Promoting parent-child shared reading with a bilingual conversational agent

Bibliographic Data

ID21642771
AuthorsKunlei He (0000-0003-3396-3578, University of California, Irvine, corresponding author), Kelsyann Cervera (University of California, Irvine), Julian Levine (0009-0004-1200-8939, University of California, Irvine), Ying Xu (0000-0001-6344-9612), Penelope Collins (0000-0002-0818-3230, University of California, Irvine), Mark Warschauer (0000-0002-6817-4416, University of California, Irvine)
Year2025
Volume199
Pages103489
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1071-5819 • E-ISSN: 1095-9300
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103489
OpenAlexW4408224370
LanguageEN
References cited44

Developed a bilingual conversational agent (CA) for parent-child shared reading • The CA boosted children's Spanish vocabulary learning via bilingual verbal engagement • The CA stimulated personally and educationally meaningful parent-child dialogue • Parents perceived the CA to be educational and culturally relevant Recognizing the challenges bilingual children face in school readiness and the potential of bilingual dialogic shared reading in improving language and literacy, this study investigates the use of a bilingual conversational agent (CA) to enhance shared reading experiences in home environments. While current CAs hold promise in fostering young children's learning, they do not typically consider the linguistic and cultural needs of bilingual children and rarely involve parents intentionally. To this end, we developed a bilingual CA, embedded within ebooks, to support children's language learning and parent engagement for Latine Spanish-English bilingual families. A week-long home-based study with 15 families indicated that the bilingual CA elicited a high level of bilingual verbal engagement from children, thereby promoting their vocabulary acquisition. It also stimulated meaningful conversations among parents and children. This study provides design implications for developing CAs for bilingual children and parents

Developmental psychology · Linguistics · Shared reading · Child Development and Digital Technology · Communication · Educational Methods and Media Use · Philosophy · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access