Using a Chatbot to learn English via Charades: the correlates between social presence, hedonic value, perceived value, and learning outcome

Abstract

Referring to the advantages of intelligent personal assistants, or virtual agents, Charades can be implemented with a Chatbot to enhance students' vocabulary mastery. However, only a few studies have addressed the effectiveness of learning through practice with chatbots based on the Charades approach. We designed a Charades game using Google Assistant for L2 learners of English to practice vocabulary, and explored the role of social presence, hedonic value, perceived value, and learning outcome, and their correlates. Data were collected from 153 respondents and were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed considerable efficacy of the learning outcomes, revealing a positive correlation between social presence, hedonic value, perceived value, and learning outcomes. The study's results suggest that incorporating well-designed Charades games via a chatbot with a virtual agent may enhance the perception of hedonic and perceived value and help L2 learners deepen their English vocabulary learning.