By Meghan O’Meara
Introduction
كيف يمكنك العثور على محتوى باللغة الإنجليزية على موقع عربي؟
If you aren’t an Arabic reader, how helpful is that heading? Have you ever considered how someone who doesn’t speak or read English finds content on your website in their preferred language? How do they know where to look? Does that globe icon communicate “translated content here” or “view a map,” or maybe nothing at all? Can a reader of Simplified Chinese read the label “Languages”? As part of the work Flexion is doing for 10x, we’re trying to answer these questions—and more.
Flexion supports the 10x program, part of the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services. 10x is like a venture studio for the government, taking an agile, innovative approach to solving problems. 10x solicits ideas from government employees on how to use technology to better serve the people of the United States. These ideas are wide-ranging, from how to better collect and display sewer spill instances to assess equity implications to how we can better protect personal data. If the research results support further funding, Flexion will develop the solutions.
Just like 10x projects are diverse, so are the audiences for the projects. And when the audience is “anyone in the U.S.,” it is a very diverse group. One of the groups often left out of research are people with limited English proficiency (LEP). But as part of our work for 10x, Flexion specifically reached out to this under-recognized, frequently vulnerable audience.
Testing with (Limited English Proficiency) LEP users
In 2024, we conducted research with recent immigrants as part of the 10x Coming to the United States project supporting the Office of Management and Budget’s life experiences initiative. As part of this initiative, we conducted research with recent immigrants to understand how technology could reduce friction and help them navigate through the immigration process. Similarly, we conducted research with LEP Spanish speakers to inform a roadmap for a “Federal Front Door” where customers can locate actionable information on the benefits, services, and programs the federal government offers.
But what if people with limited English proficiency can’t find the content available to them in their preferred language at all? As part of another 10x project we started in 2023, Improving Language Access, we’ve conducted multiple rounds of research with monolingual Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin speakers to understand how they look for and find content in their preferred language. This research has allowed us to ask important questions, such as:
- Where do monolingual users start when looking for content in their preferred language?
- How do they know whether there is content on a government website?
- Are they more likely to find the content if we use a term or an icon?
- Where should the language access indicator be placed?
- Will a reader of right-to-left languages look for the indicator in a different place than readers of left-to-right languages?
- Are readers of logographic languages, such as Simplified Chinese, more likely to look for icons?
Learning from Limited English Proficiency (LEP) users
As we’ve conducted the research, what we’ve learned informs strategy and development efforts in 10x solutions for the immigration process, language access, finding benefits, and more. More importantly, it’s increasing awareness of just how challenging accessing digital programs and services can be for a huge swath of the public, and building empathy for the LEP customer experience. Some best practices emerging from our experience testing with LEP users include:
- Building relationships with community-based organizations (CBOs) helps reach the right test participants and encourages trust.
- Onsite, in-person testing is crucial in some cases to elicit nuanced feedback.
- Remote testing can be valuable when test participants are particularly distrustful of government interactions.
- Pairing language fluency with UX research skills is critical to successful research efforts.
- Fitting into the participants’ lives is required; don’t expect them to fit into your schedule.
- It is vital that they use the type of communication they are most comfortable with. For some, that is email or SMS; for others, it is WhatsApp.
Key to Ensuring Equitable Access for LEP Users
Perhaps the most important “best practice” is to remember that LEP users are not a homogenous group and have unique challenges like everyone else. Some are monolingual and have low literacy levels — so signing official-looking documents such as consent forms might be intimidating. Some use assistive technologies. Limited English proficiency is part of who they are, but they are rich and complex people, just like everyone else. And they aren’t a small group. Millions of people in the U.S. speak languages other than English in their homes, and millions more revert to their preferred language during times of stress. Testing with LEP users is vital to ensuring equitable access to government services.
Meghan O’Meara is a digital strategist and researcher working to create inclusive, equitable, and efficient digital solutions. She believes that products are better when all voices are heard. She works on 10x and Notify.gov.
