# Using Chatbots as AI Conversational Partners in Language Learning
## 2 Chatbots in Language Learning
The authors underlined certain affordances such as timeliness, ease of use and personalization, as well as some challenges such as the perceived unnaturalness of the computer-generated voice, and failed communication. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [23] highlighted the novelty of using chatbots in a new scenario based on microlearning, automation of the learning process and an adaptive learning environment. However, several drawbacks about the educational use of chatbots have also been reported. Criticism is mainly based on the scripted nature of their responses, which make them rather predictable, their limited understanding (vocabulary range, intentional meaning) and the ineffective communication (off topics, meaningless sentences) [12]. The two most cited challenges are related with students' (lack of) interest in such predictable tools, and the (in)effectiveness of chatbot-human communication in language learning. In the first case, [PERSON] et al. [24] compared chatbot-human versus human-human conversations through different tasks and evaluated the impact on the student interest. The authors concluded that human partner tasks can predict future course interest among students but this interest declines under chatbot partner conditions. In other words, student interest in chatbot conversation decreases after a certain period of time, usually known as the novelty effect. Concerning the linguistic (in)effectiveness of chatbot-human communication, [PERSON] [25,26] examined the accuracy of five renowned chatbots ([PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON]) at the grammatical level from an English as a Second Language (ESL) perspective. The author noticed that chatbots often provide meaningless answers, and observed some problems related with the accuracy rate for the joint categories of grammar and meaning. According to [PERSON], chatbots do not yet make good chatting partners but improvements in their performance can facilitate future developments. Interest in chatbots has grown rapidly over the last decade in light of the increasing number of publications [27], which lead some authors to talk about a chatbot hype [28; 29]. However, the benefits seem to outweigh the limitations since AI is a fast-growing technological sector, and many authors strongly believe in its educational potential. For example, [PERSON] [30] recently investigated the effectiveness of different chatbots in relation to four language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) and vocabulary, and pointed out that chatbots can become valuable tools to provide EFL students with opportunities to be exposed to authentic and natural input through both textual and auditory methods. Research on this topic has mainly focused on the accuracy of chatbot-human communication [7; 23; 31], language learning gains [21; 32] and satisfaction [33; 34; 35] from the current students' perspective; and on the attitudes toward the integration of chatbots in education from the in-service teachers' perspective [36; 37]. In this sense, [PERSON] et al. [38] investigated the impact of using a newly developed chatbot to learn Chinese vocabulary and students' perception through the technology acceptance model (TAM), and concluded that perceived usefulness (PU) was a predictor of behavioral intention (BI) whereas perceived ease of use (PEU) was not. Regarding in-service teachers, [PERSON] et al. [37] examined the acceptance of chatbots among 225 primary and secondary education teachers using also the technology acceptance model (TAM). The authors correlated the conversational design (use of social language and proactiveness) of chatbots with the teachers' age and digital skills, and their results showed that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) lead to greater chatbot acceptance. Similarly, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] analyzed the perception of using chatbots for teaching and learning delivery in a mobile environment among 142 ESL (English as a second language) teachers.