Instructional design using an in-house built teaching assistant robot to enhance elementary school English-as-a-foreign-language learning

Abstract

This paper presents a design for a cutting-edge English program in which elementary school learners of English as a foreign language in Taiwan had lively interactions with a teaching assistant robot. Three dimensions involved in the design included (1) a pleasant and interactive classroom environment as the learning context, (2) a teaching assistant robot designed and built by the researchers as instructional technology (instructional tool/medium), and (3) the need for improved motivation and learning outcomes and positive learning experiences of the students as the core research problem. This Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) led to better pedagogical effects on learning and teaching by (1) employing a vivid, enjoyable teaching approach; (2) adopting practical, interesting learning materials; and (3) creating a natural, enjoyable learning context. Both quantitative and qualitative findings of this study indicate that the students' English learning experiences were enhanced, as were their motivation and learning outcomes as a result of this HRI. This paper, instead of merely suggesting design criteria for robots, provides a set of instructional design guidelines that other researchers can follow to create an innovative and enjoyable English classroom that employs an interactive robot as an assistant for enhancing English acquisition while simultaneously reducing the pressure and teaching load of the English instructors.

Keywords:

• teaching assistant robot
• interactive English learning environment
• human–robot interaction
• English as a foreign language
• total physical response
• communicative language teaching
• storytelling approach

Acknowledgement

This research was partially supported by the National Science Council in Taiwan through Grant NSC 99-2628-E-150-046, NSC 101-2511-S-269-002-MY3 and NSC 100-2511-S-110-001-MY3.

Notes on contributors

Wen-Chi Vivian Wu, who received her doctorate in Education from the University of South Dakota in 2006, is an associate professor of the Department of English Language at Providence University in Taiwan. As an experienced English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) instructor, she teaches a variety of English-related courses. Her recent research areas include learner motivation for English as a global language, application of technology in instruction, computer-assisted language learning, and teaching assistant robots.

Rong-Jyue Wang received the B.S. and Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan in 1990 and 1995, respectively. He has been an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronic Engineering, National Formosa University, Huwei, Taiwan since 2007. His present research interests include robust control, intelligence control, fuzzy control, image recognition, and intelligent robot.

Nian-Shing Chen is Chair Professor at the Department of Information Management in the National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. He has published over 350 papers in the international referred journals, conferences, and book chapters. One of his papers published in Innovations in Education and Teaching International was awarded as the top cited article in 2011. He is an author of three books with one textbook entitled “e-Learning Theory & Practice”. Prof. Chen received two outstanding research awards from the National Science Council, Taiwan in 2008 and 2011–2013. His current research interests include assessing e-Learning course performance; online synchronous teaching and learning; mobile and ubiquitous learning; Game-based learning; and Cognition and Natural Human-Machine-Interaction. Prof. Chen is serving as an editorial board member for many international journals and guest editors for special issues of international journals. He has also organized and chaired numerous international conferences and workshops in the area of advanced learning technologies. Professor Chen is a senior member of IEEE, ACM and the Chair for the IEEE Technical Committee on Learning Technology (http://lttf.ieee.org/). He is Co-Editors-In-Chief of the SSCI indexed Journal of Educational Technology & Society.

Notes

*p < .05 (two-tailed).

*p < .05 (two-tailed).