed learning Japanese if he were to learn a third language since it also sounds similar when said or spoken aloud versus English that has lots of breaks to the rules

 

 

Ideation Process:

1. Select our problem

2. Acknowledge memorization vs. learning

   • Think of ways to retain concepts and ideas

3. Make things stick through thorough interactions

   • Stimulate multiple senses → sound and sight simultaneously

4. Recognize that humans have both short-term and long-term memories

   • Language learning designs should create long-term memories

5. How can we improve the process?

   • How to make it a more meaningful experience?

   • How to make it more appealing?

   • How to create a mindset where learning is immersive and fulfilling?

   • How to make it more receptive?

6. “Frame our design challenge”

   • Link to document

7. Think of forms our design can be executed through:

   • Traditional tests, games, VR, etc.

8. What needs to be taught:

   • Alphabet, grammar, vocabulary, etc.

9. What would we include:

   • Different levels

   • Daily situations

 

Major Concepts:

• Language

• Learning processes

• Culture

 

 

Concept Proposals:

Rough ideas generated during ideation process:

• Virtual Reality

  • The user in a headset would start a journey through daily tasks that would be familiar enough to assign learning in a new way. Examples like a barista conversation, a trip to the grocery store, being placed on a street, etc. Learning would happen through words being displayed in different scenarios and a coach to guide the user through the lesson as if it were a game.

 

• Game App

  • Phone game that would act as a better version of all other language learning tools. The user would be directed through lessons given through an app with a coach.

 

• Projected Environment

  • Computer generated projection that could be interacted with on a wall in a single space. The user could be guided through levels of learning through touching the plane and problem-solving in real space.

 

 

Formative Study Plan:

• Continue with obtaining various perspectives of students in a multi-cultural/lingual sphere through interviews

• Additionally, obtain students’ opinions on what they expect for successful language learning

  • Plus what languages they have interest in and why

• Obtain more professor perspectives on effective language learning methods

• Research language learning methods that currently exists along with translation devices

• More in-depth research on how humans retain things long-term

• Expand on ideas + rework ideas