A Systematic Review of Voice-based Intelligent Virtual Agents in EFL Education

Since its debut in the field of education nearly three decades ago, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been considered as a powerful tool to facilitate new paradigms for instructional design and innovative educational practice in the form of intelligent tutoring systems, chatbots, teaching robots and adaptive learning systems among others. Recent technological advances in the adjacent areas of natural language processing, machine learning and computer graphics focusing primarily on design features that can improve their human-like qualities of naturalness and believability as human interlocutors have also amplified new application opportunities for Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) or Animated Pedagogical Agents (APAs) within the area of Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL). Although AI-powered IVAs hold the potential to enhance the learning process in nearly any knowledge domain and personalize automation in teaching by embodying different roles in the learning environment, strikingly few studies have empirically attempted to assess IVAs impact on L2 learners’ academic achievement when learning English as a Foreign (EFL) so far. This study addresses this issue via a systematic review of relevant interventionist IVA studies that were conducted in EFL settings and published within the 2015-2020 timeframe examining IVAs key affordances, major barriers in their adoption for language learning purposes, and the CALL research trends currently prevalent on the topic. Pedagogical implications for the effective implementation of IVA technology in L2 contexts are discussed and future research avenues in the area are highlighted

A Computational Model of Creative Design as a Sociocultural Process Involving the Evolution of Language

The aim of this research is to investigate the mechanisms of creative design within the context of an evolving language through computational modelling. Computational Creativity is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on modelling creative behaviours. Typically, research in Computational Creativity has treated language as a medium, e.g., poetry, rather than an active component of the creative process. Previous research studying the role of language in creative design has relied on interviewing human participants, limiting opportunities for computational modelling. This thesis explores the potential for language to play an active role in computational creativity by connecting computational models of the evolution of artificial languages and creative design processes. Multi-agent simulations based on the Domain-Individual-Field-Interaction framework are employed to evolve artificial languages with features that may support creative designing including ambiguity, incongruity, exaggeration and elaboration. The simulation process consists of three steps: (1) constructing representations associating topics, meanings and utterances; (2) structured communication of utterances and meanings through the playing of “language games”; and (3) evaluation of design briefs and works. The use of individual agents with different evaluation criteria, preferences and roles enriches the scope and diversity of the simulations. The results of the experiments conducted with artificial creative language systems demonstrate the expansion of design spaces by generating compositional utterances representing novel concepts among design agents using language features and weighted context free grammars. They can be used to computationally explore the roles of language in creative design, and possibly point to computational applications. Understanding the evolution of artificial languages may provide insights into human languages, especially those features that support creativity

Pathway to Future Symbiotic Creativity

This report presents a comprehensive view of our vision on the development path of the human-machine symbiotic art creation. We propose a classification of the creative system with a hierarchy of 5 classes, showing the pathway of creativity evolving from a mimic-human artist (Turing Artists) to a Machine artist in its own right. We begin with an overview of the limitations of the Turing Artists then focus on the top two-level systems, Machine Artists, emphasizing machine-human communication in art creation. In art creation, it is necessary for machines to understand humans' mental states, including desires, appreciation, and emotions, humans also need to understand machines' creative capabilities and limitations. The rapid development of immersive environment and further evolution into the new concept of metaverse enable symbiotic art creation through unprecedented flexibility of bi-directional communication between artists and art manifestation environments. By examining the latest sensor and XR technologies, we illustrate the novel way for art data collection to constitute the base of a new form of human-machine bidirectional communication and understanding in art creation. Based on such communication and understanding mechanisms, we propose a novel framework for building future Machine artists, which comes with the philosophy that a human-compatible AI system should be based on the "human-in-the-loop" principle rather than the traditional "end-to-end" dogma. By proposing a new form of inverse reinforcement learning model, we outline the platform design of machine artists, demonstrate its functions and showcase some examples of technologies we have developed. We also provide a systematic exposition of the ecosystem for AI-based symbiotic art form and community with an economic model built on NFT technology. Ethical issues for the development of machine artists are also discussed

Designing Embodied Interactive Software Agents for E-Learning: Principles, Components, and Roles

Embodied interactive software agents are complex autonomous, adaptive, and social software systems with a digital embodiment that enables them to act on and react to other entities (users, objects, and other agents) in their environment through bodily actions, which include the use of verbal and non-verbal communicative behaviors in face-to-face interactions with the user. These agents have been developed for various roles in different application domains, in which they perform tasks that have been assigned to them by their developers or delegated to them by their users or by other agents. In computer-assisted learning, embodied interactive pedagogical software agents have the general task to promote human learning by working with students (and other agents) in computer-based learning environments, among them e-learning platforms based on Internet technologies, such as the Virtual Linguistics Campus (www.linguistics-online.com). In these environments, pedagogical agents provide contextualized, qualified, personalized, and timely assistance, cooperation, instruction, motivation, and services for both individual learners and groups of learners. This thesis develops a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and user-oriented view of the design of embodied interactive pedagogical software agents, which integrates theoretical and practical insights from various academic and other fields. The research intends to contribute to the scientific understanding of issues, methods, theories, and technologies that are involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of embodied interactive software agents for different roles in e-learning and other areas. For developers, the thesis provides sixteen basic principles (Added Value, Perceptible Qualities, Balanced Design, Coherence, Consistency, Completeness, Comprehensibility, Individuality, Variability, Communicative Ability, Modularity, Teamwork, Participatory Design, Role Awareness, Cultural Awareness, and Relationship Building) plus a large number of specific guidelines for the design of embodied interactive software agents and their components. Furthermore, it offers critical reviews of theories, concepts, approaches, and technologies from different areas and disciplines that are relevant to agent design. Finally, it discusses three pedagogical agent roles (virtual native speaker, coach, and peer) in the scenario of the linguistic fieldwork classes on the Virtual Linguistics Campus and presents detailed considerations for the design of an agent for one of these roles (the virtual native speaker)

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2022

This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022. The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2022

This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022. The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research

Human-Computer Interaction

In this book the reader will find a collection of 31 papers presenting different facets of Human Computer Interaction, the result of research projects and experiments as well as new approaches to design user interfaces. The book is organized according to the following main topics in a sequential order: new interaction paradigms, multimodality, usability studies on several interaction mechanisms, human factors, universal design and development methodologies and tools

Mind the gap: gap factors in intercultural business communication : a study of German-Indian semi-virtual tech/engineering teams

While the affordances of technology have facilitated virtual modes of global collaboration, cultural variances and a geographically-dispersed environment can also lead to impaired group communication in team interaction. This qualitative study draws on data gathered from four organizations to investigate the miscommunication and cognitive dissonances reported by virtual German-Indian engineering/tech communities of practice. The study argues that it is not so much the performance or doing of a communicative act that creates dissonances, but the gaps, i.e., the absence or not-doing of certain communicative actions expected in a collaborative context. The gap factors are experienced as unfulfilled reciprocal expectations, and are classified and explored against three parameters: 1) the culture of a technological community of practice, 2) the power relations between the interactants, and 3) the consequences of virtual communication. The findings indicate a complementary divergence between the two groups regarding the nature of gaps. While the German teams report gaps in communicative efficiency and content caused e.g., by non-disclosure, euphemistic language and a deficiency in push communication, the Indian teams perceive gaps in relationality and affective signaling. At the same time, they are two sides of the same coin, with the divergences arising from the way in which the intersecting structural parameters are viewed as being salient in interaction. The study concludes with implications and suggestions for organizational practice

Exploring the C-SPAN Archives: Advancing the Research Agenda

Exploring the C-SPAN Archives is a collection of path-breaking research studies that use video drawn from the C-SPAN Archives. The book, based on the papers presented at a November 2014 conference, includes chapters that explore issues in presidential debates, minority representation, the presentation of the first ladies, stem research, and innovative ways to analyze video. The book is divided into five parts: Part 1 consists of an overview of and common scholarship using the C-SPAN Archives and how this research advances the conversation after previously published studies. Featured are the ways in which the collection is indexed and tips on how individuals can find particular materials. This section is essential for increased scholarship and pragmatic applications. Part 2 contains applied research using the video collection. Topics in this section include a look at oral histories of minority members of Congress, an analysis of presidential debates, and the presentation style of Michelle Obama. Part 3 is focused on STEM research, including concepts and contradictions in the debate over STEM initiatives, expertise and evidence in science presentations in the C-SPAN Archives, and the framing of technology issues in a C-SPAN television series, The Communicators. Part 4 presents innovative research using C-SPAN and new computer technology. Two scholars take different technical approaches to evaluate polarization and communication using audio levels and video images. Finally, in Part 5, David Caputo presents ideas on the value of massive open online courses (MOOCs) using C-SPAN and reflects on the use of C-SPAN for citizen education in what he terms the “postdigital world.” Additionally, Patrice Buzzanell contributes a reflective essay on the future directions of research using the C-SPAN Archives based on the essays in this volume