Designing a Chatbot for Language Learning for Professional Purposes: How can chatbot and simulation technology help train drivers maintain and enhance their second language for specific purposes?

From December 2020 train drivers employed by the Schweizerische Südostbahn (SOB)will be required to drive trains from the German-speaking region of Switzerland across the language barrier into the Italian-speaking region. For this purpose they have been instructed in Italian using innovative teaching methods based on simulation and virtual reality. Now they must maintain their Italian language skills independently and to assist them with this, this project aims to develop an instructional design for a mobile chatbot-based language learning and practice application. The design will be based on their prior language training and their user requirements, as well as the literature in abroad interdisciplinary eld that incorporates Language for Specific Purposes, andragogy theory and the prior use of technology in language learning. The results of this project will feedback into a broader research project at FHNW and form the basis for future Master thesis projects.