Chatbot as a Pedagogic Tool for Collaborative Goal-Setting in Teacher Education: Instructor and Student Perceptions

Abstract

<p>Situated within the context of initial teacher education at a university in Hong Kong, this paper examines an instructor’s first experimentation with the use of chatbot in an undergraduate module on English language teaching methodology. The chatbot was designed to engage pre-service English teachers in a dialogue in negotiating expectations and defining learning goals prior to course commencement. The scripting of the question-prompts in the text-based chatbot conversation was guided by Doran’s (1981) and Harmer’s (2015) SMART frameworks. Strategies recommended by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (1999) to promote interpersonal, open and cohesive communication online were employed to amplify the instructor’s social presence on chatbot. Data of this case study was collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with the students and instructor, and an analysis of chatbot-student utterance turns. Results indicated students’ behavioral engagement, perceived social presence and positive goal-setting experience. Most interestingly, students were observed to be interacting with their Learning Buddy on chatbot as “a real person”. Findings suggest the mediating role of chatbot in establishing instructor-student rapport and facilitating communication, and its influence in the tailoring of ongoing course learning activities. The instructor’s critical reflections on how chatbot could be optimised as a pedagogic tool for use in both virtual and face-to-face classroom settings in the shaping of a co-constructed and negotiated curriculum and to achieve desired learning outcomes will be discussed. Further implications for chatbot use in teacher education will also be explored.<br></p>