The didactic potential of the voice assistant “Alice” for students of a foreign language at a university

Students learning a new language are aided by the use of a voice assistant when practicing speech, as it allows them to intensify their independent studies and master the elementary level of a foreign language. Moreover, the didactic potential of the Russian voice assistant “Alice” has hardly been studied in the context of teaching a foreign language at the university level. The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of educational interactions between students who are mastering a beginner level of Russian as a foreign language at university with the aid of the voice assistant “Alice”. This study involved foreign students of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The observation method allowed us to determine five educational functions of “Alice” while studying a foreign language and five scenarios of educational interaction students had with “her” in the process of their independent study. The flipped classroom model was selected to implement the proposed scenarios. The effectiveness of these educational interactions is confirmed by the results of the exam, which tested whether students meet the requirements for a beginner level of proficiency in Russian as a foreign language. After the exam, foreign students left positive feedback about working with “Alice”. The results of the study indicate the didactic potential of the Russian voice assistant for those studying Russian at a university as an international student. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.