The whole area of determining just what are the right expressions and hints is a rich one that is generating many valuable studies. Otto, one of AutoTutor's Talking Heads clean , butter , fry , lift , open , burn , and apron frequently occur in the context of kitchen whereas throw , bat , inning , watch , and pitcher frequently occur in the context of baseball . A good student knows what words to use at the right time for a particular topic. This is what LSA can capture. In particular, it could be demonstrated that students who read a chapter and then used AutoTutor made greater strides in learning the material than those who read and then re-read the chapter.
Initial studies show that it can be quite promising.
Further, such a tutor, like the best human tutors, does not tell them exactly what they need to do to correct or improve a passage, but makes them reflect on the possibilities for improvement. Electronic tutors don't care about first impressions. This sort of technology is still developing and is not foolproof. In the future, voice response may be possible, but for now the keyboard is far superior. Only about 1 in 4 people have voice characteristics that make their voices easy to translate and understand.