The Effectiveness of Robot Pronunciation Training for Second Language Acquisition by Children: Segmental and Suprasegmental Feature Analysis Approaches.

Abstract

This study introduced the effectiveness of robot pronunciation training for Korean children's second language acquisition by investigating whether there would be significant differences between beforeand after pronunciation training by robot, iRobiQ, as an instructional assistant about the Koreans' most problematic target segmental features, consonants and vowels, and suprasegmental features, intonation, to 18 Korean EFL students at Songnisan Sujung Elementary School. This current study used a mixed research design, quantitative and qualitative, for data collection and analysis. The overall findings from all 8 weeks' treatments yielded statistically significant results as overall learning outcomes after all treatments. While training target pronunciations with a robot, iRobiQ, most of the students showed their positive perceptions about robot iRobiQ as a learning assistant and familiar tool, together with their improved self-confidence and comfort levels in terms of showing more frequent contact with a robot, iRobiQ, and their positive views on robot as an educational tool. The overall results suggest a new paradigm about our knowledge and implications in teaching and learning English pronunciation for Korean EFL elementary school students in second language acquisition.