Future English Learning: Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence

Advancements in robotic research have enabled robots to assist humans in many ways. Chatbots have been considered useful in many areas and research has increasingly focused on applying this technology to language education. The purpose of this study is to report on and review different types of intelligent chatbots in terms of language learning. The findings reveal that there are few chatbot programs that allow for direct interaction between chatbots and humans through voice recognition systems or texting for the purpose of learning foreign languages. Researchers have investigated the limited use of AI in education fields, including chatbot applications aimed at improving English teaching and learning. Based on their empirical studies, chatbots have proven to have some positive effects on students’ communication skills largely by their effect on expanding the quantity of their interactions, meaning negotiation, increasing their motivation, and on raising their interest in learning. Thus, this study proposes that chatbots can enrich language inputs and bring opportunities for language learners to raise communicative competence. More studies should be conducted to develop chatbots for learning foreign languages. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for future research directions concerning chatbots in the realm of language education are presented, and further pedagogical implications are discussed.