Designing for Inclusion:
Exploring the Impact of Language on Learner Experience

Overview

While working within Frontline's Digital Learning team, I led a UX-focused research and evaluation project exploring the relationship between language, learner experience and attainment.

The project investigated whether language within learning content and assessment processes could be contributing to the attainment gap experienced by participants from racialised minority backgrounds within their social work programme.

Drawing on learner research, attainment data, cognitive load theory and inclusive design principles, the project sought to uncover hidden barriers to learner success and identify opportunities to create a more equitable learning experience.

The Challenge

Data from the programme highlighted a persistent attainment gap between White participants and participants from racialised minority backgrounds.

While attainment gaps are widely recognised across higher education, there was limited understanding of how learning design and learner experience might contribute to these outcomes within the organisation's programme.

A key question emerged:

How might language, cognitive load and learning design influence learner success?

Rather than assuming the cause, I wanted to investigate the lived experiences of learners and identify potential barriers that might be invisible within existing systems and processes.

My Role

I independently led the research, analysis and recommendation phase of the project.

Responsibilities included:

  • Research design and planning

  • Literature review and evidence gathering

  • Learner and stakeholder interviews

  • Survey design and analysis

  • Focus group facilitation

  • Attainment data analysis

  • Synthesis of findings

  • Strategic recommendations

  • Framework and resource development

Research Approach

A mixed-methods approach was used to build a holistic understanding of the learner experience.

Research activities included:

  • Analysis of programme attainment data

  • Literature review

  • Surveys

  • Individual interviews

  • Focus groups

  • Stakeholder consultations


The project engaged 57 participants, including learners, staff and practice educators from a range of backgrounds and roles.

This approach allowed quantitative data to be explored alongside learner experiences, helping to identify patterns that may otherwise have remained hidden.

Key Research Insights

1) Language Creates Cognitive Load

While participants generally reported that learning materials were understandable, many described experiencing information overload, difficulty retaining content and challenges navigating academic language.

The findings suggested that language can create additional cognitive effort, particularly when learners are required to process specialist terminology, jargon or unfamiliar academic conventions.

2) Accessibility and Inclusion Are Not the Same

The research highlighted an important distinction between accessibility and inclusive design. Accessibility often focuses on removing barriers after a design has been created.

Inclusive design starts by understanding the experiences of marginalised groups and designing with those experiences in mind from the outset.

This shift in perspective became a key lens for the project.

3) Learner Experience Influences Outcomes

The project reinforced the idea that attainment is not solely shaped by learner capability.

The design of learning materials, assessment processes and support systems can all influence how successfully learners engage, participate and demonstrate what they know e.g. some learners were investing significant effort in interpreting assessment requirements before they could demonstrate their knowledge.

What Made This Project Different?

Rather than focusing solely on content, this project examined the wider learner experience.

The goal was not simply to identify barriers, but to understand how design decisions can unintentionally create inequitable experiences and what can be done to address them.

The project translated research findings into practical recommendations for learning design, content development and assessment practice.

In addition, I developed several supporting frameworks and implementation ideas, including a collaborative content development framework and recommendations for applying inclusivity principles across the ADDIE process.

By combining UX research methods, learning science and inclusive design principles, the project moved beyond identifying a problem to proposing practical, evidence-informed solutions.

Human Insight

Learners do not experience content in a vacuum.

Their backgrounds, experiences, language and access to cultural capital all shape how they engage with learning.

Designing for inclusion is not about lowering standards. It is about removing unnecessary barriers so that all learners have an equitable opportunity to succeed.

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