When a robot enters a foreign language classroom, the learning situation changes. We will analyze the kind of turn-taking that takes place and how actions and sequences are organized. We also pay attention to how children respond to the robot and how they seek help from the teacher.
Social interaction in the classroom usually occurs between the teacher and the children and/or among the children. However, this constellation changes when a new teaching “assistant,” a robot, enters the classroom. A robot is an embodied human-like creature that, on the one hand, presents as a playful and intelligent smart toy. On the other hand, the robot’s interactional contributions are based on pre-scripted utterances and dialogues. Therefore, the learning environment that develops among the robot, the children, and the teacher introduces a completely new set of questions about social interaction in foreign language classrooms. Our presentation aims to dissect the complex social interactions and the turn-taking that is established between the robot and the children. In the context of our study, the robot’s embodied behavior, posture, gestures, and gaze are important resources in foreign-language interactions. We aim to examine how actions and sequences of actions are organized between the children and the robot and how the robot’s embodied behavior affects these actions (Mondada 2016). We also pay attention to how children respond to the robot and how they seek help or assurance from the teacher; code-switching in these actions is also considered. Our theoretical and analytical framework is based on sociocultural theory (Lantolf, Thorne & Poehner 2014). In this case, foreign language learning is seen as a mediated activity that occurs among learners, the teacher, and the robot. We will use data that were video-recorded in second/foreign language classrooms in primary schools in Finland in 2019 as part of the robot in classroom project [at the name omitted]. The children are aged 9 to 13 years when they first interact with the robot in their English or French classes. Based on our micro-analytical findings, we aim to shed light on new realities of foreign language classroom discourse.
