ISCA International Workshop on Speech and Language Technology in Education (SLaTE 2011) Venice, Italy August 24-26, 2011

Evaluation of a Mobile Language Learning System Using Language-Neutral Prompts

Nikos Tsourakis, Manny Rayner, Pierrette Bouillon

ISSCO/TIM/ETI, University of Geneva, Switzerland

We describe two versions of a prototype system for computer assisted language learning hosted on a mobile device. In both versions, the student is given prompts by the machine, which they then have to render in the L2. The two versions differ with respect to the modality of the prompt: one presents it as an L1-based text string, while the other one presents it in pictorial form. The two versions were tested on a group of 32 high school students as part of the Geneva University Student Week. Our findings suggest that male students found the pictorial version significantly easier to use, while female students preferred the text version.
Index Terms. mobile spoken language learning systems, gender differences in HCI, text vs. images in HCI

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Tsourakis, Nikos / Rayner, Manny / Bouillon, Pierrette (2011): "Evaluation of a mobile language learning system using language-neutral prompts", In SLaTE-2011, 77-80.