contemporary challenges of applying robots in second/foreign language pedagogy

As the most recent application of technology in second/foreign language education, robot assisted language learning (rall) means to enhance language educational activities. despite all its potential capabilities and demonstrated enhancements, rall has not been adequately integrated into contemporary pedagogical attempts up to the present time. in effect, the researchers’ observations of humanoid robots, fabricated and applied in the iranian academic settings, along with their in-depth review of several papers published in various journals around the world over the past eighteen years revealed that there are series of challenges which have restricted the application of humanoid robots in elt settings. since the first step towards removing these obstacles is their recognition, the present study aims to propose the first taxonomy of constraints before rall. the researchers propose a taxonomy of contemporary challenges before rall including hardware design and technical/operational constraints, methodological and pedagogical constraints, psychological barriers, cultural, financial, and ethical limitations along with their subdivisions.