Developing a social media-based Chatbot for English learning

Abstract

The increasing number of foreign companies offering job vacancies in Indonesia is a blessing for new graduates. However, they could not use the opportunity due to their limited English skill. This condition may occur because there is a lack of human resource providing direct, gradual, and continuous assistance to improve their English skills. Nowadays, social media are very popular among various groups of people but they are mostly used for information exchanges. This study aims to develop an application inside Facebook as an English learning media to help students learn English more efficiently. This application is in the form of a Chatbot (an answering robot) as a substitute for a teacher to help those who have difficulties in learning English. The Chatbot integrated in the social media is expected to provide an easier adoption as the users are already familiar with its interface and navigation. This application has been applied to students of Telkom Vocational High School Malang and D3 English Study Program, State Polytechnic of Malang. With this application, students can learn English independently and utilize a rich collection of information and organized exercise items to get help or find more challenges whenever needed to avoid learning boredom.