Virtual English Teachers for Science and Engineering Students

Abstract

There is an urgent need to improve students' English skills so that they can study well at the University and become more competitive for employment after graduation. Although some English courses can help, much more is needed. An important issue is how to motivate the students to learn more English. That is, we should provide interesting material and attractive environment for students to learn effectively. This project can achieve these goals by using an innovative approach of virtual English teachers. We aim to develop an effective computer, Internet and mobile phone based system for science and engineering students to improve their English skills. We will use an innovative virtual face-to-face teaching and learning technology. A student can choose a favourite teacher from a large database of virtual teachers and learn from this teacher. Advanced computer facial animation technology will be employed to create virtual characters to make the system interesting to use. Students will be able to learn vocabularies, grammar and communication skills for science and engineering subjects. The system can be expanded in the future for effective teaching and learning in other fields.