Could Human-Robot Interaction Enhance English Comprehension Skills Compared to Traditional Text Reading? A Behavioral-Thermographic Analysis

Social robots enhance human-robot interaction, potentially improving English comprehension skills. Despite their promise, their effectiveness in this area is less known. This study addresses this gap by comparing the effectiveness of the social robot Ohbot with traditional text reading for training English comprehension. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: Ohbot interaction (N = 20), text reading (N = 20), and a control group (N = 20) with no specific intervention. Both Ohbot and reading groups answered multiple-choice questions based on a poem. Emotional arousal was measured using a thermal camera. Results showed that the Ohbot group experienced an average facial temperature decrease of 0.78°C, indicating reduced stress or increased relaxation, while the reading group had a temperature increase of 1.13°C, suggesting higher cognitive or emotional effort. Despite these physiological differences, quiz performance was similar between the Ohbot and reading groups. Therefore, the Ohbot group, which relied on auditory processing, proved as effective as the reading group, which depended on visual processing, in learning English comprehension. These findings indicate that social robots could effectively complement traditional English education methods like reading.