Young EFL Learners’ Attitude Towards RALL: An Observational Study Focusing on Motivation, Anxiety, and Interaction

Abstract

In this paper we aimed to explore young Iranian EFL learners’ attitude towards Robot Assisted Language Learning (RALL) in an English language classroom. To this end, 19 preschool children ranging from 3 to 6 years old were randomly assigned to a RALL group which had a robot as an assistant to the teacher. Their attitude towards the robot was video recorded for one month, during ten sessions of their English classroom course. Their overall attitude was examined focusing on the three factors of anxiety, motivation and interaction based on human-robot interaction (HRI) theory. The result of this study showed that children’s motivation increased as a result of interacting with the robot and their anxiety reduced because of the friendly atmosphere the robot created. The results provided some important insights for using robots in classroom settings for young EFL (English as Foreign Language) students which may be also helpful for the future investigators.