GenGO! - theConnorChannel

What is GenGO!?

GenGO! is a mobile language learning application built in Android Studio (Java) for my Mobile User Interfaces class at York University.

The app features 4 distinct interaction methods which users can choose from to study with.

Tapping: users simply recall the English definition of the word displayed and self assess their answer.
Typing: users type in the English definition of the displayed word.
Voice: users speak the English definition of the displayed word.
Dragging: users drag the displayed word to the corresponding English definition on the screen.

GenGO! Fun Fact:

GenGO! comes from the Japanese word 言語 (Gengo) which translates to the word "language" in English.

I thought that it would be clever to make this the name since the app is all about learning languages and you can do it on the go since its a mobile app (see what I did there?).

The Goal:

The overall goal of the project was actually to do a research study on some aspect of mobile user interface interactions.

As someone who had recently gone through the struggle of trying to learn a new language during my exchange year, I thought that it would be a cool idea to try and find the optimal interaction method for language learning.

I designed my study to measure pre-test and post-test scores of participants who were using the app to study in order to compare the differences in test scores between interaction methods

I had finally laid out my initial hypothesis: study methods that involve more interaction will also yield a larger difference in pre-test and post-test scores.

The Results:

Shockingly, the interaction method that was percieved as the "least interactive" (Tapping) resulted in 27.6% higher test scores than the one that was percieved as "most interactive" (Dragging).

I think that the main reason for this is because with the more interactive methods, the user's focus is more split on different things. In the specific case of the Dragging interaction method, users need to read the word, find the word among the 15 buckets at the bottom of the screen, drag it to that spot and be prepared to see very short, instantaneous feedback. This can be a lot to take in and harms the user's ability to actually focus and memorise the material.

Whats Next?

GenGO! is still a work in progress, so these results will be used to inform further development of the app.

I think that it would be cool to one day release it on the Google Play Store and see it get some real traction.

For now however, a link to the GitHub repo will have to suffice.

Thanks for checking out GenGO!

PS, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.