Learning Spanish with Laura: the effects of a pedagogical agent

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an animated pedagogical agent on Spanish vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the study examined learners’ reactions and attitudes towards the presence of the pedagogical agent in the web-based environments. A total of 47 university students enrolled in two fourth-semester Spanish classes participated in this study. The data were collected through a demographic information questionnaire, a vocabulary pre-test and two vocabulary post-tests (an immediate post-test and a delayed post-test), and a learning experience questionnaire. Analysis of the quantitative data did not yield significant differences between the control and the experimental groups with respect to vocabulary learning outcomes. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed learners’ preferences with respect to features embedded in the web-based language learning environments.

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