Study on English Learning Support Using Question Cards and Smart Speakers

Abstract

This study intended to clarify how children interact with smart speakers when they learn English as a second language. Second, it aimed to determine the topics children find easy when talking with smart speakers. Han. J. et al (2008) have stated that children’s interactions in English with robots were effective for the learning of English words and for the acquisition of vocabulary. The subjects were eight students who had not experienced smart speakers. The researchers used 60 question cards to help beginners to ask questions to smart speakers and subsequently encouraged the children to create their own questions. The participating students exhibited two trends of preference in the questions they asked: first, students asked questions that assumed ‘Alexa’ was a human being, even though they knew it was an artifact; second, children selected questions that could be generated by exchanging words (nouns) and that could satisfy their intellectual curiosity. Specifically, children were found to ask questions such as “How many calories are in a donut?”