Journal section: AI-informed language learning in online and distance education
Conversation agents, chat boxes and other technologies that assist computer-mediated human communication in L1 and L2 environments have started to make an impact in how we envisage language learning in the forthcoming years. Robots have increasingly been used as tutors and robot-assisted language learning (RALL) is developing rapidly thanks to speech synthesis, speech recognition, conversational pragmatics, developing scripted communication events and, in general, the use of AI in language learning. The role of the social ‘robot’ or, more accurately, the role of the conversational agent, is likely to have a profound impact on how we interact with systems and, most importantly, with our fellow humans in AI-informed pedagogies.
This section seeks to foster the debate of the uses of what I describe here as AI-informed language learning across the board, including the development and use of social robots/ agents for conversation, the role of feedback in robot-mediated communication. the integration of NLP tools in language learning, data-driven learning, the use of domain general cognitive strategies for L2 learning, computational thinking in L2 learning, statistical language learning, emergentism and usage based theories of L2 acquisition.
References
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Van den Berghe, R., Verhagen, J., Oudgenoeg-Paz, O., van der Ven, S., & Leseman, P. (2019). Social Robots for Language Learning: A Review. Review of Educational Research, 89(2), 259–295. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318821286