Language learning application development is a great idea since more and more people understand the necessity of foreign language learning and the value of its skills for further employment and future life. What’s more, the recent pandemic forced students to change their approaches to the learning process, so the use of apps in education will be one more benefit.
But how to create the best language learning software? Here is the step by step guide for beginners.
Come up With an Idea
Any promising application starts with an equally promising idea. What is the idea of your app? To come up with the one, let’s find out what are the learning language apps types:
- flashcards application. This app helps students to memorize new words by using flashcards.
- online tutoring apps. These solutions connect teachers with students, and as a rule, teachers are native speakers of the language learned.
- step by step language learning apps. With the help of this software, you may master the language step by step while studying at your own pace.
- dictionaries and translators. Sometimes dictionaries and translators come as features of all-inclusive language learning apps, however, there are standalone solutions as well.
- online test apps. These apps help with the evaluation of your foreign language reading, writing, and speaking skills.
- single or multi language learning apps. As the name implies, the app may contain materials for learning only one language or offer its users the widest choice possible.
Use this classification to come up with the idea for your future app.
Research the Market
After the idea appears in your mind, it’s time to test it to make sure that you are not going to waste your investments in app development. This process is called idea validation and it can be done with the help of economic research tools and methodologies. The main ones are PEST, SWOT, The Five Forces Analysis, and focus group research.
Each of the techniques allows you to get the right impression about the market you are going to enter, the specifics, pain points, and the expectations of your target users, as well as the existing solutions from your niche which are your direct competitors. Each of the insights obtained is essential for your development strategy.
For example, after the Babbel review, you will be able to highlight the strong and weak points of this app, as well as think about the ways to improve your own app to stay out of the competitors while perfectly matching your target audience needs.
Make the List of Essential Features
Now it’s time to think about the functions your language learners need to get the most positive experience from studying with your app. Basically, there are the following features:
- Log in/ Sign up
- Personal profile
- Language choice
- Learning modules
- Tests and quizzes
- Progress tracking and evaluations
- Translator and dictionary
- Social sharing
- Blog
Surely, the set of features will be specific depending on the application type and the uniqueness of your idea. However, you may use this set to come up with an MVP (a Minimum Viable Product that will be discussed further).
Think About the Design
Design is quite important for your language learning application. It should be convenient for your users while promoting the desire to learn. There should be no distracting elements, and each of the sections should be intuitively accessible.
As for the colors, choose clam shadows such as white, blue, green, or purple. The users should perceive your app as an educational but not an entertaining tool.
Decide on the Platform and Technologies
The choice of the platform and the technologies you will use in your development process significantly affect the final cost of your language learning app. Depending on the expectations of your target audience, you may create
- a native app for iOS and/or Android
- a web app, for example, in a form of a progressive web application
- a cross platform application that will work equally well regardless of the mobile platform.
The first option costs a lot and it makes sense if your users prefer a specific operating system or the share of Android and iOs users are equal. The second way is reasonable if you don’t want to follow the recommendations of app stores but want to provide your users with a lightweight app that will work even without an Internet connection. Cross-platform development would be a wise choice if the mobile experience is essential for you but your development budget is limited.
Get in Touch With a Reliable Vendor
Now, it’s time to find the software development company that will help you with the technical realization of your future solution. We kindly recommend picking those companies that already have experience in ed-tech solutions development and don’t hesitate to show those projects in their portfolios.
Also, pay attention to the location of the vendor. Cooperation with top American companies may be too costly for startups while outsourcing the project development to China or India is somewhat risky because of the mentality difference. Try to find the middle ground between price and quality. Also, the best option is when the mentality specifics of your developers and target users coincide at least partially – that will allow you to achieve the perfect match between your users’ expectations and the product delivered.
Create the First Prototype and Test It
So, after signing a partnership with your development vendor, you will have to direct your joint efforts to create the first prototype of your future solution. At this stage, it is better to test your prototype and ask potential users to evaluate the experience and share their opinion.
If everything is good with the prototype, it’s time to create an MVP. This is a kind of a demo of your future application, its simplified version that will contain only essential features. Then, you need to get in touch with your users one more time and ask them to test the real version of the app. After gaining their feedback, you may move on to creating the full-fledged solution adding the features that your target audience really needs.
Launch, Scale, and Support Your Solution
Even after the market launch, the work on your language learning app doesn’t end. Next, you will need to support and maintain it, as well as listen to the complaints (if any) and suggestions of your users. Make sure to take them into account when launching each new version of your app since the competition is too tight and you can’t let your users feel that their opinions don’t matter.
Conclusion
So, creating a language learning application is not as difficult as it may seem. Keep in mind two best practices to make your venture successful – you should always test before invest and have a reliable development vendor nearby. Following these core approaches to your solution creation, you will be able to come up with a really useful and demanded among the best language learning apps.
Please be advised that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog are solely that of the author or his/her sources and do not necessarily reflect those of English Forward. This includes, but is not limited to, third-party content contained on or accessible through the English Forward websites and web pages or sites displayed as search results or contained within a directory of links on the English Forward network.
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