To examine the utility of spoken dialog systems (SDSs) for learning and low-stakes assessment, we administered the same role-play task in two different modalities to a group of 47 tertiary-level ...learners of English. Each participant completed the task in an SDS setting with a fully automated agent and engaged in the same task with a human interlocutor in a face-to-face format. Additionally, we gauged students' perceptions of the two delivery formats. Elicited oral performances were examined for linguistic complexity (syntactic complexity, lexical variety, fluency) and pragmatic functions (number and type of requests). Learner performance data across the two delivery modes were comparable although learners spoke slightly longer in the SDS task and used significantly more turns in the face-to-face setting-a finding that may be due to participants deploying more social rapport building moves, clarification requests, and backchanneling. The attitudinal data indicate that, while many learners liked both delivery formats, there was a slight preference for the face-to-face format, mainly due to the presence of body language. Overall, results show that fully automated SDS tasks may constitute a feasible alternative to face-to-face role-plays. Nevertheless, when possible, learners should be given a choice in task format for both learning and assessment.
In recent years, the number of human-machine interactions has increased considerably. Additionally, we have evidence of linguistic differences between human-machine interactions and human–human ...conversations (e.g., Timpe-Laughlin et al., 2022). Therefore, it is reasonable to revisit theoretical frameworks that conceptualize interactional language use and investigate to what extent they still apply to technology-mediated interactions. As a first attempt at exploring whether pragmatics theories apply to human-machine interaction, we examined how well Kecskés's (2013) socio-cognitive approach (SCA) focusing on asymmetric interactions (e.g., between interlocutors of different language backgrounds) applies to the asymmetry of human-machine interactions.
Using examples from experimental data, we present the nature of common ground between human and machine (spoken dialogue system) interlocutors, focusing on the construction of and reliance on the emergent side of common ground that is informed by the actual situational experience. Like Kecskés, we argue that both egocentrism and cooperation play a role in human-machine interaction. While the former is manifested in approaching the machine interlocutor as if it was human, the latter appears to play a role in common ground seeking and building as well as in recipient design. We demonstrate that Kecskés's SCA is a fitting framework for analyzing human-machine communication contexts.
•Kecskés's socio-cognitive approach (SCA) applies to human-machine interaction.•Both egocentrism and cooperation play a role in human-machine interaction.•Human interlocutors try to find core common ground, and seek to create emergent common ground in interaction with machines.•Emergent common ground is informed by situational experience.•Carefully planned recipient design and salience effect are present in data.
There is an increasing conviction that foreign language teaching should focus not only on making students achieve native-like proficiency but on enabling them to function as competent communicators ...in situations involving speakers of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Real-life experiences are of utmost importance in forming language learners' intercultural awareness and competences. This study explores advanced Hungarian EFL learners' accounts of their intercultural encounters and their opportunities for meeting speakers of other languages. The study follows the qualitative research paradigm, the detailed, contextualized quotes aim to provide thick description of participants' experiences. Data were collected through a short background questionnaire and a qualitative data collection instrument employing stimulated recall: students were requested to write narrative accounts of their previous intercultural encounters. Findings reveal that although participants had limited opportunities for meeting native speakers of English, the language of intercultural interactions was almost exclusively English, even if only non-native speakers were involved. Results also show that there are enormous differences between students' opportunities to acquaint with members of different cultures, which highlights the influence of learners' socioeconomic backgrounds on their studies.
There is an increasing conviction that foreign language teaching should focus not only on making students achieve native-like proficiency but on enabling them to function as competent communicators ...in situations involving speakers of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Real-life experiences are of utmost importance in forming language learners’ intercultural awareness and competences. This study explores advanced Hungarian EFL learners’ accounts of their intercultural encounters and their opportunities for meeting speakers of other languages. The study follows the qualitative research paradigm, the detailed, contextualized quotes aim to provide thick description of participants’ experiences. Data were collected through a short background questionnaire and a qualitative data collection instrument employing stimulated recall: students were requested to write narrative accounts of their previous intercultural encounters. Findings reveal that although participants had limited opportunities for meeting native speakers of English, the language of intercultural interactions was almost exclusively English, even if only non-native speakers were involved. Results also show that there are enormous differences between students’ opportunities to acquaint with members of different cultures, which highlights the influence of learners’ socioeconomic backgrounds on their studies.
Accomplishing oral interactive workplace tasks requires various language abilities, including pragmatics. While technology-mediated tasks are thought to offer many possibilities for teaching and ...assessing second language (L2) pragmatics, their effectiveness – especially those facilitated by an AI agent (artificial intelligence agent) – remains to be explored. This study investigated how 47 tertiary-level learners of English as a second language (ESL) performed on an oral interactive task that required them to make requests to their boss in two distinct modalities. Each participant completed the same task with a fully automated AI agent and with a human interlocutor in a face-to-face format. Findings showed that both modalities elicited language use relevant to the pragmatics target. However, fully automated interactions were found to be more transactional, while face-to-face interactions were more functionally oriented (e.g. more frequent/varied supportive moves). Although fully automated interactive tasks may be useful for eliciting requests, replicating human-to-human interactions remains a challenge.
Recent advances in interactive large language models like ChatGPT have revolutionized various domains; however, their behavior in natural and role-play conversation settings remains underexplored. In ...our study, we address this gap by deeply investigating how ChatGPT behaves during conversations in different settings by analyzing its interactions in both a normal way and a role-play setting. We introduce a novel dataset of broad range of human-AI conversations annotated with user motives and model naturalness to examine (i) how humans engage with the conversational AI model, and (ii) how natural are AI model responses. Our study highlights the diversity of user motives when interacting with ChatGPT and variable AI naturalness, showing not only the nuanced dynamics of natural conversations between humans and AI, but also providing new avenues for improving the effectiveness of human-AI communication.
The integrated, almost ‘borderless’ Europe triggers mobility to an extent that was unimaginable ten-fifteen years ago. As a result, the European Union, this multilingual geo-political entity, is ...increasingly characterized by interactions taking place between individuals not speaking the same mother tongue. Effective communication among European citizens of different linguistic backgrounds can only be achieved by using a lingua franca as a medium for communication. This paper investigates how English has taken up the role of lingua franca in intercultural interactions in Europe, and calls attention that making language students achieve native-like proficiency became less important than making them aware of the importance of mutual intelligibility and negotiation of meaning in intercultural interactions.
Abstract
Non-thermal and thermal carrier populations in plasmonic systems raised significant interest in contemporary fundamental and applied physics. Although the theoretical description predicts ...not only the energies but also the location of the generated carriers, the experimental justification of these theories is still lacking. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that upon the optical excitation of surface plasmon polaritons, a non-thermal electron population appears in the topmost domain of the plasmonic film directly coupled to the local fields. The applied all-optical method is based on spectroscopic ellipsometric determination of the dielectric function, allowing us to obtain in-depth information on surface plasmon induced changes of the directly related electron occupancies. The ultrahigh sensitivity of our method allows us to capture the signatures of changes induced by electron-electron scattering processes with ultrafast decay times. These experiments shed light on the build-up of plasmonic hot electron population in nanoscale media.
Abstract
The carrier-envelope phase (CEP) is an important property of few-cycle laser pulses, allowing for light field control of electronic processes during laser-matter interactions. Thus, the ...measurement and control of CEP is essential for applications of few-cycle lasers. Currently, there is no robust method for measuring the non-trivial spatial CEP distribution of few-cycle laser pulses. Here, we demonstrate a compact on-chip, ambient-air, CEP scanning probe with 0.1 µm
3
resolution based on optical driving of CEP-sensitive ultrafast currents in a metal−dielectric heterostructure. We successfully apply the probe to obtain a 3D map of spatial changes of CEP in the vicinity of an oscillator beam focus with pulses as weak as 1 nJ. We also demonstrate CEP control in the focal volume with a spatial light modulator so that arbitrary spatial CEP sculpting could be realized.
