My first impression of the BBC Learning English website, in general, is that it is good.
However, I would prefer the colour level of the homepage to be a bit brighter and more colourful, as learning a foreign language sometimes can be extremely hard and tedious.
The site colour needs to be more eye-catching and stunning just to strike the browsers' attention . In addition, brighter colours usually lift a reader's spirit.
Having said this, I do understand that it is a corporate website which must be in compliance with the BBC's design guidance, so probably that is why the site looks fairly moderate.
Another point I want to refer to is that the page layout is inconsistent with recommended lay out standards. For example, at the bottom of the page, the three column lengths differ – some are shorter than the other. The leading web usability consultant Dr Jakob Nielsen lists this point as his top 10 Mistakes in Web Design.
One of the reasons I find this site absolutely useful, is because as English is my second language, I realise how someone can learn so many new words and expressions from the site.
I like the sections of “Words in the news” and “Specials – English for Journalist” because I am actually studying Broadcast Journalism – specialising Online journalism, currently I am also doing NCTJ newspaper certificate.
In terms of entertaining, I do realise the site tries hard to expand its multimedia dimension for interacting with its audience. For example, there are lots of listening materials online, as well as available for downloading.
There are the audio slide shows – The Flatmates teaches English learners casual English while entertaining them. Readers are able to leave comments which definitely follows web 2.0 concept.
I think it would be a good idea to get more interactivity online. For example, we could watch an English film and someone would explain us the interesting or important phrases and expressions in the film.
This could also apply for song lyrics, news and TV shows' from an English learning point of view. Audiences will enjoy the English learning process while being entertained.
In addition, I think these learning subjects should be expanded into a wider spectrum, such as travelling, literature and arts.
They could prove to be entertaining topics while being produced for English learning purpose. These subjects can be under an umbrella theme, for example let us say Britain is this month's umbrella theme, then design English learning programmes on British arts, British literature, and travelling in Britain.
Regarding the community section, my idea is to set up different foreign communities profiles under “Community”. For example the Polish, French and Japanese communities and so on.
Each week the editor Paul Scott or producers can decide one hot topic, such as religion, multiculturalism, diversity, politics, business, anything that is controversial and interesting, just let all the communities discuss it and debate on it.
People who participate in the debate must write in English. Mr Scott even can invite experts to give their views on each topic.
Different communities could be encouraged to update their profile in English, for example, someone from the Irish community may talk about his opinion on Irish voters backing the EU Lisbon treaty.
Someone from the Chinese community may update an article on how Chinese people celebrate the country's 60th anniversary, or maybe someone from the French community can upload a video of how he/she cooks a French cuisine and he/she explains it in English.
Another suggestion I want to make for the Community section is online blog must not have long paragraphs, they should be all short paragraphs with around 25 words each to comply with user-friendly rule of writing for the web.
These are my main thoughts on the BBC Learning English website, hope you find my suggestions helpful.
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