Conversational Agents

This paper describes a conversational agent for language learning. Our goal is to provide an environment that allows learners to practice language skills by interacting with other learners and artificial conversational agents using instant messaging and email. The learners take part in an adventure story and must use dialogues that are typically found in basal language textbooks to move forward in the adventure. Within the conversational agent these dialogues are modeled as dialogue games—transition networks linking the possible linguistic actions that describe the dialogue. The story moves forward from one dialogue game to another by means of a planner based on situated activity (Agre and Chapman 1988). The implemented prototype system allows three students of Spanish to take part in a magical adventure centered on the famous Mexican polyglot and heroine, La Malinche.