The aim of UNITE is to explore the applications of Dialogue Systems (DS) as AI-powered agents to practice English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The objective is to produce evidence-based teaching and learning materials which might favour the uptake of DS in Italian university courses and, in general, as tools for autonomous learning by university students, including those with disability and specific learning disorders ("studenti con disabilità e DSA", as coded in the Italian university system) (ANVUR and CNUDD 2020). Thanks to recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), DS have improved considerably in terms of their ability to engage in plausible interactions in the written and/or spoken channel, and research has shown their effectiveness in EFL contexts as a way to let students practice English outside the classroom, making them feel less anxious about their linguistic abilities, especially at lower levels of proficiency. Yet, evidence is still scarce as to the ability of DS to respond adequately to users interacting with them in English as a foreign language, their effective integration in formal education courses, as well as the degree to which they are designed to ensure that learners can access and participate in meaningful learning opportunities (CAST 2018). In view of the vital role played by technology in English language education, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to mitigate the negative effects of remote learning on students with special needs, as UNESCO and GLAD Network (2020) denounced. Although the topic of university inclusion is today at the centre of national and international debates, most online educational apps are not designed to be inclusive to the greatest extent possible. In addition, no study has been carried out so far on the normative discourses activated by AI-powered DS as mediators of realities in human-machine interactions, unveiling potential biases which affect the interaction between DS and their users. The specific objectives of UNITE over the two years of project duration include: (1) providing an overview of available DS which could be integrated in EFL courses, considering features related to engagement, representation, and actions/expression (CAST 2018); (2) assembling empirical evidence of how Italian university students interact with DS, including an investigation of their level of perceived usefulness/satisfaction; (3) creating corpora/datasets of DS-learners written interactions; (4) analysing (4a) normative discourses in the interactions between DS and users which may generate asymmetries of opportunities and social exclusion, and (4b) errors in learners’ production which might lead to failure of the interactions, and which might point to the need for further linguistic reinforcement on the part of lecturers; (5) guidelines and teaching materials for the successful integration of DS in English language courses and for autonomous learning.
UNITE – UNiversally Inclusive Technologies to practice English
Raffi, F.;Fedeli, L.
2022-01-01
Abstract
The aim of UNITE is to explore the applications of Dialogue Systems (DS) as AI-powered agents to practice English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The objective is to produce evidence-based teaching and learning materials which might favour the uptake of DS in Italian university courses and, in general, as tools for autonomous learning by university students, including those with disability and specific learning disorders ("studenti con disabilità e DSA", as coded in the Italian university system) (ANVUR and CNUDD 2020). Thanks to recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), DS have improved considerably in terms of their ability to engage in plausible interactions in the written and/or spoken channel, and research has shown their effectiveness in EFL contexts as a way to let students practice English outside the classroom, making them feel less anxious about their linguistic abilities, especially at lower levels of proficiency. Yet, evidence is still scarce as to the ability of DS to respond adequately to users interacting with them in English as a foreign language, their effective integration in formal education courses, as well as the degree to which they are designed to ensure that learners can access and participate in meaningful learning opportunities (CAST 2018). In view of the vital role played by technology in English language education, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to mitigate the negative effects of remote learning on students with special needs, as UNESCO and GLAD Network (2020) denounced. Although the topic of university inclusion is today at the centre of national and international debates, most online educational apps are not designed to be inclusive to the greatest extent possible. In addition, no study has been carried out so far on the normative discourses activated by AI-powered DS as mediators of realities in human-machine interactions, unveiling potential biases which affect the interaction between DS and their users. The specific objectives of UNITE over the two years of project duration include: (1) providing an overview of available DS which could be integrated in EFL courses, considering features related to engagement, representation, and actions/expression (CAST 2018); (2) assembling empirical evidence of how Italian university students interact with DS, including an investigation of their level of perceived usefulness/satisfaction; (3) creating corpora/datasets of DS-learners written interactions; (4) analysing (4a) normative discourses in the interactions between DS and users which may generate asymmetries of opportunities and social exclusion, and (4b) errors in learners’ production which might lead to failure of the interactions, and which might point to the need for further linguistic reinforcement on the part of lecturers; (5) guidelines and teaching materials for the successful integration of DS in English language courses and for autonomous learning.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
