Abstract
Although educational robots are known for their capability to support language learning, how actual interaction processes lead to positive learning outcomes has not been sufficiently examined. To explore the instructional design and the interaction effects of robot-assisted language learning (RALL) on learner performance, this study systematically reviewed twenty-two empirical studies published between 2010 and 2020. Through an inclusion/exclusion procedure, general research characteristics such as the context, target language, and research design were identified. Further analysis on oral interaction design, including language teaching methods, interactive learning tasks, interaction processes, interactive agents, and interaction effects showed that the communicative or storytelling approach served as the dominant methods complemented by total physical response and audiolingual methods in RALL oral interactions. The review provides insights on how educational robots can facilitate oral interactions in language classrooms, as well as how such learning tasks can be designed to effectively utilize robotic affordances to fulfill functions that used to be provided by human teachers alone. Future research directions point to a focus on meaning-based communication and intelligibility in oral production among language learners in RALL.
Highlights
Educational robots are known as capable interactive pedagogical agents in language learning situations
Despite claims about the potential of educational robots for helping learners improve language skills [4], no previous review has focused on instructional design that leads to positive learning outcomes in robot-assisted oral interactions
The review findings suggested that robot-assisted language learning (RALL) instructional design employ communicative language teaching and storytelling as the most dominant language learning methods, and these two methods are often complemented by audiolingual and total physical response methods
Summary
Educational robots are known as capable interactive pedagogical agents in language learning situations. Despite claims about the potential of educational robots for helping learners improve language skills [4], no previous review has focused on instructional design that leads to positive learning outcomes in robot-assisted oral interactions. This review study, aims to fill this gap by analyzing 22 empirical studies in terms of the interactive design of oral tasks by highlighting the teaching methods used, the oral task types, the role served by the robot and the instructor/facilitator, as well as their effectiveness in improving oral competence. The use of educational service robots can effectively facilitate the presentation of digital content, task repeatability, interactivity, flexibility for incorporating different learning theories, and embodied interactions conducive to learning [7,8]. Interactions that enable oral communication between learners and robots serve as the core of robot-assisted language learning (RALL)
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