Method of the development of students' foreign language communication skills based on practice with a chatbot

Introduction. Chatbot is a program based on machine learning and natural language that allows the organisation of learners’ foreign language communication practice. However, the effectiveness of the teaching method depends on how and to what extent the foreign language practice with the chatbot is integrated into the foreign language learning process. The aim of the study is to develop and test the author's step-by-step method of the development of learners' foreign language communication skills based on chatbot practice. Materials and methods. Participants of the research were 1st year students of Derzhavin Tambov State University (Russian Federation), majoring in English as a Foreign Language. Students of the control group (N=25) were trained in foreign-language speech communication in traditional foreign language classes, and participants of the experimental group (N=25) in addition to regular classes for a semester once a week participated in a foreign language communication practice with a chatbot and performed tasks for the analysis of practice results. Ten foreign language speech skills were under controlled. The data analysis was carried out using the Student’s t-test. Research results. The step-by-step method of the development of students' foreign language communication skills based of practice with a chatbot proved to be effective with regard to the development of the following skills: asking for information on the topic of the dialogue (t = 2.49; p ≤ 0.05); responding to a dialogue partner's requests (t = 2.24; p ≤ 0.05); stating thoughts on the topic of the dialogue in short or extended form (t = 1.78; p ≤ 0.05); drawing conclusions (t = 1, 8; p ≤ 0.05) Expression of students’ own opinion on the topic of discussion (t = 1.91; p ≤ 0.05); providing arguments for their opinion on the topic of discussion (t = 1.41; p ≤ 0.05); interrogation, clarification, reformulation, expression ideas by other language means (t = 4, 11; p ≤ 0.05). The study did not show the effectiveness of the proposed method on the development of students' abilities to initiate a dialogue (t = 0.58; p> 0.05); welcome dialogue participants and exchange greeting phrases (t = 0.58; p> 0.05); end a conversation (t = 0.58; p> 0.05) because of students' high proficiency in these skills at the time of participation in the experiment. Conclusion. The novelty of the study is in the development of a step-by-step method of the development of learners' foreign language communication skills based on practice with a chatbot. The results of the study can be used in foreign language teaching to secondary school university level students.