Parents’ Views on Using Social Robots for Language Learning
Abstract
Research in human-robot interaction envisions applications in a variety of areas. In one of them, robots can be used to improve educational performance. However, most scientific investigations focus on learning outcomes without considering the social implications of a robot available as a learning companion. Therefore, the identification of the underlying challenges and issues faced by different stakeholders involved in the technology implementation processes is still sparse. This paper is concerned with parents as a key stakeholder group that is almost overlooked in the existing literature. We present results of a study on child-robot interaction for language learning, in which parents accompanied their children and evaluated the robot after four sessions of experiencing it within a laboratory setting. The results suggest that parents recognize the robots' potential for language learning within a playful interaction with their children. However, as parents reported, the technical challenges for an adaptive and smooth interaction might impede children's learning gains in the long-term.
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Parents generally have positive attitudes toward incorporating robots into their children's learning, but remain concerned about the risk of disrupting school-based learning and potential teacher replacement.
“Although parents generally have positive attitudes toward incorporating robots into their children's learning, they remain concerned about the risk of disrupting school-based learning and potential teacher replacement [45, 49, 73].”
From SET-PAiREd: Designing for Parental Involvement in Learning with an AI-Assisted Educational Robot (2025) · cites this paper as [73]
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- Authors
- Tolksdorf, N. F., & Rohlfing, K. J.
- Affiliations
- Paderborn University (DE)
- Venue
- 2020 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2020-08
- Pages
- 634-640
- ISSN
- 1944-9437 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3093775403
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 2.47
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- IEEE RO-MAN (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Speech and dialogue systems
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Educational Robotics and Engineering
- Keywords
- social robots, language learning, parents' perspectives, child-robot interaction, human-robot interaction, educational robots, playful learning, technology implementation challenges, adaptive interaction
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