I had to choice Alice to write my reflection because I came across one of the biggest problem about technological tools and I couldn't access to other robot's web site.
First of all I want to mention that robots are really clever than I thought. I can explain their language knowledge with '*'. let's start;
*1 is very important in my opinion because a lot of students have a difficulty to combine to subject with plural -be verb and it can be helpful them
*2 it's just a robot but she can create imperative sentences. Alice can be effective for my students to learn different grammar structures.
*3 sometimes it is problematic because when I refer Cyprus with 'it' she cannot connect old sentences and new information
*4 beware!! don't despise her. She can be very politic:). It is a good answer .
*5 Another disadvantage is even you just make letter mistake she couln't understand you because it is artificial. she hasn't got nature of language. If I made same mistake to real person, he would undertand me.
Using this kind of thing can be enjoyable for my students.As a teacher I can give prject to my student to chat one of this robots and than examining the grammar structures which were created by it. So with this way I can increase my students' awareness of second language learning process. I can create this type of activity in my writing section. So students will be more carefull for not doing any mistakes because it isjust a robot and generally it creates grammatically correct sentenes. but Artificial intelligences have a problem with comprehension. I guest this is the most clear thing which made us different than other things.
Example speech with Robot Alice;
judge: how are you?
ALICE: My logic and cognitive functions are normal. *1
judge: I want to check it:D
ALICE: Why do you want to do it so much?
judge: it's my homework
ALICE: Congratulations, judge.
judge: who are you
ALICE: ALICE.
judge: and?
ALICE: But...
judge: where are you from?
ALICE: I am originally from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Now I live in Oakland, California. Where are you?
judge: cyprus
ALICE: I have no idea where that is. Tell me a little about your life in cyprus. *2
judge: do you know Where is it?
ALICE: It depends on what "it" refers to. *3
judge: it is an island
ALICE: Are there any other island ?
judge: no just cyprus
ALICE: Blimey.. Response.
judge: what?
ALICE: No big deal.
judge: bye
ALICE: bye!
______o_____
judge: how old are you
ALICE: 16 years.
judge: too young
ALICE: 16 years.
judge: why don't you speak with me ?
ALICE: Unquestionably.
judge: hey you should create sentences otherwise how could you efficient for my students?
ALICE: That type of behavior may not be in my nature. *4
judge: come on
ALICE: I'm just kidding around.
judge: you are not pretty girl
ALICE: You don't know me well enough to say that.
judge: so talk with me
ALICE: I am talking to you.
judge: ask me personal wuestions
ALICE: OK, "What is personal wuestions ?". *5
judge: you cannot even correct one letter
ALICE: Things change.
judge: personal questions
ALICE: Response.
judge: what is my name?
ALICE: I know you as Judge.
judge: thank you:)
ALICE: Don't mention it. . I'm glad you find this amusing.
The fact that they lack the natural language understanding may cause problems but it can be used as a supportive activity not have the power to direct whole teaching I think.
ReplyDeleteInteresting exchanges! As you mentioned, and Esra pointed out, the 'bot' is not programmed to 'guess' at misspelled words or slips in grammar. While it may seem obvious to you that "wuestion" means "question", to the bot's eyes these are two totally different words. So, in some ways, this would encourage students to be more accurate (as you point out) in the exchanges. Also, you point out that referentials like 'it' are also a problem for the bot to handle. In fact, this might be a good awareness raising exercise for students, as confusion from misspelled (or more often mispronounced words) and referentials is very common when communicating in a foreign language.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a chat with ALICE could be useful if the student is given some scaffolding to provide a framework for a genuine conversation within the limitations of ALICE. For example, you could give a task to the student to find out more about ALICE's family and personal details. Or you could ask them to find out what she knows about a certain topic. This might yield more useful dialogues and perhaps expose the students to some useful phrases.
Generally, when I chat with ALICE, I introduce myself, e.g., My name is Steve. Alice will respond accordingly, and it gives you a feeling that she is talking directly to you.