Developing an Educational Website for Arabic-speaking Users

English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and one of the main languages of business and international communication. And while the number of people who would like to improve their language skills is constantly growing, the selection of free and helpful educational online resources is not the same for different countries. People whose native language is Arabic typically have problems finding a digital tool that would help them improve their English in different ways (speaking, writing, reading, and understanding the language), especially if they’ve never learned it before. Our client’s idea was to provide such an educational instrument to those who might need it. The goal was to develop an educational website that would be 100% bilingual yet would take into account cultural specifics. The platform should have included several gamification elements to keep the students entertained and motivated, robust statistics to display students’ progress, and be flexible to accommodate both individual language learners and corporate clients.

As Light IT Global was not responsible for developing an educational website from scratch and had to work with legacy software, it made the implementation process more challenging. Especially considering the fact that there was no separation between business logic and data processing in the code.

To boost the platform’s performance, we’ve introduced server-side rendering, which helped to reduce the page load time, enhance accessibility, and simplify indexation by search engines. As the lessons available on the platform are 100% interactive and require different types of actions from the user (drag and drop, type in the text, speak, etc.), we had to develop new functionality that would ensure a smooth learning experience for all the students even if they experience problems with the Internet connection or device capabilities. Gamification has been a big part of the platform since the beginning, so Light IT Global’s experts had to fix the broken parts of the system (e.g., pop-ups) and safeguard the flawless performance of all the existing and new elements (leaderboards, trophies, achievements). Another important aspect that our team had to take into account while developing an educational website is the need to combine both English and Arabic languages within the platform. Our designer had to create an interface that would be intuitive yet modern, no matter which language is chosen by the user. This meant the app’s layout had to be automatically adjusted on all devices depending on the selected language.

The updated English-learning platform is available both on desktop and mobile devices. Unregistered users are able to familiarize themselves with the educational content by means of “open lessons” that are available for each proficiency level. Registered and authorized users get full access to the software, including a free level test, lessons for A1-B1 students, leaderboards (national and international), a personal dashboard that showcases the progress, displays the earned trophies, and contains personal information. The educational content presented on the platform is diverse and allows the users to train all of the skills that are necessary for an English speaker (writing, reading, speaking, and listening comprehension). Free interactive games make the solution easily accessible, even for students that have never learned English and don’t even know the alphabet. As the educational process continues, the user has opportunities to earn trophies and get different achievements, as well as to compete with other students for a place on the leaderboard. This helps the users to stay engaged and interested in learning English over a long period of time.

A revamped, user-friendly gamification-powered language learning platform helped our client to achieve multiple business goals and strengthen the brand. Firstly, all of the changes Light IT Global made while developing an educational website helped to increase conversions. Now more users not only choose to use the solution but also successfully verify their emails. Secondly, the platform is now SEO-friendly, which helps to attract more users from different Arabic-speaking countries and earn the brand more recognition and visibility. Thirdly, an updated system is way more scalable, and our client will be able to both enrich functionality and add new languages when needed. Besides, a modernized system is more appealing to corporate clients like educational facilities and businesses that would like to use it as a way to improve the English skills of their students/staff. Ergo, our client now has more opportunities for the platform’s monetization.