Making the Case for Audience Design in Conversational AI
Users’ Pragmatic Strategies and Rapport Expectations in Interaction with a Task-Oriented Chatbot
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22870639 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Doris Dippold (0000-0001-6193-4710, University of Surrey, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 650-667 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Applied Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-6001 • E-ISSN: 1477-450X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/applin/amae033 |
| OpenAlex | W4396749807 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 33 |
With chatbots becoming more and more prevalent in commercial and service contexts, they need to be designed to provide equitable access to services for all user groups. This paper argues that insights into users’ pragmatic strategies and rapport expectations can inform the audience design of chatbots and ensure that all users can equally benefit from the services they facilitate. The argument is underpinned by the analysis of simulated user interactions with a chatbot facilitating health appointment bookings, users’ introspective comments on their interactions, and users’ qualitative survey comments. The study shows that users’ pragmatic strategies show considerable variation. It also shows the negative impact of user experiences when the chatbot’s language and interaction patterns do not align with users’ rapport expectations. In closing, the paper uses these findings to define audience design for chatbots and discuss how audience design can be realized and supported by research.
Chatbot · Human–computer interaction · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Task (project management) · AI in Service Interactions · Computer Science · Engineering · Psychology · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Speech and dialogue systems
Conversation by design
Exploring AI’s processing of and responses to metaphors in health-related conversations
AI-textuality
Evaluating Chatbot Authenticity in Simulations of Spoken Interaction
“Hold on, I’ll connect you to a human agent”
Improving chatbot design and intent recognition
Common ground in artificial intelligence applications
Why do I flake at the last minute
Real conversations with artificial intelligence
Social Cognition Unbound
Co-Design as a Process of Joint Inquiry and Imagination
Establishing and maintaining long-term human-computer relationships
Foundations in sociolinguistics
Relations in Public. Microstudies of the Public Order
Say 'Thank You'
The good, the bad, and the ugly
A worked example of Braun and Clarke’s approach to reflexive thematic analysis
A practical approach to measuring user engagement with the refined user engagement scale (UES) and new UES short form
Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis
A turn to language
(Im)Politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport
Exploring L2 learners’ request behavior in a multi-turn conversation with a fully automated agent
Can I have the scan on Tuesday?” User repair in interaction with a task-oriented chatbot and the question of communication skills for AI
Self-disclosure in initial interactions amongst speakers of American and Australian English
Revisiting Human-Agent Communication
Managing Rapport in Intercultural Business Interactions
Politeness
Intercultural Interaction
Managing rapport in talk
What are discourse markers
How categorization impacts the design of requests
Language style as audience design
Discourse Strategies
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |