Laguage Café with AI
The Language Café at Malmö University is an innovative initiative I started three years ago with the personal goal of improving my Swedish language skills. What began as a small gathering for language practice has since became a space where participants from diverse backgrounds come together to explore new and creative ways to practice and enhance their language abilities. In the Language Café, we utilize a variety of tools to facilitate conversations and ensure that all participants are actively involved. These tools include card games that feature fun and easy questions designed to stimulate conversation and break the ice. We also employ strategies for turn-taking, such as the use of a “fireball”, which participants pass around ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the conversation.
This porject explores the integration of digital technologies to enhance language acquisition. By collecting digital traces of interactions—such as audio recordings, conversation flows, and participation patterns—we can analyze these data to gain a detailed view of each participant’s experience. This analysis is beneficial for participants, who receive personalized feedback on their learning progress, and also for educators and/or researchers. The insights gained from these digital traces help in designing more effective learning environments and processes that are tailored to the needs of the participants. We have a special focus on generative AI, which is used as a conversational aid. Generative AI offers the possibility of creating dynamic and interactive conversations that can adapt to the learner’s proficiency level, provide instant feedback, and introduce new vocabulary and expressions in a natural context. Moreover, AI can facilitate the collection of multimodal data—such as speech, gestures, and facial expressions—enriching the learning analytics and providing a more comprehensive understanding of the learning process.
We conducted a systematic review of smart assistants suitable for multimodal learning analytics systems in spoken language acquisition. This research provides an analysis of the available technologies and their potential applications in language learning environments like the Language Café. The Language Café has also played a role in my doctoral studies, serving as a case for the design of a Multimodal Learning Analytics system specifically tailored to the unique environment of the café. This system is designed to capture and analyze the rich, multimodal data generated during language practice sessions, offering new insights into the learning process and enabling more personalized and effective language learning experiences.