A partnership, between the English Language and Culture Program at Simon Fraser University and the tech start-up Virtro, results in a pilot program integrating artificial intelligence and virtual reality into a language acquisition classroom.
The department sees hundreds of international students coming to SFU to learn English and continuing on to undergraduate studies.
Virtro is a start-up company working out of SFU VentureLabs, a hub where tech companies like Virtro work on high-tech ways of learning. Virtro approached the English Language and Culture Program with a new language learning app called Argotian in order to hold trial runs with students learning English as a second language. Bertrand Lee, 57, director of English Language and Culture at Simon Fraser University and his colleagues accepted, curious to see if their students could benefit from incorporating technology into the classroom.
What is Argotian?
Argotian combines virtual reality and artificial intelligence to create a digital space where students practice their English. Argotian is both entertaining as well as educational, sending students on a quest to retrieve a stolen painting. Students ask the various characters questions and the system’s artificial intelligence listens to each student’s unique question, and responds accordingly.
Tech’s place in classrooms
“The best way to learn English is to be fully immersed in the language and culture,” says Lee. “Even the best games are still artificial in replicating the real experience of using a language.”
“What we’re hoping is that [Argotian] will give students additional practice on their own, outside of classroom time,”
says Bertrand Lee. | Photo courtesy of SFU
Lee believes Argotian is effective as an educational tool because of its tech-savvy users. He notes students were quick in learning how to navigate through the world. Moreover, Lee sees huge potential in the way Argotian gives less confident students a platform to practice their English. Speaking to characters in virtual reality instead of real, live people allows students to be less self-conscious of their pronunciation. The program also allows confused students to ask a question again without feeling embarrassed.
“Argotian is an additional tool to gain more practice with the added benefit of being able to repeat questions and have the program answer them without being exhausted,” explains Lee.
A work in progress
“Well one thing we know for sure is that it will never replace a physical classroom with an instructor,” says Lee. “What we’re hoping is that [Argotian] will give students additional practice on their own, outside of classroom time.”
Although popular with the students, Argotian is far from being perfect. Lee explains he’s never been comfortable with technology. At the beginning of the trial, he had some trouble learning to navigate through the disorientating virtual reality. The program’s teaching capabilities require improvements as well. Lee explains the system would mishear his question or resort to the default answer that didn’t completely answer his question on occasion. However, Virtro’s team is always tweaking the app with feedback from students and instructors alike, and Argotian is always being improved upon.
“It learns, and I hear that they can input and teach the system to respond to harder question[s],” says Lee. “It’s constantly learning and improving itself.”
The future of Argotian
Argotian has yielded some mixed results. Some students adore the app’s entertainment elements and use of cutting-edge technology. Others simply prefer to practice the language in the physical world. For now, the consensus is that Argotian can’t replicate classroom discussion, but that isn’t the program’s intention anyways. Lee views Argotian as an exercise
intended to supplement classroom discussion, and in that capacity Argotian works well. Lee is optimistic about the program’s future, and he hopes that in the future, Argotian could allow students to practice real-life skills, like ordering in a restaurant or opening a bank account.
“To be able to go into a virtual world and practice the language can be valuable,” says Lee. “I can see the potential of Virtro creating real-life situations for students.”
For more information, please visit www.virtro.ca and www.sfu.ca/elc.html
