This article is mainly to discuss how to make a perfect App for English learners. So you can read the first two paragraphs to know my recommended Apps for learning English if you are not an internet practitioner.
Recommended FIVE Apps:
- Drops: learn basic words, especially for daily communication.
- Hello English: a little bit similar to Duolingo but much better than it
- Collins COBUILD Intermediate Dictionary: it is perfectly suitable for the beginners
- Quartz: reading news in the chat, like in the WeChat
- 拓词: recite the words in traditional way
Who these users are?
As far as most people concerned, learning is hard. So the NEW App focuses on common person, aka “study slackers”, but not those curve-wreckers(学霸). OK, joking time is over.
How do those common person look like? What do they like and not like? People likes to chase new things rather than the old. Everything looks like have their expiration date (Wong Kar-wai have said). That is why we are eager to make the front-page news every morning.
This is human nature. boys like to buy new electronics, dating new girls and girls like to buy the whole world. Joke again.
Since it is so, the problem is how does the App conform the fickle users. to help solve this question, we should know the pain points of users when they relied on existing Apps to help them studying English.
What do the existing Apps look like?
General speaking, English-learning Apps from China can be divided into three categories:
- simple and crude
- add new features
- technological means
simple & crude
Do you still remember towards(拓词)? This famous App is the pioneer and typical representative of “simple & crude”.
The biggest characteristic of this back word app is repetition, again and again. Is that reasonable? Maybe. Is that boring? Bingo. This is an effective but very anti-human design. So do we really have to do like that? Do you have more better ideas before you read the next part?
Add new features
What’s that supposed to mean? Several days before when I was wandering around in iPhone’s App Store, I found occasional a new App (xx背多分) for word back. It stunned me at my first sight for its beautiful design. However , I felt disappointed after a while because there a lot of features such as movies chips, example sentences from the news, English-Chinese dictionary which is irrelevant to memorizing words.
It is not an individual case. Actually, only the BIG FACTORY can afford this kind of developing way because the small workrooms has the limited resource to make Apps like that. Then what are the disadvantages of these App for users? Obviously, it is not to solve problem but make the simple thing into complicated. Because users have to figure out how to use the App rather than leaning English, in addition, they recite the words in traditional way-repetition as well.
Technological means
I like this part sometimes for these Apps’ developers usually are the users themselves. So she or he knows the problems and solved it with pretty cool technology.
However, learning English is not just about technology, or you can say that it is not enough to simply have the cool technology. Because that means this app may solve a problem, but often not possible to meet the core needs. Users needs a English language tutor but not a cool technology specialist.
For example, there is a App which you can memorize words in the website of Chrome. Pretty cool. But, how to recite the words is the main point, but not the location of back words.
What should we do?
Previous research has found that games bring people great happiness and help them release the pressure and depression. There are not other magic ingredients in games for it just take advantage of our brain’s habit which likes variety and stimulation.
since game developers seems to have this knack of getting people to play it constantly, why won’t learning Apps have it? You see, that is the key to make a perfect learning App: interesting.
Now let’s give three specific proposals to get the ball rolling:
- put pictures
- words in the scenes
- learning through fun
put pictures
Everybody knows that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Baicizhan (百词斩) is one of the typical example which it draws a picture for every word.
I highly recommend developers should put pictures or photographs into the App. In this way, you can do less work and the result will be better.
For example: hut vs. cottage
Which picture is hut, which one is cottage? That is the power of photo.
words in the scenes
What we learn is a language, but not just individual word. No matter how strong your memory is, it is also very difficult to remember those words and it is very easy to forget it at all.
If we let the users learn the words through a series of scenes, how can they forget the words if the tender love stories and fierce battles are so impressive?
Therefore, I recommend against some famous dictionary like as longman, Oxford, but Collins (Collins COBUILD Intermediate English). This dictionary explains every word in a real sentence, then it is not only tell us what is the meaning of this word, but the usual usages of the word.
learning through fun
Last but not least, can we steal some ideas from online games？Must adult learning App be serious and solemn？
Is “cut the rope” a mobile game? Yes and No. It depends on what situation do you play it. Since people like to play games, why do not we let learners play games (e.g. cut the rope, League of Legends) in their learning process.
This picture’s shows that gamification promises to make more people use more App and studying, on a repeat basis. Here is a example to illustrate it:
Look, is it funny or not?
Conclusion
A great App for English-Learning is a perfect blend of product and teaching research. There are three key points I’d like to say it again:
- Words and pictures should be presented together because the reality is that we are very visually oriented.
- Scene, scene, scene. Important things need to be mentioned at least three times. Word is meaningful only appeared in a scene and the memorable pictures that we not forget it.
- Game is changing the world. If we do not learn from games, somebody else will do it. The developers should attempt to add zombies or rabbits in their App at least. How hard it will be?
LastNever: what is name of the leaves in the surface plot?
