Tools for supporting English language learning in the family context

Abstract

This thesis explores how we can help parents learn English through peer-learning experiences with their children. I discuss the design and study of the learning experience facilitated by "Read Out Loud," a mobile application that supports parents who are learning English as they read storybooks with their children. The mobile application and the context of its use provide a new interface to language learning tools such as text-to-speech, word translation, and shared-reading prompts. The thesis develops a set of design and user-testing guidelines that creates affordances for parents who are learning English. It builds on an iterative design process that includes two user studies of parents using the Read Out Loud application while reading with their children. Through observation and interviews, I investigate how technologies like Read Out Loud can be designed to motivate and augment the family reading experience and how familial factors may influence a parent's use of and interaction with the technology.