Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34504871›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in robotics and AI2021

Individual Differences in Children's (Language) Learning Skills Moderate Effects of Robot-Assisted Second Language Learning.

Rianne van den Berghe, Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz, Josje Verhagen, Susanne Brouwer, Mirjam de Haas, Jan de Wit, Bram Willemsen, Paul Vogt, Emiel Krahmer, Paul Leseman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in robotics and AI, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Rianne van den BergheDepartment of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Ora Oudgenoeg-PazDepartment of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Josje VerhagenAmsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Susanne BrouwerDepartment of Modern Languages and Cultures, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Mirjam de HaasDepartment of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
Jan de WitDepartment of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
Bram WillemsenDepartment of Intelligent Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Paul VogtDepartment of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
Emiel KrahmerDepartment of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
Paul LesemanDepartment of Development of Youth and Education in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The current study investigated how individual differences among children affect the added value of social robots for teaching second language (L2) vocabulary to young children. Specifically, we investigated the moderating role of three individual child characteristics deemed relevant for language learning: first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge, phonological memory, and selective attention. We expected children low in these abilities to particularly benefit from being assisted by a robot in a vocabulary training. An L2 English vocabulary training intervention consisting of seven sessions was administered to 193 monolingual Dutch five-year-old children over a three- to four-week period. Children were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: 1) a tablet only, 2) a tablet and a robot that used deictic (pointing) gestures (the no-iconic-gestures condition), or 3) a tablet and a robot that used both deictic and iconic gestures (i.e., gestures depicting the target word; the iconic-gestures condition). There also was a control condition in which children did not receive a vocabulary training, but played dancing games with the robot. L2 word knowledge was measured directly after the training and two to four weeks later. In these post-tests, children in the experimental conditions outperformed children in the control condition on word knowledge, but there were no differences between the three experimental conditions. Several moderation effects were found. The robot's presence particularly benefited children with larger L1 vocabularies or poorer phonological memory, while children with smaller L1 vocabularies or better phonological memory performed better in the tablet-only condition. Children with larger L1 vocabularies and better phonological memory performed better in the no-iconic-gestures condition than in the iconic-gestures condition, while children with better selective attention performed better in the iconic-gestures condition than the no-iconic-gestures condition. Together, the results showed that the effects of the robot and its gestures differ across children, which should be taken into account when designing and evaluating robot-assisted L2 teaching interventions.

Indexed as

child-robot interactionindividual differences(language) learning skillssecond language learningsocial robots

Identifiers

PMID34504871
PMCPMC8421643

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.