#4323

Presentation

Practicing business English skills with AI chatbots

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AI is used to handle many tasks that office workers had previously done, such as writing emails and responding to customer inquiries via chat. Therefore, business English classes should prepare students to use AI tools, while also helping them improve their English skills. In this presentation, the presenter will describe and share materials from a task-based business English class in which students used Poe, a site where users can create AI chatbots for free. The class included modules on emailing, texting, telephoning, and video conferencing. The students worked with a classmate to practice each skill with an AI partner created by the teacher, then practiced the skill with a classmate before taking an individual test. In the telephoning module, the students worked together to make a hotel reservation for a customer on the telephone, with the customer played by an AI. They interacted with two additional AIs and got feedback from the teacher. Then, they practiced with their partners playing the role of the customer and received further feedback. Finally, they took an individual exam with their teacher playing the role of the customer. To sum up the semester, students created their own chatbots to perform business tasks.

  • Elizabeth Lavolette

    aka Betsy Professor, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Kyoto Sangyo University https://betsylavolette.com/