How to establish junior high school English: Development of learning system with neuroscience verification using language processing technology

Abstract

There is a need for better communication as globalisation continues apace and, therefore, learning a foreign language could be considered more important than ever before. Professor Hirokazu Yokokawa is a psycholinguistic expert based at Kobe University and believes that improving one's English language ability is essential to living better in a global society. He is currently working to utilise knowledge communication technology to develop a learning training system in collaboration with engineering and neurology researchers. When it comes to communicating in a foreign language, Yokokawa's approach is to offer the text during the retelling task so that the learner can focus on training in grammar coding processing as the initial conceptualisation sub-task has been reduced, thereby promoting the automation of language processing and improving social skills. Yokokawa and his collaborators have carried out a user survey to determine users' preferences with regards to feedback on their learning and they plan to conduct further investigations to decipher the type of virtual agent behaviour that is preferred by the majority of users and whether this has an impact on training. The researchers' learning system includes interaction with avatars with a view to increase users' subjective assessment of their own speaking abilities and decrease nervousness associated with interacting with an unfamiliar person, ultimately helping users to feel more at ease.