Who Can Benefit from Robots? Effects of Individual Differences in Robot-Assisted Language Learning

Abstract

It has been suggested that some individuals may benefit more from social robots than do others. Using second language (L2) as an example, the present study examined how individual differences in attitudes toward robots and personality traits may be related to learning outcomes. Preliminary results with 24 Turkish-speaking adults suggest that negative attitudes toward robots, more specifically thoughts and anxiety about the negative social impact that robots may have on the society, predicted how well adults learned L2 words from a social robot. The possible implications of the findings as well as future directions are also discussed.