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Designing a Playful Robot Application for Second Language Learning

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Book cover Interactivity, Game Creation, Design, Learning, and Innovation (ArtsIT 2018, DLI 2018)

Abstract

Both storytelling and learning by teaching approaches have shown to be beneficial separately when integrating robots into learning settings. This paper discusses how to combine them, based on principles found in the literature, and presents the design and implementation of a playful robot application for second language (L2) learning targeted at primary school children. Our first tests showed that the robot kept the children engaged throughout the learning activity. It appears to be a promising approach as some vocabulary gain is observed in children, but there can be several factors involved that were not controlled in the trials and that will require further work.

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Acknowledgement

Research partially funded by H2020 MSCA-IF grant No. 701991 coBOTnity, European Regional Development Fund and Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (acc. 2016-2019, ED431G/08).

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Correspondence to Alejandro Catala .

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© 2019 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Verhoeven, G., Catala, A., Theune, M. (2019). Designing a Playful Robot Application for Second Language Learning. In: Brooks, A., Brooks, E., Sylla, C. (eds) Interactivity, Game Creation, Design, Learning, and Innovation. ArtsIT DLI 2018 2018. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 265. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06134-0_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06134-0_42

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-06133-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-06134-0

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