Dialogue with a conversational agent promotes children’s story comprehension via enhancing engagement
Open accessAbstract
Dialogic reading, when children are read a storybook and engaged in relevant conversation, is a powerful strategy for fostering language development. With the development of artificial intelligence, conversational agents can engage children in elements of dialogic reading. This study examined whether a conversational agent can improve children's story comprehension and engagement, as compared to an adult reading partner. Using a 2 (dialogic reading or non-dialogic reading) × 2 (agent or human) factorial design, a total of 117 three- to six-year-olds (50% Female, 37% White, 31% Asian, 21% multi-ethnic) were randomly assigned into one of the four conditions. Results revealed that a conversational agent can replicate the benefits of dialogic reading with a human partner by enhancing children's narrative-relevant vocalizations, reducing irrelevant vocalizations, and improving story comprehension.
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- Authors
- Xu, Y., Aubele, J., Vigil, V., Bustamante, A. S., Kim, Y.-S., & Warschauer, M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Xu, Ying
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2022-03-01
- Volume
- 93
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e149-e167
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- PMC
- PMC9299009
- OpenAlex
- W3214237218
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 17.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1906321)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- dialogic reading, chatbots, narrative comprehension, child engagement, language development, early childhood, artificial intelligence in education
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Artificial Intelligence, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Language Development, Male, Reading, Comprehension, Narration
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