Affective Lexicon for Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Affective Tutoring Systems (ATS) is a next-generation Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) that can detect learners' affective states and provide affective interventions to encourage learners and improve their motivation to learn using artificial intelligence techniques. However, little research has been done on creating an educational affective lexicon in English that those systems can use for providing affective intervention. There needs to be more evidence as to which phrases learners may like to receive from an ATS. This study investigates popular congratulating and encouraging phrases to build a comprehensive affective educational lexicon in English for ATS. Firstly, we examined and collected phrases by reviewing existing learning support systems from the literature that provide affective feedback to learners for constructing an affective lexicon. Secondly, 84 students from various qualifications and backgrounds evaluated the collected phrases by choosing the most popular ones in the congratulating and encouraging dimensions. The lexicon currently consists of 43 encouraging and 32 congratulating phrases categorised by popularity. The findings from this study will augment the ATS to provide better affective tutoring support for students by choosing more constructive and popular affective phrases.