Abstract
In this article, we investigate the discourse between a female conversational pedagogical agent and 59 adolescents in the context of a social studies lesson. We note that previous pedagogical agent research has focused on the positive effects of agents, while failing to take into account the intricacies of learner-agent discourse, and subsequently missing the abuse suffered by pedagogical agents at users' fingertips. Our analysis indicates that learners readily misuse and abuse pedagogical agents while placing them in a subordinate and inferior role. We conclude by making recommendations on agent design and future research.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 292-301 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Interacting with Computers |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2008 |
Keywords
- Agent abuse
- Agent misuse
- Computer-mediated discourse analysis
- Conversational agents
- Pedagogical agents
- Social studies