Learn Tagalog Fast

In 2020, my four month stay at On-Off Group was my first introduction to the working life and it was an experience which solidified my desire to delve into the UX field. As interns, we were given ownership over an actual client UX Research project which was the Learn Tagalog Fast (LTF) company with their new app.

The app went over two iterations in which we conducted for the company. Due to a Non-disclosure agreement, findings from the research are data I cannot fully express in this portfolio. But to summarize, we conducted the research in such a manner:

1. Create a research plan

To start the project, we needed objectives. Objectives are important because I always need something to go back to and re-align with. The objectives presented in the research plan were grouped into two categories:

Along with the objectives, we also had the following methodologies for the research: User Interviews, Usability Tests, Affinity Mapping, Persona Creation, User Journey Mapping, and SUS Questionnaires

  • How might we encourage user progression in the app as ways to increase revenue?
    - How might we increase subscriptions for the app?
    - How might we create customer loyalty and encourage users to take online classes with LTF?

  • Gather user feedback for the app
    - Identify areas of fallout in the LTF app
    - Identify the short-term goals & long-term goals of users
    - Measure satisfaction of app content and design

2. Recruitment Process

As the company did not have personas for the users of their app, there was much freedom in recruitment screening as participants would should have at least one of the following qualifications:

  • Does not have Tagalog as their first language
  • Can understand and speak minimal to no Tagalog
  • Is currently trying to learn Tagalog
  • Is a foreigner currently residing in the Philippines

Recruitment was done through LTF's referral as well as advertising on social media in a span of a week. Six (6) participants were gathered for the research.

3. Creation of Discussion Guide

During the recruitment process, discussion guides for the User Interview and UTs were made. Discussion Guides serve as my script when conducting interviews and is divided into different parts:

  • Demographics such as age, name, and occupation
  • Socio-cultural questions such as place of residence, place of birth, visitations to the Philippines, etc.
  • Small talk and getting-to-know-you questions ("What does a day in your week look like right now?")
  • Experiences in Tagalog ("What was your first experience with Tagalog like?" or "Can you recall a significant experience with Tagalog?"
  • Tagalog Education ("Where did you learn Tagalog?" "How was the experience?")
  • Motivations for speaking Tagalog ("At the top of your head, what made you interested in learning Tagalog?" "What makes learning Tagalog so important for you?")
  • Short-term goals for learning Tagalog ("As a Tagalog student, what do you hope to achieve in 3-5 months?")
  • Long-term goals for learning Tagalog ("As a Tagalog student, what do you hope to achieve in 1-2 years?")
  • Language learning apps they've used and their experiences with such apps (if any)
  • Thoughts and initial impressions about using an app for language learning
  • Expectations for the LTF App
  • Participants would be guided by task scenarios and have user tasks based on these scenarios, accompanying relevant questions and guides about their thoughts and experiences with each task:
  • Task 1: Open the app
  • Task 2: Learn 1 Lesson
  • Task 3: Take the Quiz
  • Participants would be guided by task scenarios and have user tasks based on these scenarios, accompanying relevant questions and guides about their thoughts and experiences with each task:
  • Overall Rating of the app over 4
  • Overall impression of the app
  • Anything surprising they find about the app
  • Anything missing they would like to see on the app?
  • What is the feature they liked best?
  • What is the feature they liked the least?
  • Their reactions to the subscription and pricing vs their expected pricing
  • Suggested improvements they can see

4. Usability Test + Interview

The User Interviews and UTs were conducted through Lookback. Prior to the test, participants were onboarded and guided with navigating Lookback two days prior to their scheduled session. There were also cases of technical difficulties in which Lookback did not work for the participant, hence, Google Meets was used as back-up for the sessions with participants having to share their screen.

Throughout the sessions, my fellow intern served as a note-taker for the session. Only important notes and verbatim comments were collected and were typed in our Miro board.

Interview transcripts via Miro

5. Affinity Mapping, Persona Creation & User Journey Mapping

In the same Miro board, my fellow intern and I conducted affinity mapping with the notes and grouped them based on the flow of the discussion guide.

Based on the data, we surmised 2 different types of Personas for the LTF app and were based on How Learners and Why Learners. With How learners being beginners to the language, who frequently ask questions like "How do I say this? How do I spell this?". Meanwhile, Why learners are those who identify themselves as intermediate learners who are delving more into the theory of how words and sentences are constructed.

The personas were also created through the use of Miro:

User Journey Maps were also created based on the findings from the UTs as well as the personas and were also created in Miro: