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Overview

It may be difficult to learn another language and yet people learn faster and/or more in depth than others. We’re going to explore if relationships along with motivation has a significant impact on participants to discover optimal methods for language acquisition.

Research Plan

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Goals & Objectives

Based on my previous findings from my interviews. This study is to investigate….

Is there a correlation between the participants language proficiency and relationship with a native speaker?

Does the most proficient participants have a relationship with a native speaker and if so what kind of relationship is it?

Is there a correlation between a participants language proficiency and ability to read or write in that target language?

Can the participant read or write in their target language?

What are the language learners motivations and goals?

Is the user interested in relationships, career opportunities or both?

Has the users used digital products to learn their target language?

What is the primary use of that digital product? (podcast, interactive app, music or movies)

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Methodology & Participants

Methodology

Survey participants who speaks another language on Mechanical Turk. Also, to find possible participants to interview in the future.

Participants

20 + participants
Speaks 2 or more languages with one of the additional languages being a level 1 on the ILR scale or higher.
Native language can be a Germanic language, romantic language or a tonal language.

Survey

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Recruitment & Screening

Recruitment

Participants will be found using Mechanical Turk they were paid $1.50 to participate in a 4 minute study. Screening will occur with the first question in regards how many languages does the participant speak. User will be asked if they want to be contacted further for an interview.

Screening

How many languages do you speak?

If participants answer one language then the survey will be complete
If participants answer two or more languages then user will move on to complete survey

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Participants

Participants are in chronological order.

Participant details

Total number of Participants: 33

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Questions

How many languages do you speak?
This question will help me screen the participants. It’ll help me determine if the user speaks another language to qualify for the survey. If the participant chooses a the survey will end.
How proficient are you in speaking your secondary language?
This question will help get an idea of the level of the participants language proficiency in his/her second language. This is important to see if there is a pattern amongst basic - native like speakers
How proficient are you in reading your secondary language?
This question will help get an idea of the level of the participants language proficiency in his/her second language. This is important to see if there is a pattern amongst basic - native like speakers
How proficient are you in writing your secondary language?
This will give me a general idea of the participant is in writing in another language. It’s important to know the many aspects of their proficiency to gauge where they may be in their language proficiency level.
What was your motivation to learn a secondary language?
My previous interview research I saw that their may be a relationship between relationship with native speakers and opportunities that gave people the drive to learn the language but also it helped show if they were to still continue to learn that language.

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Questions

Have you used any digital products to learn a secondary language?
This will help get a sense of the participants journey to their proficiency level. Also, this is important to have an idea of possible deliverable to potential customers.
What kind of relationship do you have with native speakers of your secondary language?
From previous interview research I may have found a correlation between relationships and proficiency. Vocabulary about subject matter was related to relationship if participant did not know how to read in the secondary language. I want to further explore this to see if there is a pattern.
What do you think about a language Certificate?
This is to get a good gauge to see what participants feel about certification and whether they think high enough about it to potentially pay for certification.
What languages do you speak?
This question will determine the type of language the participant’s speak which will help identify the particular challenges acquiring that language proficiency.
Would you liked to be contacted for a paid interview?
Using the strategy to find more insight from participants.Interviewing participants may determine whether or not the pattern holds true of the users second language proficiency.

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Challenges

25.7% of users were screened out from the survey because they spoke 1 language

2 participants tried to retake the survey by changing the number of languages spoken from 1 to 2.

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Findings

Motivation for opportunities in career advancement and communicating with family then friends were the top motivators to learn a target language.

7 out of 33 participants may speak like a native 6 of the 7 native like speaker’s motivation were from a relationships or has some sort of relationship with a native speaker.

Most of the participants use digital products. 57% participants used interactive language learning apps, 46% watched videos and 42% read books.

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Findings

71% of the participants that speak like a native speakers used digital products by listening to music, podcasts or movies. The remaining native speaking participants learned from friends and family.

70% of participants thought positively of getting a certificate.

71% of native like speakers can read like a native speaker.

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Recommendations

When designing a language learning app consider harnessing an environment where native speakers can communicate and build strong relationships with others in their target language groups.

Give users the ability to add and invite friends and family to the app.

Create an interactive app that has interactive video lessons and include music from the target language and also provide reading material.

Provide certification that can shows a potential employer a users language proficiency. You may provide a live digital certificate that shows the users time spent learning online with a proficiency level.

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Recommendations

I’ve found a pattern of relationships and opportunities may help people become native like speakers over time. The next steps would be to follow up interviews that addresses these key questions or add these questions to see if the pattern repeats itself in a larger sample.

How much time did it take for the participants to reach proficiency using their methods.

What is the participants first language

Is the participant still learning their second language