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Abstract: The practice of teaching a foreign language in a higher education institution includes holding debates on a controversial topic, going back to the pattern of competitive rhetoric of antiquity. In the most famous examination tests confirming the level of language proficiency (TOEFL in English, CILS in English, DALF in French and DELE in Spanish) C2 (advanced level, allowing one to teach a foreign language to foreigners), there is also an element of public debate. The examinee is asked to speak orally in a foreign language on any controversial topic, presenting their point of view. Depending on the exam conditions, one, two or several topics are offered to choose from, or the students are asked to express their opinion after listening to an oral presentation without choosing a topic. Preparation time may not be provided at all or may vary from two to fifteen minutes. The authors argue that this practice reproduces the idea that a person who can convincingly speak on a controversial topic and make the audience share a particular point of view is competent in the matter. The ancient practice of competitive rhetoric implied the presence of two basic strategies for effective speech – mimesis (imitation of another effective speech) and genesis (generation of the speech text according to productive argumentative models, taking into account the characteristics of the audience). The school of Socrates – Plato – Aristotle, which was continued in the rhetoric of Ancient Rome, relied on the practice of genesis, condemning the sophists who relied on mimesis. Productive realization of a competitive dialogue needs at least two actors-speakers defending opposing points of view. During practical session, students can compete with each other while conducting both dialogue and polylogue. During the exam, the student finds themselves in a situation of a “dialogue with emptiness”, which distorts real communication practice and does not allow the examiner to verify the real level of foreign language proficiency in the communication process. To overcome this problem, the study suggests using artificial intelligence as a second actor – a pseudo-interlocutor who can generate a coherent reasoned utterance. The neural network was asked to produce utterances using agonistic-oriented topics, and the resulting texts were analyzed from the point of view of their argumentative structure and offered for reading to university students learning English. The study showed the potential of artificial intelligence in debate conduct. It is recommended to extend the practice of using neural networks as a second actor in debates both to conducting exams and training for them.

About the author(s) :

Anna V. Lamzina

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University) (Dolgoprudny, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6464-9675

 

Alina G. Silcheva

Moscow University named after A. S. Griboedov (Moscow, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6501-1339

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 21.10.2024; date of publication: 28.12.2024

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