MIA

Since online discussion platforms can limit the perception of social cues, effective collaboration over videochat requires additional attention to conversational skills. However, self-affirmation and defensive bias theories indicate that feedback may appear confrontational, especially when users are not motivated to incorporate them. We develop a feedback chatbot that employs Motivational Interviewing (MI), a directive counseling method that encourages commitment to behavior change, with the end goal of improving the user's conversational skills. We conduct a within-subject study with 21 participants in 8 teams to evaluate our MI-agent 'MIA' and a non-MI-agent 'Roboto'. After interacting with an agent, participants are tasked with conversing over videochat to evaluate candidate résumés for a job circular. Our quantitative evaluation shows that the MI-agent effectively motivates users, improves their conversational skills, and is likable. Through a qualitative lens, we present the strategies and the cautions needed to fulfill individual and team goals during group discussions. Our findings reveal the potential of the MI technique to improve collaboration and provide examples of conversational tactics important for optimal discussion outcomes.

For a real job? Views on the teaching of competence in working life by students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

In this study, twelve young students on the autism spectrum were interviewed on preparation for working life, employment guidance, the challenges and strengths of the autism spectrum, and suitable teaching methods. Interviews were supported by a structured and illustrated questionnaire. The data were analysed using key statistics. The results showed that, from the students’ perspective, the most important issues in preparation for work are familiarisation with different jobs, guidance in searching for a suitable job, evaluation of the suitability of the working environment, integration of occupational safety into work skills, and acquiring conversational skills in the workplace. The selection of a suitable working environment is clearly emphasised before transitioning to work. Acquiring and keeping a job require investing in social situations and skills in studying. The structuring should be flexible and adaptable according to situations and personal needs. Educationally, social interaction, social skills, and communication should form a coherent whole. The main goal for everyday life ought to be communicative and based on a structure for acquiring different skills. The results can be utilised in a vocational education and training (VET) context, because they support the importance of preparatory education as part of these studies. In addition, the results can also be used in on-the-job learning plans for VET.

MAKNA RAGAM BAHASA JEPANG DANSEIGO DALAM KOMIK DORAEMON VOLUME 3

Japanese has a different form of conversational skills from other languages ​​in the world, namely the Danseigo language variety and the Joseigo language variety. Danseigo is a language variety that is often used by men in Japan when communicating. Danseigo is a male language that tends to be rude and informal. Danseigo is rarely found during formal events. Usually men use standard Japanese or use keigo if the other person is a respectable person. The formulation of the problem in this study is what is the meaning and function of shuujoshi in danseigo found in the Doraemon comic volume 3? The purpose of this research is to find out the meaning and function of shuujoshi in danseigo found in Doraemon comic volume 3. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The source of data used in the analysis of this research is a written source, namely the comic "Doraemon volume 3". In this comic, a form of conversation is found that uses a variety of languages ​​and seigo. In addition, the use of shuujoshi (sound at the end of sentences) (~sa, ~kana/na, ~yo, ~ze, ~zo) and the use of ninshou daimeishi (boku, kimi, omae, aitsu, soitsu) were also found. This is because the comic characters are dominated by boys. Therefore, the use of danseigo is found in the Doraemon comic Volume 3.

ChiCo: A Multimodal Corpus for the Study of Child Conversation

The study of how children develop their conversational skills is an important scientific frontier at the crossroad of social, cognitive, and linguistic development with important applications in health, education, and child-oriented AI. While recent advances in machine learning techniques allow us to develop formal theories of conversational development in real-life contexts, progress has been slowed down by the lack of corpora that both approximate naturalistic interaction and provide clear access to children’s non-verbal behavior in face-to-face conversations. This work is an effort to fill this gap. We introduce ChiCo (for Child Conversation), a corpus we built using an online video chat system. Using a weakly structured task (a word-guessing game), we recorded 20 conversations involving either children in middle childhood (i.e., 6 to 12 years old) interacting with their caregivers (condition of interest) or the same caregivers interacting with other adults (a control condition), resulting in 40 individual recordings. Our annotation of these videos has shown that the frequency of children’s use of gaze, gesture, and facial expressions mirrors that of adults. Future modeling research can capitalize on this rich behavioral data to study how both verbal and non-verbal cues contribute to the development of conversational coordination

Mechanisms of meaning making in the co-occurrence of pragmatic markers with silent pauses

This study explores the social meanings of unfilled pauses, you know, like, and combinations thereof by comparing the evaluation of speech with these features to speech without them. The comparison is based on a set of perception surveys in which participants listened to manipulated audio stimuli and rated them on a series of scales. Unfilled pauses are evaluated differently from all other features: they are rated high on Status and low on Dynamism. Where significant differences emerge, the pragmatic markers you know, like, and combinations of pauses with these are always rated lower than the guises without. They are most sensitive to personal characteristics in the Dynamism dimension, followed by Conversational Skills, Likeability, and Status. The mechanism that adapts the potential social meanings of linguistic features when they are combined hinges on the social salience of the features in question. Various outcomes are possible ranging from additive to non-additive effects. (Like, you know, attitudes, social meanings, prestige, solidarity, dynamism)

IMPROVING BASIC LEVEL MANDARIN CONVERSATION SKILLS THROUGH THE PICTURE AND PICTURE METHOD FOR STUDENTS - PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DHARMA PANCASILA MEDAN

Along with the times and the demands of industry 4.0, strict technological, economic, social, and cultural developments make every country compete, and everything becomes very easy to access. For this reason, building human resources that are hard-working, dynamic, skilled, and mastering science and technology is necessary to invite talents from other countries to cooperate with Indonesia. Currently, Indonesia has collaborated with other countries, one of which is China. Therefore, in this community service activity, efforts will be made to improve Mandarin's conversational skills through the picture to picture method. This activity has been carried out online through zoom meetings. The number of students who took part in this activity was 20 students of SMA Dharma Pancasila. In its implementation, the picture and picture method approach is used with materials from power points that have been optimized by the service team and specifically for high school students. This community service has resulted in the outcome, namely assistance in improving Chinese conversations, which impacts improving students' Mandarin language skills

Comparing Frequency of Listener Responses Between Adolescents with and Without ASD During Conversation

In conversation, the listener plays an active role in conversation success, specifically by providing listener feedback which signals comprehension and interest. Previous work has shown that frequency of feedback positively correlates with conversation success. Because individuals with ASD are known to struggle with various conversational skills, e.g., turn-taking and commenting, this study examines their use of listener feedback by comparing the frequency of feedback produced by 20 adolescents with ASD and 23 neurotypical (NT) adolescents. We coded verbal and nonverbal listener feedback during the time when participants were listening in a semi-structured interview with a research assistant. Results show that ASD participants produced significantly fewer instances of listener feedback than NT adolescents, which likely contributes to difficulties with social interactions.

The need to use English-language TV channels in the formation of intercultural conversational skills

The relevance of the work is due to the global process of informatization, which is observed in any field of human activity, especially in education. Recently, new and non-standard information and communication technologies have been widely used in educational institutions. This phenomenon contributed to the intensive development of educational institutions, which made it possible to successfully solve many problems of the modern education system: various forms of educational materials, the availability of education, the use of new technologies and teaching methods, and many other problems. This article presents the theoretical foundations of the use of English-language TV channels for the formation of intercultural competence in English classes. This study examined methods for defining concepts and components of cross-cultural competence. Explains the peculiarities of using English-language TV channels in the context of an intercultural approach to teaching foreign languages.