Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet?
Along with the development of speech and language technologies and growing market interest, social robots have attracted more academic and commercial attention in recent decades. Their multimodal embodiment offers a broad range of possibilities, which have gained importance in the education sector....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/jccall-2023-0013 |
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| author | Huang Guanyu Moore Roger K. |
| author_facet | Huang Guanyu Moore Roger K. |
| author_sort | Huang Guanyu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Along with the development of speech and language technologies and growing market interest, social robots have attracted more academic and commercial attention in recent decades. Their multimodal embodiment offers a broad range of possibilities, which have gained importance in the education sector. It has also led to a new technology-based field of language education: robot-assisted language learning (RALL). RALL has developed rapidly in second language learning, especially driven by the need to compensate for the shortage of first-language tutors. There are many implementation cases and studies of social robots, from early government-led attempts in Japan and South Korea to increasing research interests in Europe and worldwide. Compared with RALL used for English as a foreign language (EFL), however, there are fewer studies on applying RALL for teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). One potential reason is that RALL is not well-known in the CFL field. This scope review paper attempts to fill this gap by addressing the balance between classroom implementation and research frontiers of social robots. The review first introduces the technical tool used in RALL, namely the social robot, at a high level. It then presents a historical overview of the real-life implementation of social robots in language classrooms in East Asia and Europe. It then provides a summary of the evaluation of RALL from the perspectives of L2 learners, teachers and technology developers. The overall goal of this paper is to gain insights into RALL’s potential and challenges and identify a rich set of open research questions for applying RALL to CFL. It is hoped that the review may inform interdisciplinary analysis and practice for scientific research and front-line teaching in future. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-473b2bae1413487cbf4bb4db2b245851 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2748-3479 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning |
| spelling | doaj-art-473b2bae1413487cbf4bb4db2b2458512025-01-20T11:08:49ZengDe GruyterJournal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning2748-34792023-07-013120823010.1515/jccall-2023-0013Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet?Huang Guanyu0Moore Roger K.1University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UKUniversity of Sheffield, Sheffield, UKAlong with the development of speech and language technologies and growing market interest, social robots have attracted more academic and commercial attention in recent decades. Their multimodal embodiment offers a broad range of possibilities, which have gained importance in the education sector. It has also led to a new technology-based field of language education: robot-assisted language learning (RALL). RALL has developed rapidly in second language learning, especially driven by the need to compensate for the shortage of first-language tutors. There are many implementation cases and studies of social robots, from early government-led attempts in Japan and South Korea to increasing research interests in Europe and worldwide. Compared with RALL used for English as a foreign language (EFL), however, there are fewer studies on applying RALL for teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). One potential reason is that RALL is not well-known in the CFL field. This scope review paper attempts to fill this gap by addressing the balance between classroom implementation and research frontiers of social robots. The review first introduces the technical tool used in RALL, namely the social robot, at a high level. It then presents a historical overview of the real-life implementation of social robots in language classrooms in East Asia and Europe. It then provides a summary of the evaluation of RALL from the perspectives of L2 learners, teachers and technology developers. The overall goal of this paper is to gain insights into RALL’s potential and challenges and identify a rich set of open research questions for applying RALL to CFL. It is hoped that the review may inform interdisciplinary analysis and practice for scientific research and front-line teaching in future.https://doi.org/10.1515/jccall-2023-0013chinese as a foreign language (cfl)educational robotshuman-robot interaction (hri)robot-assisted language learning (rall)technology-based teaching |
| spellingShingle | Huang Guanyu Moore Roger K. Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? Journal of China Computer-Assisted Language Learning chinese as a foreign language (cfl) educational robots human-robot interaction (hri) robot-assisted language learning (rall) technology-based teaching |
| title | Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? |
| title_full | Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? |
| title_fullStr | Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? |
| title_short | Using social robots for language learning: are we there yet? |
| title_sort | using social robots for language learning are we there yet |
| topic | chinese as a foreign language (cfl) educational robots human-robot interaction (hri) robot-assisted language learning (rall) technology-based teaching |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/jccall-2023-0013 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huangguanyu usingsocialrobotsforlanguagelearningarewethereyet AT moorerogerk usingsocialrobotsforlanguagelearningarewethereyet |