Teachers’ Views on The Use of Chatbots to Support English Language Teaching in a Mobile Environment

Abstract

The development in machine learning has allowed chatbots to be widely applied into educational settings. However, limited study has investigated teacher’s views on its usage for teaching and learning. This paper reports an exploratory study on English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers’ views with regards to the use of chatbots for their teaching and learning delivery in a mobile environment. Using survey research design, views from 142 ESL teachers were gathered using questionnaires, which consist of Likert-scale items and open-ended questions. The teachers were sampled using purposive sampling method. The items and questions were developed based on the principles of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, which focuses on social, cognitive and teaching presence. Data from the Likert-scaled items were analyzed using descriptive statistics while open-ended questions were coded thematically. The findings showed that teachers perceived the use of chatbots in giving feedback to their students as very helpful though some of them needed extra training on how to use them. They also thought chatbots can simulate an interaction cycle for students to practice the tar-get language. In addition, the teachers believed chatbots augmented a greater level of social presence, which eventually creates an environment for their students to be active. All in all, the findings provided valuable insights on the proper integration of chatbots in teaching and learning while gauging essential affordances and constraints of its use from ESL teachers’ perspective.

Systematic Review of Virtual Reality in the Acquisition of Second Language

“…Therefore, virtual reality technology appears to be capable of improving the experience at all stages of the foreign language learning process. This is in line with other research studies on this topic, such as [16,17]. However, teachers need more training in the use of VR so that they could use these VR and AR tools efficiently and thus make their students' learning process meaningful [16].…”

“…This is in line with other research studies on this topic, such as [16,17]. However, teachers need more training in the use of VR so that they could use these VR and AR tools efficiently and thus make their students' learning process meaningful [16].…”

Chatbots and Flipped Learning: Enhancing Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes through Personalised Support and Collaboration

“…Furthermore, organizations should train educators to use chatbots securely and responsibly. Another drawback of using chatbots in a flipped learning context is the reliability and validity of the feedback provided by chatbots (Chuah & Kabilan, 2021). Chatbots are only as good as the information they are programmed with, and their feedback may not always be accurate or appropriate.…”

Implementing the Bashayer chatbot in Saudi higher education: measuring the influence on students' motivation and learning strategies

“…Few have been developed to assess the effect of chatbots on students' learning in K-12 education. These studies have been carried out in different educational contexts and learning environments, including distance learning (Kohnke, 2022 ), online learning (Lee et al, 2020 ; Troussas et al, 2020 ; Mendoza et al, 2022 ), mobile learning (Troussas et al, 2019 ; Chuah and Kabilan, 2021 ), massive open online courses (MOOCs) (Pereira et al, 2019 ), micro-learning (Yin et al, 2021 ), teacher education (Chuah and Kabilan, 2021 ), professional training (Chang et al, 2022 ), K-12 language learning (Chen et al, 2020 ; Lin and Chang, 2020 ; Troussas et al, 2022 ), and science education (Deveci Topal et al, 2021 ). The vast majority of chatbots have been employed as teaching agents and assessed using the experimental approach, and the findings largely point to improved learning performance and satisfaction (e.g., Pereira et al, 2019 ; Chen et al, 2020 ; Yin et al, 2021 ; Khalil and Rambech, 2022 ).…”