Learning and Teaching Experiences with a Persuasive Social Robot in Primary School – Findings and Implications from a 4-Month Field Study

Abstract

In the field of child-robot interaction (CRI), long-term field studies with users in authentic contexts are still rare. This paper reports the findings from a 4-month field study of robot-assisted language learning (RALL). We focus on the learning experiences of primary school pupils with a social, persuasive robot, and the experiences of the teachers of using the robot as a teaching tool. Our qualitative research approach includes interviews, observations, questionnaires and a diary as data collection methods, and affinity diagram as a data analysis method. The research involves three target groups: the pupils of a 3rd grade class (9–10 years old, n = 20), language teachers (n = 3) and the parents (n = 18). We report findings on user experience (UX), the robot’s tasks and role in the school, and the experience of the multimodal interaction with the robot. Based on the findings, we discuss several aspects concerning the design of persuasive robotics on robot-assisted learning and CRI, for example the benefits of robot-specific ways of rewarding, the value of the physical embodiment and the opportunities of the social role adopted by the learning robot.