# Using Adaptive Empathetic Responses for Teaching English

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.13764 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.13764/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 66 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Apr 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Llama 2: Open Foundation and Fine-Tuned Chat Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09288/) (2023)
- [Robust Speech Recognition via Large-Scale Weak Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04356/) (2022)
- [Constitutional AI: Harmlessness from AI Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08073/) (2022)
- [Scaling Instruction-Finetuned Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.11416/) (2022)
- [ChatGPT Outperforms Crowd-Workers for Text-Annotation Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.15056/) (2023)
- [DSPy: Compiling Declarative Language Model Calls into Self-Improving Pipelines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03714/) (2023)
- [The Design and Implementation of XiaoIce, an Empathetic Social Chatbot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.08989/) (2018)
- [Curriculum-Driven Edubot: A Framework for Developing Language Learning Chatbots Through Synthesizing Conversational Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16804/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [ELLMA-T: an Embodied LLM-agent for Supporting English Language Learning in Social VR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.02406/) (2024)
- [EDEN: Empathetic Dialogues for English learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17982/) (2024)
- [Animating Language Practice: Engagement with Stylized Conversational Agents in Japanese Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06483/) (2025)
- [A Concise Agent is Less Expert: Revealing Side Effects of Using Style Features on Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10809/) (2026)
- [Incentives Of EdTech: A Systematic Review Of EduNLP Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.13691/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Existing English-teaching chatbots rarely incorporate empathy explicitly in their feedback, but empathetic feedback could help keep students engaged and reduce learner anxiety. Toward this end, we propose the task of negative emotion detection via audio, for recognizing empathetic feedback opportunities in language learning. We then build the first spoken English-teaching chatbot with adaptive, empathetic feedback. This feedback is synthesized through automatic prompt optimization of ChatGPT and is evaluated with English learners. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system through a preliminary user study.