First Steps towards an Argumentative Dialogue System for Oracy Skills Development in Schools

Abstract

[EN] There is academic and institutional interest in implementing dialogic approaches to teaching, as dialogue has been shown to be both a means towards learning and a goal in a global society where oracy skills are crucial. Some technologies have already proven useful in dialogic teaching. However, no link has been established between dialogic teaching and dialogue systems, which might be suitable for this approach. We thus analyze the literature on dialogic teaching, dialogue systems for education, and dialogue-system design to describe the features that could result in a successful argumentative dialogue system for dialogic teaching. We propose an example system and compile a dataset of possible student input. Tests performed on the dataset reveal that basic text annotation and a semantic similarity tool may be useful for assessing students' performance on the analytical part of the proposed task; further data gathering and tests are needed to draw conclusions for the remainder of the task.