English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education emphasizes the need to develop the oral presentation skills of non-native learners for efficient communication. Traditional methods of teaching like workshops and digital tools have been somewhat effective but often lack personalized, real-time feedback, leaving a gap in the learning process. Acknowledging these limitations, researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have introduced CHOP (ChatGPT-based interactive platform for oral presentation practice).
CHOP is an innovative tool with a user-centric approach. It makes use of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT and Whisper and aims to provide contextualized and timely feedback to learners. The platform facilitates the enhancement of presentation skills by evaluating presentations based on several criteria including grammar usage, vocabulary, content, organization, and delivery. Students are offered detailed feedback on their fitness which helps them rectify their mistakes and improve their proficiency.
The effectiveness of CHOP has been tested on 13 students over a two-week period. This study incorporated interaction data, rehearsal audio, expert evaluations, and user ratings. The tool exhibited high scores in terms of feedback accuracy and relevance in many areas such as vocabulary. However, it showed less optimum performance in delivery feedback. The scores reflect ambiguities in understanding different delivery scores which were a result of challenges with the SuperSpeech API’s interpretability. It suggests that there is a need for more clarity and detail in feedback related to delivery aspects of presentations.
Despite these limitations, CHOP received favorable reviews from the students. Many reported a boost in confidence levels and a decrease in their nervousness during presentations. The platform was also appreciated for allowing learners to understand their strengths and weaknesses and for improving their self-assessment skills. Moreover, the preference to use partial rehearsing for detailed improvements followed by full run-through for an overall examination worked well with the students. Challenges did arise in interpreting feedback for long rehearsals, indicating the need for improvements in the feedback’s context and relevance.
In essence, CHOP represents a significant stride in the field of EFL education. Its approach of providing personalized real-time feedback mitigates speech anxiety and helps boost the comprehensive oral presentation skills of learners. The integration of AI techniques with pedagogy in CHOP offers a more interactive and effective learning journey for students and promises to be a solution to many challenges faced by EFL learners.
