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

Paul Vogt, Rianne Van Den Berghe, Mirjam De Haas, Laura Hoffman, Junko Kanero, Ezgi Mamus, Jean-Marc Montanier, Cansu Oranç, Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz, Daniel Hernández García, Fotios Papadopoulos, Thorsten Schodde, Josje Verhagen, Christopher D. Wallbridgell, Bram Willemsen, Jan De Wit, Tony Belpaeme, Tilbe Göksun, Stefan Kopp, Emiel KrahmerAylin C. Küntay, Paul Leseman, Amit Kumar Pandey

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

We present a large-scale study of a series of seven lessons designed to help young children learn English vocabulary as a foreign language using a social robot. The experiment was designed to investigate 1) the effectiveness of a social robot teaching children new words over the course of multiple interactions (supported by a tablet), 2) the added benefit of a robot's iconic gestures on word learning and retention, and 3) the effect of learning from a robot tutor accompanied by a tablet versus learning from a tablet application alone. For reasons of transparency, the research questions, hypotheses and methods were preregistered. With a sample size of 194 children, our study was statistically well-powered. Our findings demonstrate that children are able to acquire and retain English vocabulary words taught by a robot tutor to a similar extent as when they are taught by a tablet application. In addition, we found no beneficial effect of a robot's iconic gestures on learning gains.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHRI 2019 - 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages497-505
ISBN (Electronic)9781538685556
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Mar 2019
Externally publishedYes
Event14th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2019 - Daegu, Korea, Republic of
Duration: 11 Mar 201914 Mar 2019

Publication series

NameACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
ISSN (Electronic)2167-2148

Conference

Conference14th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2019
Country/TerritoryKorea, Republic of
CityDaegu
Period11/03/1914/03/19

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement No. 688014.

FundersFunder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme688014

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