GrounDialog: A Dataset for Repair and Grounding in Task-oriented Spoken Dialogues for Language Learning

Abstract

Improving conversational proficiency is a key target for students learning a new language. While acquiring conversational proficiency, students must learn the linguistic mechanisms of Repair and Grounding (R&G) to negotiate meaning and find common ground with their interlocutor so conversational breakdowns can be resolved. Task-oriented Spoken Dialogue Systems (SDS) have long been sought as a tool to hone conversational proficiency. However, the R&G patterns for language learners interacting with a task-oriented spoken dialogue system are not reflected explicitly in any existing datasets. Therefore, to move the needle in Spoken Dialogue Systems for language learning we present GrounDialog: an annotated dataset of spoken conversations where we elicit a rich set of R&G patterns.

Xuanming Zhang

PhD student in Computer Science

My research interests include Natural Language Processing, Social Computing, Dialogue Systems and Human-Computer Interaction.