A La Recherche d'un Emploi

Review by Dominique H�mard, London Guildhall University, November 1997

Authors: Universit� Blaise Pascal, Clermont II; Universit� d’Auvergne, Clermont I.

Distributors (France): CLE International, 27 rue de la Glaci�re, 75013 Paris, France Tel: (33) 1 45 87 44 00, Fax: (33) 1 45 87 44 10, email [email protected]
Distributors (UK): Talkfast International Ltd, London House, 243 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2LS, UK Tel: (44) 181 948 1011, Fax (44) 181 948 3900; Email: [email protected], URL: http://www.talkfast.com

Minimum requirements as stated by the manufacturer: IBM or compatible PC 486, 66MHz (type: DX2-66) , 8MB RAM, Windows 3.1 with Video For Windows (VFW 1.1 is provided with software if not already installed), a 16 bit sound card (SoundBlaster), a twin speed CD-ROM drive, a VGA monitor.

Recommended requirements: Pentium 75, 16MB RAM with graphic card supporting 65 536 colours.

Price (CLE International): Single licence 450,00 FF; site licence (10 copies): 3000,00 FF
Price (Talkfast International Ltd): Single licence �40.00 + VAT

Reviewed on Pentium 120, 24MB RAM, eight speed CD-ROM drive, graphic, sound, video cards, 256 colour screen.

Description of Software

The software package provided consisted of a CD-ROM with its accompanying two-page cover jacket including succinct sections on General Presentation, Configuration, Installation Instructions and Potential Problems.

Intended Use / Area of Application

A la Recherche d’un Emploi (ARE) is presented as a hypermedia application, supporting autonomous learning, for intermediate / advanced learners of French. The minimum level of language proficiency is expected to be on a par with the first degree level of DEFL (International Diploma of Elementary French Language). It is designed to promote and stimulate both communicative competence and the use of the language for specific purposes.

Through 33 different activities, allowing users to identify with two job seekers and carry out various tasks, ARE claims to offer more than 25 hours of interactive language practice including 30 minutes of video. The user interaction, conducted entirely in French, comprises recording facilities, simulations and access to referential information such as culture, vocabulary, grammar.

Ease of Use

Installation: clear instructions are provided for a full installation presented in three stages: installation, configuration and accessing introductory window.

ARE is functionally easy to use. As a Windows-based application, it presents a standardised, coherent and consistent user interface whose control mechanisms are easily recognisable and applicable. Additionally, an on-line help is displayed in the form of Instructions for context-specific advice and Aide for a full graphical explanation of the functionality of the interface.

Users are provided with screen-based menus at unit and activity levels enabling them to access relevant parts of the interactive language practice section of the system (subsequently referred to as task section). Scanning over these menus displays further information in the form of pop-up boxes indicating objectives or suggested resources and activities. To facilitate navigation through the underlying hierarchical structure of the task section, users can activate back and forth arrows, a dedicated arrow to take them back to the menu of the activity concerned and a special button to go back to the main menu of the application. Finally, the interface is designed to clearly accommodate both the language material in the task section as well as the additional activity-related resources situated at the bottom of the screen (subsequently referred to as reference section). The switch from the reference to the task section is made easier by a special retour � l’activit� button which when activated takes users back to where they were, prior to their investigation.

Screen Layout

The screen layout is functional and uncluttered. It is divided into three clearly defined areas. Typically, the top area across the screen comprises the title and reference boxes of the displayed window on the left and Instructions and Aide on the right. By contrast, the additional on-line database of the reference section including Culture, Fonctions, Grammaire, Lexique, Bloc notes, Suivi are grouped together at the bottom left of the screen, whilst the navigational functions are grouped at the bottom right. Finally, the third, central and larger area of the screen is dedicated to the task section.

Colours are used relatively sparingly. Colour schemes are applied to enhance the visual effect and presentation of the display as in the introductory frames, exercise and reference modes, with the help of coloured pictures, graphics and charts. Furthermore, they are used to highlight the functionality of the application with titles of units and activities as well as arrows changing colour when activated or when enabled. Therefore, colours are not perceived as permanent features of the interface but more as a means of emphasising or contrasting specific aspects of its display or important items against a standard Windows-based grey background.

Sound is similarly, although peripherally, integrated into the screen layout with introductory audio-presentation of new frames, be they menus, activities, videos or exercises.

Exploiting standard Windows-based practices, the screen layout designed for exercises often uses conventional text boxes with scrolling facilities, identified hotwords and pop-up messages.

Finally, great care seems to have been put into the design of the reference section. Aside from the extensive use of coloured charts and graphics in presenting the information in Culture, Fonctions and Lexique, the display of linguistic information in the lexicon is further enhanced by its novel use of lexical networks showing semantic fields.

User Interaction

The purpose of the user interaction is to further develop learners’ language proficiency in oral and written French, on the basis of the constructive learning approach, through a contextualised and personalised interaction in the target language supported by problem solving goals. Therefore, users are immersed into a ‘real-life’ environment through their identification with two job seekers and encouraged to engage in solving problems linked to their particular predicament. At the root of this approach is the notion that learners will interactively and constructively seek, exploit and internalise the required linguistic data within the remit of selected activities supported by associated resources, and thus improve their knowledge of and general competence in the given foreign language.

From such a pedagogical premise, activities and sub-activities are carefully sequenced so as to elicit the fullest response from users. This is particularly the case for the organisation of video-based activities which sequentially present combinations of filmic material and text followed by graded comprehension tests related to the content of the video. Activities are thus designed to encourage users to progress through pre-defined task-based interaction.

A typical user interaction would expect users to initially access their own files and personalised note book, so as to build on previous performances, and then to identify and select a unit and an activity within the unit on the basis of its linguistic appeal and / or unexplored content. Additional information related to structural orientation or providing context-based advice could be usefully found by clicking on the reference buttons Suivi or Instructions respectively. When interacting with exercises, the meaning of words can generally be traced directly if they are themselves computed as hotwords, or indirectly in the Lexicon.

Feedback from exercises is provided by means of a Correction button which can be triggered when the activity has been attempted or simply abandoned. Users can easily come out of an activity to go into another one keeping a tab of the performance trail by looking at the hierarchical structure in Suivi.

Finally, users can print the content of their notepads prior to quitting the application.

Overall Performance

Technical Performance

ARE, installed on a Pentium 120 with 24 MB of RAM equipped with an eight speed CD-ROM drive, was generally responsive and performed well once the somewhat long loading period was completed. Only on two occasions, the user’s intentions did not noticeably match expectations. When the reference button Informations in the introductory window was triggered, the system produced, along with details of the background to the project and of the design team, a succession of presentational frames with full-screen photographs and music which due to their intense strain on the system seemed to be never ending. Secondly, video controls were felt not to be sensitive enough. As a result, the time discrepancy between action and reaction undermined their reliability.

Finally, the visual graphic quality of above mentioned photographs and, more problematically, video films, left something to be desired. However, this might have been due to the technical specifications of the 256 colour monitor used and not the software per se. Were this to be the case, the recommended graphic card supporting 65 536 colours might be worth considering if images are substantially improved as a result.

Functionality

ARE’s functionality is almost exclusively mouse-driven supporting structural and referential links with the use of buttons and hotwords. Similarly, exercises often rely on radio buttons or boxes to indicate choice as well as specific, mouse-related functions such as text highlighting and the drag and drop method from one text box to another. However, some activities still require users to resort to the keyboard to type in the relevant data. This design approach, mixing or interchanging mouse and keyboard functions, is often frowned upon by designers and users alike as it undermines consistency and leads to disorientation and frustration which, wrongly or rightly, stems from a well observed objection to having to type anything in a multimedia environment.

Structurally, the application presents a clear root and branch approach to its resources whose structure can be captured, at any time, by clicking on Suivi. Incidentally but importantly, the functionality of the package would gain by enhancing the display of this crucial information felt to be almost hidden away under the misleading or easily misunderstood title of Suivi.

Generally the activities, subdivided into subactivities and exercises, are well balanced in terms of apportioned workload. However, mention must be made of two simulation activities, not only because they differ by the nature of their composition and interaction, but also because they more fully exploit and highlight the potential of the chosen hypermedia environment. In "On the phone" and "The interview", users are asked to choose and play the r�le of either job seeker by selecting cues amongst a given choice of written answers displayed after each exchange, triggering in the process alternative fields leading to different outcomes. The functionality includes the oppportunity to listen to an audio recording of these answers and to practise orally by using the recording facilities provided. The scope of the user interaction is widened by the introduction of the recruiter’s initial evaluation criteria and the applicant’s objectives which must be taken into account within the interactive process. In itself, the design of the simulation activity is ambitious, given the limitations of the existing technology, but interesting and effective, drawing concentration and protracted involvement from users. At this level, it works satisfactorily, although further explanations which would have clearly defined the conceptual model of the initial design and its anticipated use would greatly help users form their own model and develop a better understanding of what is required of them.

Finally, users can apply their newly acquired activity-based knowledge by practising it in a decontextualised environment either in the reference section under the misleading title of Fonctions or more generally in the final Bilan unit which attempts to provide a summing up session and overall feedback on the linguistic exposure proposed and supported by the package.

Strong Points

easy installation and good overall usability;
a clear, uncluttered interface design presenting a fully compatible and adaptable Windows-based application, supporting and exploiting built-in multimedia extensions;
a clear and coherent structural framework based on a root and branch approach;
a well designed and extensive reference section including a wide range of linguistically and culturally-based support materials;
a well thought-out design conception of the constructive learning approach, using French primarily as the only communicative link and tool between the computer and the user;
well focused learning aims, stimulating the user interaction with sequenced activities and realistic goals within an easily identified, contextualised environment supported by the hypermedia environment;
a wide variety of exercises covering listening, reading, speaking and writing;
an enhancement of the hypermedia mode and potential with the introduction of two simulation activities;
good manipulation of ‘virtually’ authentic linguistic data;
consistent on-line help providing both instructions and information on the functionality;
a useful backup mechanism at the level of activities and sub-activities in the form of corrections;
additional learning support in the form of a fifth and final unit entitled Bilan within which users are encouraged to decontextualise and further practise their new knowledge and skills;
an affordable price.

Weak Points

Whilst this hypermedia learning environment was felt to be generally satisfactory, a number of design weaknesses were identified through this review process and also through a protracted summative evaluation process involving students as representative target users.

Screen display:

Screens are sometimes difficult to read because of the selected colour combinations;
If the high-end graphic card recommended by authors is not available, the quality of the graphic display can be affected;
the interface could have been made more attractive.

Interaction:

The first degree level of DEFL does not immediately translate into a recognisable level of language proficiency and attainment, therefore progress cannot be easily quantified;
Greater attention should be given to the presentation of the structure of the system. Users should not have to find the overall structured hierarchy of modules under Suivi because this title suggests otherwise, and because it is wrongly placed in the reference section of the support resources;
Greater emphasis should be placed on the autonomous learning mode if it is to be properly supported, giving users the means to exploit the given resources and capitalise on their own interactive exposure to the system and not that which is conceptually expected of them;
Simulation activities, rightly seen as an interactive strength, also highlight the limitations of the inputted data restricting choice, range of variations and potential scenarios;
The reference section should provide users with a list of all the words, technical or general, referred to in the displayed material.

Conclusion

In many respects, the weaknesses identified above were closely linked to the communicative learning approach which, when designed into an interface, must unambiguously emphasise and display learning inputs and outputs in an easily identified and attractive contextualised environment. It is only then that users can be attracted to it and fully benefit from the interactive controls they must now harness to explore and be exposed to knowledge. Although the artificial and academic nature of a review of this type can distort or misinterpret some aspects of an application, especially when it presents an extensive and complex database, it is hoped that I have done justice to ARE by drawing attention to the carefully considered relationship between design and interface which underlies the package.

Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics, and Area Studies