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Language Learning with Artificial Entities: Effects of an Artificial Tutor’s Embodiment and Behavior on Users’ Alignment and Evaluation

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Abstract

Based on the assumption that humans align linguistically to their interlocutor, the present research investigates if linguistic alignment towards an artificial tutor can enhance language skills and which factors might drive this effect. A 2 \(\times \) 2 between-subjects design study examined the effect of an artificial tutor’s embodiment (robot vs. virtual agent) and behavior (meaningful nonverbal behavior vs. idle behavior) on linguistic alignment, learning outcome and interaction perception. While embodiment and nonverbal behavior affects the perception of the tutor and the interaction with it, no effect on users’ linguistic alignment was found nor an effect on users learning outcomes.

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Correspondence to Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten .

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Rosenthal-von der Pütten, A., Straßmann, C., Krämer, N. (2020). Language Learning with Artificial Entities: Effects of an Artificial Tutor’s Embodiment and Behavior on Users’ Alignment and Evaluation. In: Wagner, A.R., et al. Social Robotics. ICSR 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12483. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62056-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62056-1_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-62056-1

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