This project responds to the basic problem of helping students who are speakers of English as an Other Language learn content in STEM fields more easily. The project proposes to develop and test the efficacy of a suite, or set of web-based and other types of applications that could be used by students and instructors in and out of class time as learning supports. These might include the use of immediate captioning of lectures through Microsoft Presentation Translator, captioned/annotated videos of recorded lectures; text-to-voice mobile apps for reading assignments; vocabulary banks for technical terms; and other as-yet unidentified applications as well. The project builds on two principles. First, it is design-based and builds on information collected about learning practices in and out of the classroom to design interventions (solutions) that are ecologically sound. Second, the project assumes that interventions need to be unobtrusive, requiring little or no alteration of curriculum or instruction. This second principle points to the need to develop applications mainly for use by students rather than course instructors, although instructors will be aware of and may offer input into the design and content of the applications. This research also builds on the ongoing analysis of data on Moroccan university students’ learning of English collected as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (2014-2016).
