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76505-01 - Seminar: Pragmatic Approaches to Human-Chatbot Interaction in English (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Thomas Messerli (thomas.messerli@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | With the rapid development of large language models, new conversational settings and practices have emerged – most prominently Human-Chatbot interaction as exemplified by interactions with ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini. In this course, we examine this conversational setting through the lens of linguistic pragmatics. We treat chatbot interaction as a form of digital discourse that can be examined with pragmatic tools developed for the analysis of human-human interaction. Key topics include prompt construction and user identity, the pragmatics of AI-generated responses (e.g., politeness, deixis, speech acts), and the organization of Human-chatbot conversations, including turn-taking and repair. Each session combines theoretical input with hands-on analysis of real chatbot interactions, encouraging students to critically assess and adapt existing frameworks for this new communicative context. Students who attended the seminar “Linguistic approaches to Human-AI interaction” (71059) are welcome to join and may receive alternative preparatory tasks in selected sessions. |
| Learning objectives | By the end of the course, students will be more familiar with key theories and methods from linguistic pragmatics, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis, with a particular focus on their application to Human-Chatbot interaction. They will have revisited central concepts from Digital Conversation Analysis and Digital Discourse Analysis and explored how these can be adapted to the study of interactions with different chatbot systems. Through hands-on work with real chatbot data, students will critically examine their own prompts, AI-generated responses, and the dynamics of Human-Chatbot conversations. They will deepen their understanding of language use in specific situated contexts, both theoretically and practically, and strengthen their broader knowledge of linguistic pragmatics. Students will analyse interactional data, present key insights from preparatory reading in short presentations, and engage in collaborative discussion and reflection on the communicative phenomena covered in the course. |
| Bibliography | All obligatory reading for the course will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This course is open to students of English who have passed all three BA introductory modules (including the proseminar papers) and to MA students of English and MSG Sprache und Kommunikation. |
| Course application | Please register for this course on services unibas. In order to ensure a good learning environment, we aim at no more than 20 students per linguistics seminar. We ask you to sign up for classes via the ADAM registration surveys, which will open on 4 August 2025, 10am (CEST) and close on 19 September 2025, 2pm (CEST): https://adam.unibas.ch/goto_adam_crs_1623802.html. **Please only register for a maximum of TWO seminars and only for more than one if you really intend to take both courses.** Should you have not made it into one of the courses and you are only able to register on the list in a position higher than 20, we guarantee that we will take you in the course with the least student numbers. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 17.09.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 24.09.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 01.10.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 08.10.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 15.10.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 22.10.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 29.10.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 05.11.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 12.11.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 19.11.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 26.11.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 03.12.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 10.12.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 17.12.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced English Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: English Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul: Sprache als Prozess (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | regular and active participation; preparatory reading; participation in expert groups (presentation and data analysis task); written task (around 1’500 words) |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |