Mobile application based on CCI standards to help children learn English as a foreign language

ABSTRACT

Many applications can be found on the Internet that are designed to help children learn English as a second language. However, it can be said that only a limited number of applications have been designed and developed by considering the important user interface design principles; these principles play an important role in mobile application design aimed at children. The main aim of this study is to develop an educational application running on a mobile phone based on the user interface design principles, particularly CCI standards together with the use of text-to-speech and voice recognition engines that will help children learn English as a foreign language. A survey was conducted in order to determine the opinions of 37 randomly selected volunteer educational technology experts and 10 randomly selected volunteer children. The opinions of a group of children showed that they were happy to use the developed application. Furthermore, it can be said that the mobile application achieved its aims in teaching English as a foreign language with the CCI standards and that the application is suitable as an educational tool. The application developed by the researchers will be beneficial for those who wish to develop Android-based educational applications for children based on CCI standards.

KEYWORDS:

• CCI standards
• text-to-speech engine
• voice recognition engine
• children
• teaching English
• mobile learning
• foreign language

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge and thank all those who spent their valuable time by participating in this study and by helping to evaluate the results of the developed mobile application. Also, the authors would like to thank to all the experts who have provided assistance during this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raghad Baker Sadiq

Miss Raghad Baker has obtained the Degree of Master of Science from the Department of Computer Information Systems of the Near East University. She is currently working at the University of Information Technology and Communications in Iraq.

Nadire Cavus

Prof Dr Nadire Cavus has graduated with the degree of PhD from the Near East University in Cyprus. She is currently the Chairperson of the department of Computer Information Systems at the Near East University.

Dogan Ibrahim

Prof Dr Dogan Ibrahim has graduated with the degree of PHD from the City University in London. He is currently a lecturer and a researcher at the Computer Information Systems department of the Near East University.