The US Department of Education 2016 National Education
Technology Plan (http://teach.ed.gov)
includes praise for "Robot-Assistant Language Learning (RALL-E), a robot
that will interact with students in Mandarin, with appropriate facial
experession and gestures (p. 16). The claim is that this is a low-anxiety was
of interacting in a second language. The federal report does not mention that
the company that produces RALL-E, Alelo, Inc is a for-profit company (https://www.alelo.com/rall-e-project/).
Their board consists largely of business
and legal experts. No evidence of
RALL-E's effectiveness is presented other than this statement on their
brochure: "We conducted a focus group test of the
initial prototype in May 2014. The results of the focus group provided
preliminary validation of the research questions, and provided useful student
feedback for how to prioritize future development. The next focus-group test
will be held in January 2015." (There is no news about the results of the
January 2015 session.) The reports on their website reveal no special
knowledge about language acquisition and language teaching.
Nevertheless, RALL-E got an endorsement from the US
Department of Education.
It is a very interesting and new approach of acquiring a second language, may be a good program for younger kids.
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