My Framer Site

"LEX" aims to help international students overcome language barriers by offering a supportive learning experience.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

My Role

UX researcher/designer
UI designer

Duration

09/2022-10/2022

Responsibilities

User research, wireframing, prototyping, usability test

THINK ABOUT IT

Starting from language barrier...

As an International student, I suffered from low self-esteem, feeling of uncomfortable, or even fear to speak up in class and teamwork. Since I was afraid of being misunderstood or judged, and I know language barriers do not allow all the student to meet their full potential in academic performance.

Is it just me? Not really...

I conducted a survey with 77 participants to validated the unhappy experience of settling down in an English-speaking environment.
The newer the student, the more they suffer from it.
There is a gap between English proficiency test vs. using English on a daily base.

How helpful the English Proficiency Tests are?

More than half of the response showed proficiency test is not that helpful

Onboarding experience to English environment

The first 3 years tend to be the most tough year for newcomers

Dive deeper to root problems

I conducted qualitative user research through interviewing with 9 international students, and 5 WHY approach is used to identify the root cause of the problem and how international students are dealing with language barriers.

Analyzing Language Acquisition Challenges and Strategies via card sorting

The essential challenge in overcoming language barriers is the complex combination of limited linguistic equivalence, cultural differences, and the psychological impact of fear of judgment, making it a multifaceted issue that extends beyond simple language acquisition.

🙋

LET’S FIND OUT!

HMW support new international student to overcome linguistic, cultural, and psychological barriers in a new language environemnt?

Existing Solutions - WHAT and HOW users are solving the problems?

I identified the tools that students are using to learn English from the interview to understand how international students are trying to solve the problem.

Here’s what I can do.

📀

A solution help with adaptation culturally.

Language barrier rooted deeply in culture.

💡

We need Cultural Immersion Module!

🛟

A safe environment for practicing.

Decrease the fear of judgement.

🤖

What about AI-Assisted Language Coaching?

💬

In support of all aspects of using English

To comprehensively use the language in different ways.

🤔

We probably need support of all aspects of using English!

LET’S MAKE IT!

Wireframing and Prototyping with features

To Find out:

1. Are the main features easy to use?

2. Is the interacting experience with chatbot pleasing?

3. Any feature/buttons can be easily missed by users?

Conclusion

Feature Recognition and navigation:

Discrepancy in recognizing highlighted features.

Varied understanding of feature purposes.

"More info" resources often missed by users.

Overall User Experience and Preferences:

Diverse opinions on product intuitiveness.

Confusion over chatbot vs. user-generated content.

Usability Test——A usability test revealed how learners truly interact with LEX!

4 / 5 participants didn't find the first highlight in the conversation bubble, so the highlight is changed to motion.
3 / 5 subjects ignored the text in input box, and pressed on the microphone button thinking it is required for recording. So I enlarged the button, also changed based on users' behavior of pressing to speak.
Almost all users mentioned the interface seemed to be text heavy, so I changed the interaction to hover to see introduction.