Project Summary

 

This innovative collaborative project led by Nicole Mills, Senior Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures (FAS), evaluated the use of an interactive AI writing companion that assists beginning language learners in a process-oriented, genre-based approach to writing with a personalized chatbot writing thought partner. At the outset of this course, students were immersed in the lives of four different Parisians via photorealistic virtual reality (VR) immersive experiences. An 11-year-old named Lee from this VR project then comes to virtual life as students’ personalized AI writing thought partner (with Lee, himself, involved in the creation of his own avatar and prompting). Features of this genre-based writing assistant include: 1) interactive discussion and analysis of the content, structure, and style of a model composition; 2) interactive brainstorming about their own composition’s content; 3) curated and personalized vocabulary support and “textual borrowing” from the model composition; 4) and grammar feedback, explanations, and error identification in initial student drafts. The AI tutor and student dynamic conversations during these writing phases can be tracked and reviewed by the instructor on the Wonda platform.

Through the intersection of key learning design principles and research in second language acquisition, this project showcases how photorealistic VR immersive experiences can intersect with thoughtfully designed chatbots to engage students in spontaneous communication, text interpretation, and writing guidance in culturally rich virtual environments, ultimately showcasing how chatbots have the capacity to “come to life” as more than just decontextualized bots.

Perceptions of the platform’s efficacy were assessed employing constructs from the psychology of language learning such as writing self-efficacy, anxiety, self-regulation and user experience measures such as perceived anthropomorphism, teaching presence, and enjoyment. Findings revealed that students’ perceptions and enjoyment of the AI chatbot were associated with how competent students perceived themselves to be as writers and other self-reported outcomes. For a more comprehensive insight into the project, refer to Mills, Hok, Dressen, & Veillas (2025), “The Design and Evaluation of an Interactive AI Companion for Foreign Language Writing,” published in the Foreign Language Annals.

 

Nicole Mills, Senior Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures (FAS)