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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15504 |
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| _version_ | 1866911579276050432 |
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| author | Tahmasbi, Amir Esrafilian, Milad Wright, Judson Jeong, Sooyeon Bera, Aniket |
| author_facet | Tahmasbi, Amir Esrafilian, Milad Wright, Judson Jeong, Sooyeon Bera, Aniket |
| contents | Natural and idiomatic expressions are essential for fluent, everyday communication, yet many second-language learners struggle to acquire and spontaneously use casual slang despite strong formal proficiency. To address this gap, we designed and evaluated an LLM-powered, task-based role-playing game in which a GPT-4o-based Game Master guides learners through an immersive, three-phase spoken narrative. After selecting five unfamiliar slang phrases to practice, participants engage in open-ended dialogue with non-player characters; the Game Master naturally incorporates the target phrases in rich semantic contexts (implicit input enhancement) while a dedicated Practice Box provides real-time explicit tracking and encouragement. Post-session, learners receive multi-level formative feedback analyzing the entire interaction. We evaluated the system in a between-subjects study with 14 international graduate students, randomly assigned to either the RPG condition or a control condition consisting of a traditional AI-led virtual classroom. Results from an immediate post-test show that the RPG group achieved greater gains in both comprehension of the target phrases and their accurate, contextual use in sentences. A one-week delayed post-test further demonstrates that these gains are retained over time, with the RPG group showing a 21-27% improvement, indicating the effectiveness of our approach in supporting longer-term learning. Qualitative survey responses assessing engagement and perceived effectiveness further indicate that the game-based approach provided more practice opportunities and a more natural learning experience. These findings highlight the potential of narrative-driven LLM interactions in vocabulary acquisition. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_15504 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Game Master LLM: Task-Based Role-Playing for Natural Slang Learning Tahmasbi, Amir Esrafilian, Milad Wright, Judson Jeong, Sooyeon Bera, Aniket Human-Computer Interaction Natural and idiomatic expressions are essential for fluent, everyday communication, yet many second-language learners struggle to acquire and spontaneously use casual slang despite strong formal proficiency. To address this gap, we designed and evaluated an LLM-powered, task-based role-playing game in which a GPT-4o-based Game Master guides learners through an immersive, three-phase spoken narrative. After selecting five unfamiliar slang phrases to practice, participants engage in open-ended dialogue with non-player characters; the Game Master naturally incorporates the target phrases in rich semantic contexts (implicit input enhancement) while a dedicated Practice Box provides real-time explicit tracking and encouragement. Post-session, learners receive multi-level formative feedback analyzing the entire interaction. We evaluated the system in a between-subjects study with 14 international graduate students, randomly assigned to either the RPG condition or a control condition consisting of a traditional AI-led virtual classroom. Results from an immediate post-test show that the RPG group achieved greater gains in both comprehension of the target phrases and their accurate, contextual use in sentences. A one-week delayed post-test further demonstrates that these gains are retained over time, with the RPG group showing a 21-27% improvement, indicating the effectiveness of our approach in supporting longer-term learning. Qualitative survey responses assessing engagement and perceived effectiveness further indicate that the game-based approach provided more practice opportunities and a more natural learning experience. These findings highlight the potential of narrative-driven LLM interactions in vocabulary acquisition. |
| title | Game Master LLM: Task-Based Role-Playing for Natural Slang Learning |
| topic | Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15504 |