Teaching students to communicate in a foreign language through artificial intelligence technologies

Importance. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have significant linguistic and didactic potential, allowing them to be integrated into a foreign language teaching process in order to form aspects of a foreign language and develop types of foreign language speech activity. However, despite the availability of step-by-step methods of teaching a foreign language based on AI, most of them are focused on the lexical and grammatical speech skills formation and the written monologue skills development of learners and students. The methodology development for teaching foreign language communication to English-major students through practice with an AI tool is not the subject of a separate study. The goal of the study is to develop a methodology for teaching foreign language communication to English-major students through practice with an AI tool and to test its effectiveness during experimental training.

Materials and Methods. The participants of the training are 2nd year students of the training direction “Linguistics” (“Theory and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages and Cultures”)  (LGPU) and “Translation and Translation Studies” (LGTU) specialty. In the CG (N = 24), the training took place according to the traditional method of teaching students without practice with the instrument АI. In the EG (N = 24), along with classroom classes, students participated in educational communication in a foreign language with virtual interlocutors on the application Character.AI. The aspects of control are 16 skills (perception, production and interaction) of speech communication. The Student’s t-test is used for statistical data processing.

Results and Discussion. The conducted experimental study has generally proved the author’s methodology effectiveness for teaching foreign language communication to English-major students through artificial intelligence technologies: express their point of view on the issue under discussion (t = 1.44 at p = 0.08), argue agreement or disagreement on the issue under discussion (t = 1.44 at p = 0.08) and follow the communication order. The data obtained show that the students’ practice with a virtual interlocutor did not have much impact on the first two skills development. Relatively high indicators of the ascertaining cross-section in these aspects of control (skill 2,3: CG: 𝑥̅ = 4,25; EG: 𝑥̅ = 4,29; skill 2.4: CG: 𝑥̅ = 4,00; CG: 𝑥̅ = 4,04) indicate that these skills are developed by the majority of students in the 1st year of higher education or in high school secondary schools.

Conclusion. The novelty of the conducted research lies in the author’s methodology development for teaching foreign-language speech communication to English-major students through practice with an AI tool (Character.AI). The proposed methodology can be used in secondary schools and linguistic and non-linguistic universities.