The effect of employing humanoid robots for teaching English on students' anxiety and attitude

Abstract

This study aims at examining the effect of Robot Assisted language learning (RALL) on the anxiety level and attitude in the English language learning classroom. Forty-six female students who were beginners at the age of 12 participated in this study and were randomly assigned into two groups of RALL (30 students) and non-RALL (16 students). the treatment was given by a teacher accompanied by a humanoid robot assistant for the RALL group. Two questionnaires of anxiety [15] and attitude [19] were utilized to measure the students' anxiety and attitude. The results of descriptive and t-tests indicated that there was lower anxiety and positive attitude towards English learning in the RALL group compared with those in the non-RALL group. The study shows that the students in RALL group had great fun in the learning process; they also believed they were learning more effectively, which help them boost their motivation in the long run.