Application of Educational Robots in the Elderly English Vocabulary Learning

This paper presents a solution for learning English vocabulary by the growing population of elderly, using an intelligent English teaching robot. Using the robot with various situational teaching functions and materials, the elderly can learn English in a lively environment, improve their learning interest, and enhance concentration on learning. This study compared teaching grammar translation or communicative language teaching (CLT) to verify the efficacy of the English teaching robot. The results showed that almost all elderly liked the robot teaching assistant. However, the communicative language teaching method was obviously superior to grammar translation in terms concentration on learning, learning interest, and learning effectiveness. Therefore, CLT with an intelligent English teaching robot is more applicable to the elderly.