Lakhasly

The advantages seem to be that learners can interact on an individual basis with an in�nitely patient robot, who will wait as long as it takes for them to compose the language they want to use.It is also worth noting that opportunities already exist for learners to contact each other and exchange languages in real time by Skype and text chat, using sites such as the Language Exchange Community (see our accompanying website) but that they will probably need to be more con�dent users of the language to do so. In addition to giving learners opportunities to plan and rehearse spoken language, Harmer also suggests three other ways in which students can develop speaking skills: by repetition, by practising speaking in smaller groups before moving on to larger groups, and by making sure that everybody in the class takes part in speaking activities, something he calls 'mandatory participation'.At present, chatbots allow learners to practice orality in terms of interaction between speaker and listener, and they give them practice in responding appropriately in one of the �xed routines (question, answer, sometimes also feedback) which is commonly found in spoken language.The drawback is that the chatbot responses are often in language one would associate more with 'traditional' genres of written language, avoiding, for instance, colloquialisms or incomplete sentences.However, they do not allow them to rehearse many of the features of spoken language apart from pronunciation.

The advantages seem to be that learners can interact on an individual basis with an innitely patient robot, who will wait as long as it takes for them to compose the language they want to use. The chatbot, in his or her reply, gives a model for pronunciation which the learners can repeat as many times as they wish. The drawback is that the chatbot responses are often in language one would associate more with ‘traditional’ genres of written language, avoiding, for instance, colloquialisms or incomplete sentences. At present, chatbots allow learners to practice orality in terms of interaction between speaker and listener, and they give them practice in responding appropriately in one of the xed routines (question, answer, sometimes also feedback) which is commonly found in spoken language. However, they do not allow them to rehearse many of the features of spoken language apart from pronunciation. This will probably change in the future, so it is worth keeping an eye on developments in this area. One interesting possibility at the time of writing, for example, makes use of webcams. Teachers record and leave a question for students in a

kind of video booth and students video themselves answering it. They can do this from home at a time which suits them, and rehearse their answer rst. This kind of interaction is likely to contain many more features of spoken language. It is also worth noting that opportunities already exist for learners to contact each other and exchange languages in real time by Skype and text chat, using sites such as the Language Exchange Community (see our accompanying website) but that they will probably need to be more condent users of the language to do so.
In addition to giving learners opportunities to plan and rehearse spoken language, Harmer also suggests three other ways in which students can develop speaking skills: by repetition, by practising speaking in smaller groups before moving on to larger groups, and by making sure that everybody in the class takes part in speaking activities, something he calls ‘mandatory participation’. Technology provides a lot of opportunities for doing these things. Harmer points out that repetition is useful because ‘each new encounter with a word or phrase helps x it in the student’s memory’ (2007: 346). Students can try to improve on the spoken language the next time round, and they are not having to go through the processes of conceptualizing and formulating the language again, so they can concentrate on articulation. The repetition works best, however, if students get a chance to analyse and evaluate how successful they have been. This feedback could come from the teacher or classmates (and we will see in Task 6 how that works with Vokis used with secondary school students) or it could be the computer which provides the feedback, as in Task 5 below.