Abstract

A major focus of research in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) has been the identification and implementation of feedback Strategies that facilitate student learning. Much of this research has been carried out on systems teaching procedural skills in domains such as algebra, physics or computer programming. There has been little effort devoted to ITS for Foreign Language or Intelligent Computer Assisted Language Learning (ICALL). This paper aims to inform the design of feedback strategies in ITS systems. In order to provide guidelines for researchers developing feedback strategies for these systems, we explore empirical evidence about effectiveness of feedback strategies used in an experimental study in which students interacted with a web-based tutoring program. The results show that prompting strategies are more effective for dealing with grammatical errors. We suggest that a Intelligent Tutorial Systems for Spanish as a foreign language should implement feedback which prompts students for answers with grammar errors.