Bridging CALL & HCI: Input from participatory design

Abstract

Participatory design (PD), or the collaboration between software engineers and end users throughout the design process, may help improve CALL design practices. In this case study, four ESL learners, a software designer, and a language teacher created and evaluated a series of paper prototypes concerning help options in computer-based second language listening environments in four 1-hour sessions. Qualitative data was analyzed to produce themes that included location, sequence, type, and click-through. The paper concludes by discussing how PD was incorporated in the project, the results of this integration, and suggestions for future implementations in CALL.