Visualization of Utterance Transition in Group Discussion Using Learners’ Mobile Devices

Abstract

This study proposes a method to visualize utterance transition in a face-to-face group discussion using mobile devices. In a group discussion, it is difficult for an instructor to monitor many groups simultaneously, and there have been some preceding studies on finding methods to monitor learners. However, these methods require special equipment. To avoid this, we proposed to utilize the microphones in learners’ existing mobile devices to acquire sound data. Our method does not require special equipment to acquire data, as the program to acquire data runs via the learner’s web browser. We conducted a preliminary experiment to visualize utterance transition in a group discussion using our programs. The result indicated that we succeeded in visualizing utterance transition. The visualization diagram indicates participants’ frequency of communication with each other.