Engaging English Language Learners as Cultural Informants in the Design of a Social Robot for Education (2024)

The Desire for Social Robots to Support English Language Learners: Exploring Robot Perceptions of Teachers, Parents, and Students

Frontiers in Education, 2021

Currently there are 4.9 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States, however, only 2% of educators are trained to support these vulnerable students. Educational robots show promise for language acquisition and may provide valuable support for ELLs, yet, little is known about social robots for this population. Inviting participants as cultural informants can ensure that the robot is appropriately designed, situated and adopted into that educational community. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study using interactive group interviews with 95 ELLs (kindergarten through fifth grade) from 18 different home language backgrounds. We also interviewed 39 ELL parents and eight elementary school educators to understand their views of educational robots. Responses to robot images suggested a preference for a popular educational robot. Parents expressed a strong desire for educational robots to support their children at school. While children embraced the idea of a robot a...

Designing for culturally responsive social robots: An application of a participatory framework

Frontiers in Robotics and AI

Integrating cultural responsiveness into the educational setting is essential to the success of multilingual students. As social robots present the potential to support multilingual children, it is imperative that the design of social robot embodiments and interactions are culturally responsive. This paper summarizes the current literature on educational robots in culturally diverse settings. We argue the use of the Culturally Localized User Experience (CLUE) Framework is essential to ensure cultural responsiveness in HRI design. We present three case studies illustrating the CLUE framework as a social robot design approach. The results of these studies suggest co-design provides multicultural learners an accessible, nonverbal context through which to provide design requirements and preferences. Furthermore, we demonstrate the importance of key stakeholders (students, parents, and teachers) as essential to ensure a culturally responsive robot. Finally, we reflect on our own work wit...

Social Robots for (Second) Language Learning in (Migrant) Primary School Children

International Journal of Social Robotics

Especially these days, innovation and support from technology to relieve pressure in education is highly urgent. This study tested the potential advantage of a social robot over a tablet in (second) language learning on performance, engagement, and enjoyment. Shortages in primary education call for new technology solutions. Previous studies combined robots with tablets, to compensate for robot’s limitations, however, this study applied direct human–robot interaction. Primary school children (N = 63, aged 4–6) participated in a 3-wave field experiment with story-telling exercises, either with a semi-autonomous robot (without tablet, using WOz) or a tablet. Results showed increased learning gains over time when training with a social robot, compared to the tablet. Children who trained with a robot were more engaged in the story-telling task and enjoyed it more. Robot’s behavioral style (social or neutral) hardly differed overall, however, seems to vary for high versus low educational ...

Social/dialogical roles of social robots in supporting children’s learning of language and literacy—A review and analysis of innovative roles

Frontiers in Robotics and AI

One of the many purposes for which social robots are designed is education, and there have been many attempts to systematize their potential in this field. What these attempts have in common is the recognition that learning can be supported in a variety of ways because a learner can be engaged in different activities that foster learning. Up to now, three roles have been proposed when designing these activities for robots: as a teacher or tutor, a learning peer, or a novice. Current research proposes that deciding in favor of one role over another depends on the content or preferred pedagogical form. However, the design of activities changes not only the content of learning, but also the nature of a human–robot social relationship. This is particularly important in language acquisition, which has been recognized as a social endeavor. The following review aims to specify the differences in human–robot social relationships when children learn language through interacting with a social...

Guidelines for Designing Social Robots as Second Language Tutors

International Journal of Social Robotics, 2018

In recent years, it has been suggested that social robots have potential as tutors and educators for both children and adults. While robots have been shown to be effective in teaching knowledge and skill-based topics, we wish to explore how social robots can be used to tutor a second language to young children. As language learning relies on situated, grounded and social learning, in which interaction and repeated practice are central, social robots hold promise as educational tools for supporting second language learning. This paper surveys the developmental psychology of second language learning and suggests an agenda to study how core concepts of second language learning can be taught by a social robot. It suggests guidelines for designing robot tutors based on observations of second language learning in human–human scenarios, various technical aspects and early studies regarding the effectiveness of social robots as second language tutors.

Using Social Robots to Teach Language Skills to Immigrant Children in an Oslo City District

Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

Interactive Robots as Social Partners and Peer Tutors for Children: A Field Trial

Human-Computer Interaction, 2004

The Teacher's Role in Robot-assisted Language Learning and its Impact on Classroom Ecology

The EUROCALL Review, 2023

In recent years, social robots have emerged as a new teaching aid in foreign language (FL) classrooms. Interaction in FL classrooms usually takes place between teachers and learners or among learners. However, this constellation of interactions changes when a robot enters the classroom. The robot's role in the classroom has been studied previously, however, in this article we examine how initial encounters between a social robot and learners occur, focusing on the teacher's role during these encounters. Additionally, we examine how children seek help or assurance from their teacher when interacting with the robot. Research data consists of video recorded in FL classrooms in primary schools in Finland in 2019. The primary school learners (N = 22) who participated in this study ranged in age from 10 to 13 years. The results show that during the robot-assisted language learning (RALL) interaction, the teacher had several roles: she validated children's contributions, guided or mediated the discussion, encouraged the children to speak with the robot, and provided technical support. The results also suggest that the teacher's role in RALL classrooms, while not necessarily central, is essential to ensure smooth interactions between the robot and learners.

Second Language Tutoring Using Social Robots: A Large-Scale Study

2019 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2019

Adoption of social robots as pedagogical aids for efficient learning of second language vocabulary to children

2021

In this digital age embracing robotics across various areas of life, especially intellectual ones, have reaped great benefits owing to this modern technology. Therefore, the learning field has not remained unchanged given current evolutions as the schooling conditions have been improved through these smart devices. However, teachers still face some difficulties when choosing pedagogical methods and means for effective language learning for children. Thus, this paper aims to measure the effectiveness of social robots in facilitating children's learning of a second language (L2). For this purpose, the term L2 learning and its subordinate concepts have been distinguished, and then the different methods of language learning were discussed. The latest research regarding social robots in the educational context was also discussed when reviewing the literature. An experimental study conducted on a sample of children illustrated that the use of the social robot significantly helped them...