| dc.description.abstract | The conversation is an advanced and important speaking skill to learn a language, and using chatbots to practice English conversation in authentic contexts would be a meaningful and promising study through mobile devices. However, there are several disadvantages of traditional chatbots that will influence students′ learning motivation and achievement like not connected with students′ surroundings to sustain their motivation; The words of the conversation need to match perfectly, otherwise, the chatbot will not be able to respond properly.
This study proposes a chatbot with a smart mechanism named Smart UEnglish. There are two types of conversation practice: designed talk and free talk. Design talk is based on learning materials of textbooks so that students can practice conversation in authentic contexts. Free talk allows students to freely have conversations with the chatbot on topics such as daily life, transportation, weather, scenic spots, etc. Smart UEnglish has some features such as flexible conversation which can tolerate some mistakes in the conversation, the sustainable conversation which can have a sustained conversation on the same topic, the adaptive conversation which can give different responses according to the user′s information, such as GPS and time, and learning feedback which can provide immediate feedback to help students improve their pronunciation and sentences. Our proposed smart mechanisms address the shortcomings of chatbots in the past and facilitate students to practice English conversations with creativity and sustainability in authentic contexts.
Statistical analysis results show that the learning achievement of the experimental group is significantly higher than that of the control group. Moreover, both designed talk and free talk have significant positive correlations with learning achievements, while the students have more conversation practices, they have more improvements in lexical resource, pronunciation, and fluency. According to the results of the SSAL questionnaire and interview, students believe that using Smart UEnglish for conversation practice in authentic contexts can increase their creativity, make them think more and learn more knowledge. This study proves that Smart UEnglish can help students learn English in authentic contexts. With smart UEnglish, students can effectively practice English conversation anytime and anywhere. | en_US |