Applying chatbot to vocabulary learning

Abstract

Chatbots are applied in various domains to provide an engaging and interactive experience to users. While many learners face difficulty studying alone due to lack of motivation and engagement, chatbots can provide them more effective learning experience. The objective of this study is to identify the effect of chatbot’s goal-oriented feedback (mastery-oriented vs. performance-oriented) and study reminders (user-scheduled vs. system-scheduled) on the learners’ engagement and achievement. Toward this goal, we designed and developed a chatbot for studying English vocabulary that operate in the Facebook messenger. Then we conducted a 1-week field experiment with 82 participants and examined the impact of different feedback and reminder types on the learners’ engagement and achievement. As a result, we found that user-scheduled reminders lead to higher learning achievement compared to system-scheduled reminders. Moreover, mastery-oriented feedback led to higher enjoyment compared to performance-oriented feedback. Based on the findings, we provide practical implications for the future design and research of chatbot for education.