Language Learning in the Wild

The aim of the project is to produce a digital kitchen that speaks to the user in French, (or other language) and gives instructions on how to prepare a French dish. Sensors are attached to all equipment so that each time an item is correctly or incorrectly moved, participants can be given appropriate verbal feedback and further instructions.This project adapts the technology of our existing Ambient Kitchen for communication with people with dementia and adapts it to the field of language learning. Participants are equipped with a headset and microphone and can request a repetition or a translation of what the kitchen is saying to them. A situated language learning session will take students through the cooking instructions step-by-step, as is receives evidence from the sensors that the participants have carried out the stages of the task. In addition to verbal instructions and feedback, these are provided in writing on a large font digital display with translation facility. Prior to the task, a video is shown of the food being prepared, together with audio and text in the foreign language. Assessment of task completion will be both continuous, using the kitchen's sensors to detect and evaluate appropriate activity, and post-test, through an analysis of acquired vocabulary and structures. Once designed, the kitchen will be trialled in an authentic training setting, namely in one of Newcastle College's large training kitchens. Students from both the Catering and French departments will use the kitchens to develop their linguistic and culinary skills. The design of the kitchen and related software will develop through user input and result in a fully trialled kitchen, which will be installed in the National Centre for Languages (CILT) in London, the Government's recognised centre of expertise on foreign language learning. CILT's role will be as the primary dissemination and exploitation partner and their staff will demonstrate the kitchen to visitors. The pedagogical design of this study employs Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT), a well-established approach to language learning which prompts learners to achieve a goal or complete a task. Much like real-world tasks, such as asking for directions, TBLT seeks to develop students' language through providing a task and then using language to solve it. This project provides an opportunity for language learning to be combined with the completion of a motivating real-world task in an authentic setting (college catering kitchens) using the latest technology. It therefore offers the opportunity of taking the excellent research-based pedagogical principles and procedures developed by TBLT over the years out of the classroom and into use in real-world applications.In terms of the broader social context, the pedagogical design of the situated language learning system is intended to create a transferable, interdisciplinary model of task-based, situated learning which can be applied to many different technological settings and many different skill and knowledge sets. A significant challenge for the UK is how to employ the available digital technology to upgrade the skills of its workforce in a rapidly changing world. A specific challenge is how to improve the declining foreign language proficiency of the British workforce. The number of pupils gaining a GCSE in a foreign language has decreased significantly, whilst a recent British Academy report discussed concerns that the future of the UK's world-class research base might be threatened by the decline in modern language learning. The language learning and spoken interaction aspects of the project will be led by Prof Paul Seedhouse and the technological aspect will be handled by Prof Patrick Olivier, who developed the existing Ambient Kitchen for communication with people with dementia.

There are a number of groups who will benefit on an economic level from this research: (1) The research will contribute to the economic competitiveness of UK business as a whole. The report 'Effects on the European Economy of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise', issued by the European Commission in December 2006, provided a detailed picture of situation in all the countries of the European Union. The report demonstrated that SMEs with a language strategy and those that invest in staff with language skills achieve 44% more export sales than those which do not. The CBI Education and Skills Survey 2009 shows that UK firms place a premium on staff who can communicate in a foreign language and who show an understanding of different cultures and business environments. Indeed the CBI has identified improving language skills to be a crucial component of the UK's strategy to penetrate new markets. (2) Within the commercial private sector, the research will provide a model for applying technology to language learning which has the potential to take task-based language learning out of the classroom and into people's homes and workplaces and public spaces. Education material developers and technology providers such as SANS and SANAKO develop products in the area of multimedia technology and language learning. Furthermore, through our collaboration with Philips Research (Eindhoven) in the development of the Ambient Kitchen we hope to develop a number of simple, readily deployable sensor modules, based on which language learning material developers can develop materials and a curriculum with quantifiable benefits. Our principal route to impact in this sector will be through the activities of our dissemination partner CILT. The high profile of CILT in the language learning industry will provide us with direct access to both education material developers and technology providers such as SANS and SANAKO. (3) Beneficiaries in the field of language teaching in the public sector in the UK include schools and Further Education colleges who may wish to employ the technology or an adaptation of it. Clearly the kitchen will be very suitable for FE catering departments. To ensure that beneficiaries have the opportunity to benefit from this research, we aim to carry out the following plan of dissemination: our key partner in this area is CILT. (4) National Centre for Languages (CILT) is the Government's recognised centre of expertise on foreign language learning. Their mission is to promote a greater capability in languages amongst all sectors of the UK population. Their role will be as the primary dissemination and exploitation partner, hosting a national dissemination event and an installation in CILT (London) that can be supported for the duration of the Research Hub (until September 2014). We will train staff in CILT in the use of the digital kitchen so that they can demonstrate this to visitors and their website will link to ours. A major national dissemination event will be held in CILT, with a demonstration of their installed kitchen. (5) We will also conduct a regional dissemination event in Newcastle University aimed at the language teaching community, again with a demonstration of our installed kitchen. (6) We will develop a website which explains the principles and technology on which the digital kitchen is based. A digital video demonstrating use of the kitchen and evidence of learning will be posted on the site. (7) Seedhouse will write a practical article on the project for the journals Language Learning Journal and Applied Linguistics and deliver papers at the Language World and BAAL conferences. We also anticipate a high impact article for the pervasive computing community documenting the successful deployment of such technology for real world learning.