Bot Talk e apprendimento linguistico. L’uso dei Chatbot per lo sviluppo della competenza comunicativa nella lingua straniera

• Main Author: Francesca Mazzilli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona 2018-12-01
• Series: Iperstoria
• Subjects: apprendimento delle lingue; chatbot; digiral humanities
• Online Access: https://iperstoria.it/article/view/387

The purpose of this study is to identify the potential of chatbots in the academic foreign language learning. A chatbot is a software which is capable of chatting with other human and non-human users in a natural language. Even though this technology is mostly used in the business world, its relevance in the field of Digital Humanities has constantly grown recently. After a brief introduction to the chatbot technology, the study focuses on the main characteristics of human-computer interaction (HCI). Phenomena such as quasi-coherence, computer (or bot) talk, and quasi-alignment play a very important role in HCI, which is shown by several examples of interactions with two chatbots: Elbot and Cleverbot. Starting from these characteristics, the study considers the potential of chatbots in the language learning process by answering the following question: in what way does language education change if chatbots intervene in the learning/teaching process? The study describes the reconfiguration of the relationship studentlanguage-teacher through the intervention of technology as interlocutor. The traditional configuration of the didactic triangle turns into a didactic tetrahedron. In comparison to the triangle, the tetrahedron has three dimensions and is more flexible and multidirectional. At the end, a didactic proposal for enhancing communicative competence by interacting with a chatbot in an academic context is described, also with reference to disabled (especially visually impaired) students