Critical Issues

Abstract

Despite the evaluation’s clear demonstration of the usefulness of adaptation at the interface, both theoretical and practical problems remain. The discussion in this chapter is offered as a kind of friendly warning to others interested in adaptive language acquisition for spontaneously generated input. The issues raised here are probably inherent in learning from real user interactions; regardless of the model you choose or the implementation you design, these problems are not likely to disappear. The best one can do under such circumstances is to try to understand the tradeoffs involved in each issue and find the appropriate balance within one’s particular framework.