What really makes students like a web site What are the implications for designers of language learn

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What really makes students like a web site?What
are the implications for designers of language
learning sites?

• Jane Hughes, Claire McAvinia, Terry King
• Department of Education Professional
  Development
• University College London
• jane.hughes_at_ucl.ac.uk c.mcavinia_at_ucl.ac.uk
  terry.king_at_ucl.ac.uk

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Overview of Presentation

• Context/background
• ATLAS project (Arousing a Taste for Languages at
  school)
• Description of work done
• Findings and possible implications
• Discussion and questions

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A levels and first degree take-up in MFLs in UK

• Good news or bad news?
• A level and first degree take-up
• pre-Curriculum 2000
• Post-Curriculum 2000
• Future unclear

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Research Questions, Project Aims

• ATLAS addresses decline in language study
• Focus on school students (14-19)
• Research attitudes, perceptions, experiences
• Aim to motivate, create interest, enthusiasm
• Less widely taught languages fresh start
• Web-based tasters
• Teachers develop with web designer
• Language element but not beginners courses
• Key points interest, enjoyment, motivation

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Outline of Research

• Questionnaire 687 14-19 year olds, 9 schools
• Covers language learning experience, opinions,
  perceptions
• Asked to identify a web site they liked
• Asked to give a reason for liking it
• Focus group follow-up (Year 12 and Year 10/11)
• Analysis categorised and identified themes
• Students and teachers gave feedback on new taster
  web site
• Online (students) face-to-face (teachers)

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Problems Arising

• Anticipated problems with questionnaire
• Identifying web sites not a problem
• Joke responses a small number
• Interpreting non-responses for discussion
• Categorising reasons
• Some unspecific praise its good
• Sometimes needed to refer to the chosen site in
  order to categorise the reason its
  interesting
• Context may have influenced responses
• First focus group less successful than second

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Questionnaire range of sites

• Search engines eg. Google, Yahoo
• Academic support sites eg GCSE Bitesize
• Enthusiasms eg. music, sport, ornithology
• Heritage eg Armenian culture, Indian dance
• Magazine sites eg BBC, Urban75
• Games to play and download
• Shopping eg fashion, unusual items
• Communication email, chat, text msgs

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Reasons given for liking sites
Humour?
Support for study?
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Focus groups - more detail

• Lots of text off-putting (unanimous)
• It was not quantity but arrangement of text that
  mattered
• small blocks, clearly headlined,separated
• students wanted to scan, not read
• searching the web page
• They liked lots of links
• but wanted to know, before clicking on them, what
  they would find
• This may explain why these two sites were
  nominated, despite having lots of text . . .

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BBC
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Urban75
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Appearance

• Colours and pictures
• Students are sensitive readers of these
• Eye-catching but not too in-your-face
• Can colours be patronising?
• Cartoons vs photographs? Space ships and
  monsters?
• Layout
• Simplicity and lack of clutter valued
• One reason for liking Google more than Yahoo

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BBC
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Bitesize revision site
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Dislikes

• Things that mess up your eyes
• backgrounds, blinking, flashing
• Annoying sounds, or music that can not be turned
  off
• Having to download helper applications
• Flash and Acrobat Reader mentioned
• It doesnt have to be all flash

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Design questions

• No gimmicks but how to avoid patronising
  design?
• How much material in one place? How best to
  manage text and links?
• Unusual subject matter a strength but could still
  include music, sport, fashion how best to
  present this?
• Reflecting teachers interests, design ideas
• Whether/how to include a gaming aspect?
• Would our design align us with particular sites
  that students liked/disliked?

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ATLAS taster site - homepage
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Russian taster homepage
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Danish taster - homepage
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Russian Alphabet exercise
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Hot Potatoes for Danish
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Hot Potatoes for Polish
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Initial feedback from students

• MORE of everything
• Interactions, pictures, information
• Most liked the look of the site
• Colour again was cited often
• Most liked the map but not the space round it
• Wanted pictures of people
• Usability enhancement needed
• Clearer menus
• More obvious links and headings
• Possibly site map, drop-down menus

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Possible areas for discussion

• Web and visual literacy
• huge range and changing
• How can we take account of the speed of change in
  this area?
• What are student bringing to their reading of web
  pages?
• Is this kind of information something that
  language teachers need to know?
• Or is it up to technical staff or VLE designers
  to provide templates?

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Future work

• Taster site to be developed further, responding
  to the feedback from students and teachers
• Pilot use in schools, November-December 2003
• Complete site in all partner schools, January
  2004
• Site publicly available

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Thanks to the following

• All the students who took part in the survey.
• The school language teachers who helped with the
  survey and gave us feedback on the web site.
• The UCL language teachers who developed the
  Taster courses. They are from the School of
  Slavonic and East European Studies, the
  Department of Scandinavian Studies and the
  Language Centre.

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ATLAS - A Taste for Languages at School

• Partner Schools
• Ashcombe School, Surrey
• City and Islington College, London
• Cranford Community College, Hounslow
• Elliott School, London
• Haverstock School, London
• Haydon School, Pinner
• Parliament Hill School, London
• Weald of Kent Grammar School for Girls, Kent
• William Ellis School, London

• The ATLAS project is funded by
• The Nuffield Foundation
• CfBT Research Development
• UCL