Evaluation of Hypermedia Tools in Terms of Usability Heuristics for English Language Teaching

Abstract

The technology-assisted teaching and learning process has seen a spurt in growth in the last two decades. The education technology field has rapidly embraced new tools and techniques to enhance the student learning experience. With the evolution of multimedia elements such as digital images, audio, video, graphics, and animation, the learning supported by technology has made learning flexible and accessible in terms of time and place. With Wi-Fi enabled campuses, it is much easier for students to learn using their smart devices enabled by hypermedia content. Hypermedia, also known as active media, is the multimedia content that brings in interactivity, where the user can interact with the system, rather than viewing the content in passive mode. This helps in generating a dialogue between the system and user, sustaining user interest. Some examples of hypermedia are interactive quizzes, games, interactive videos, etc. This study aims to investigate and evaluate four interactive tools, namely FluentU, Duolingo, Livemocha, and Hello English, which are designed for language learning. A qualitative assessment of the applications, including a review of past literature on language learning using tools, was undertaken. The expert evaluation or assessment was done using Jakob Nielsen’s ten heuristics or design guidelines. The objective was to compare the applications by measuring their usability against the standard heuristics. The goal of any usability study is user satisfaction. Through this interface evaluation, the researchers have concluded for designers that could be considered during future development of hypermedia-based tools.