Localized Iterative Design for Language Learning in Underdeveloped Regions: The PACE Framework

1
Localized Iterative Design for Language Learning
in Underdeveloped Regions The PACE Framework

• Matthew Kam
• Divya Ramachandran
• Varun Devanathan
• John Canny
• Berkeley Institute of Design
• Computer Science Division
• University of California, Berkeley
• Anuj Tewari
• Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of
• Information Communication
• Technology (India)

CHI 2007San Jose, CA
2
Relevance of English as a Second Language (ESL)
in India

• English is a global language 1.2 to 1.5 billion
  people in gt170 countries (Crystal 1997)
• ESL is taught in almost all schools in India
• Mastery of English is the single most
  influential factor that determines access to
  important avenues of economic and social
  advancement (Kishwar 2005)
• 90 of indigenous web content in India is in
  English

3
World Language Fluency

• Low-income populations in Africa, Asia and Latin
  America desire to improve command of an
  appropriate world language (Clegg, Ogange
  Rodseth 2003 Faust Nagar 2001 Kapadia 2005)
• Widely spoken language, e.g. English, Mandarin,
  Spanish, etc.
• Regional dialect is not necessarily native
  language for low-income groups
• World language fluency opens the door to
  further education, New Economy jobs, higher
  incomes, social prestige, etc.

4
Schools Fail at World Languages

• Schools in developing countries have limited
  impact
• For example, in India
• Rural ESL teachers communicated with us through
  interpreters
• 43 to 61 of school-going-age children do not
  attend school regularly (Azim Premji Foundation
  2004)

5
Our Envisioned Solution

• Mobile games that target learning anytime,
  anywhere
• Make ESL learning resources more accessible
• Make learning process more enjoyable
• Run on cellphones, the fastest growing technology
  platform in the developing world
• Target local language learning needs

6
Case for e-Learning Games

• Enhance motivation and learning (Jenkins 2005)
• Incorporate good learning principles (Gee 2003)
• Prior randomized experiment (Banerjee et al.
  2005)
• 2 years, gt10,000 urban slums students in India
• Played math computer games
• twice per week
• Significant gains in math test scores

7
Central Question

• How can we promote reuse when localizing language
  learning software applications with communities
  in the developing world?
• Recurrent challenges
• Limited time for iterative design in the field
• Wide disparity in age, etc. for each literacy
  level
• Limited exposure to high technology

8
Related Work Localization

• Adapting software for a local context involves
  two steps
• Internationalization
• Localization
• Previous work have mostly focused on the
  user-interface, not content (e.g. Marcus and
  Gould 2000, Smith et al. 2004, Yeo 2001)

9
Design Pattern

• Template solution to previous problem
• For ESL learning task, a design pattern is the
  steps that learner engages in to develop language
  skills
• Benefits
• Represent solutions to frequent problems in
  skeletal form
• Encourages reuse, avoids reinventing the wheel

10
Example Learning Activity (from Rosetta Stone)

• Word-picture matching activity
• Targets vocabulary building and listening
  comprehension
• Teaches four words
• Highlights each picture as its word is played
  aloud
• Then tests learner

11
Example Pattern

• Pattern name Oral Word ? Semantics Association
• Focus vocabulary building, listening
  comprehension
• Solution (Suppose X4, i.e. teach 4 words per
  round)
• Repeat step 1 for X times
• 1. Says a word and displays its meaning
  pictorially
• Repeat steps 2-3 for X times
• 2. Displays one of the X words from step 1
• 3. Give learner at least X pictures to choose
  from, and feedback on whether or not his
  choice was correct

12
Related Work Design Patterns

• Patterns have not been used in instructional
  design for language learning nor software
  localization
• Have been used in
• Urban planning and architecture (Alexander 1977)
• Software engineering (Gamma et al. 1995 aka Gang
  of 4)
• Interaction design (Borchers 2001)
• Website design (Van Duyne et al. 2002)
• Computer science education (Bergin)

13
PACE Framework

• The four components of PACE framework
• Pattern
• Activity
• Curriculum
• Exercise
• Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
• Modular design and reuse
• Localize only those parts that need changing

14
Early Lessons (Spring 2006)

• Worked on over 30 ESL learning games
• Introduced patterns after finishing initial
  designs
• Initial lessons
• Use patterns as a generative design tool, not
  in formulaic manner
• Facilitate iteration on user-interfaces and
  curriculum by keeping them separate

Pattern ? ? ? ? ? Exercise on cellphone
15
On to Round 2! (Summer 2006)

• Distilled gt50 patterns
• Shortlisted 11 patterns for language beginners
• Letter-sound correspondences (reading and writing
  skills)
• Word-meaning associations (listening and reading
  skills)
• Pronunciation (speaking skills)
• Syllable segmentation (reading skills)
• Consulted ESL teacher with teaching experience in
  rural Central America on these patterns

PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
16
Sample of Commercial Packages

• Reviewed gt35 language learning applications from
  commercial market
• Sample was selected based on proxy indicators
• Professional customer base
• Excellent ratings from previous purchasers on
  e-commerce, home schooling, etc. websites
• Selected for balance between listening, reading,
  speaking and writing skills

PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
17
Approach to Extracting Patterns

• Theory
• First language acquisition for children (Bruner
  1983)
• Second language acquisition for children adults
  (Bialystok Hakuta 1994, Krashen 2003)
• Reading acquisition (Snowling Hulme 2005)
• Practice
• ESL teaching methods (Krashen Terrell 1983,
  Larsen-Freeman 2000)

PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
18
Learning Activities

• The computer-mediated activity and its
  user-interface
• Concrete instantiation of an (abstract) design
  pattern
• Designed 9 learning activities based on the 11
  shortlisted patterns
• Design goals
• Learnability
• Fun and engagement (Malone 1980)

PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
19
Curriculum

• Syllabus that learner is supposed to learn
• Alphabet and context-specific vocabulary
• Scenarios for school, nature, traveling
  shopping
• Numbers, dates and time
• Images from clipart libraries were edited for
  cultural appropriateness
• Audio voiceovers recorded with Indian accent

PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
20
Exercises

• Exercise Activity Curriculum
• Implemented 6 learning activities to be piloted
  in Uttar Pradesh, India in late Summer 2006

Grapheme?Grapheme correspondence
Syllable segmentation
Grapheme?Phoneme correspondence
Semantic?Word correspondence
PACE Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise
21
Summary Our PACE Process

• Localized highly-rated commercial language
  learning packages for an underserved community
• Pattern ? Activity ? Curriculum ? Exercise

word-picturematching oncellphones
Stop

Pattern name Oral Word ? Semantics
Association Focus vocabulary building,
listening comprehension Solution (Suppose X4,
i.e. teach 4 words per round) Repeat step 1 for
X times 1. Says a word and displays its meaning
pictorially Repeat steps 2-3 for X times 2.
Displays one of the X words from step 1 3. Give
learner at least X pictures to choose from, and
feedback on whether or not his choice was correct
Conductor
22
Iterative Design in the Field

• India afternoon school for urban slums girls
• Kindergarten and 1st grade students (14 girls)
• ESL baseline some knowledge of alphabet
• Played 6 exercises over 3 days
• 6th grade students (11 girls)
• ESL baseline simple sight vocabulary and basic
  conversational greetings
• Played 12 exercises over 5 days
• No prior cellphone experience

23
Benefits Multiple Age Groups

• Reused the same curriculum for younger learners

• Learning activity for kindergarten children
• Learning activity for older children
• Learning activity for adults

A, E, I, O, U
Cluster of English alphabet (e.g. vowels)
?
One curriculum for many activities
24
Benefits Comprehensive Suite

• Reuse the same curriculum for multiple learning
  needs, after extensive iteration

• Learning activity for spelling
• Learning activity for listening comprehension
• Learning activity for pronunciation practice

Vocabulary for travel-related words
One curriculum for many activities
25
Benefits Learnability

• Reused the same learning activity for multiple
  curricula, to promote learnability

• Vocabulary for travel-related words
• Vocabulary for shopping-related words
• Vocabulary for other functional categories

Learning activity for word-picture association
One activity for many curricula
26
Positive Outcomes Learning

• PACE permitted rapid iterative design in the
  field
• User acceptance issues ironed out in time
• Kindergarten and 1st grade students
• Most completed 2 or 3 exercises, out of 3
• 6th grade students
• Post-test vocabulary gains (p lt 0.001, effect
  size 1.16, n 11)
• Transfer to story-writing domain

27
Conclusion

• Design patterns
• Capture best practices (internationalization)
• Facilitate adaptation to local contexts
  (localization)
• Yield positive learning outcomes
• PACE framework facilitates
• Rapid iterative design in the field
• Flexibility for differences in age groups and
  learner levels
• Reuse, learnability and scalability

28
Acknowledgement

• Local community partners (India)
• Urvashi Sahni, Pratim Basu, Siddharth Bhagwani
• Colleagues
• Ruth Alexander, Asya Grigorieva, Dimas Guardado,
  Jeffrey Heer, Kristopher Hom, Maksim Lirov,
  Aaron McKee, Anand Raghavan, Priyanka Reddy,
  Aretha Samuel, Monish Subherwal, Susan Woolley
• Anonymous reviewers and Associate Chairs
• National Science Foundation (Grant No. 0326582)
• Microsoft Research (Digital Inclusion award)
• Intel Undergraduate Research Program