An investigation of the effectiveness of intelligent elaborative feedback afforded by pedagogical agents on improving young Chinese language learners' vocabulary acquisition

This study investigated the role of feedback as a form of a scaffolding strategy in the context of Chinese vocabulary acquisition among young American learners. A theoretical framework, intelligent ZPD-elaboration, was proposed to provide the foundation for creating a feedback strategy from a feedback-as-ZPD-scaffold perspective. Intelligent elaborative feedback (IEF) was then created and investigated in terms of its effectiveness in a computer-assisted pedagogical agent based Chinese vocabulary learning program. The critical elements in designing the IEF strategy that may affect its effectiveness were discovered and discussed.;This study used a two-phase mixed method for data collection and analysis. In Phase I, a randomized pretest-posttest control group experiment was conducted. Forty-three elementary school students, ages 6 to 13, in two Midwest schools were randomly assigned in an experimental group and a control group to use a computer-based Chinese vocabulary learning program with different feedback conditions afforded by a pedagogical agent. Vocabulary achievement scores were collected from a pretest, a posttest test and a follow-up test. In addition, demographic data were collected; and the experimental sessions were video recorded. In Phase II, a combined think-aloud observation and retrospection focus group method was used. Video records of the experiment were first observed. Six experimental group participants formed two focus groups and talked about their perceptions, actions and reactions to the computer program, with a focus on the feedback intervention.;Results from the quantitative data indicated significant changes in vocabulary achievement in both feedback conditions but no significant difference in the achievement change over time between two conditions in the pedagogical agent based learning environment. Follow-up analyses revealed two phenomena that helped to explain the quantitative results. One, the age and school of the learners played important roles in affecting the achievement. The other, the learners had positive attitudes and interests in Chinese language learning and had positive perceptions of the pedagogical agent and the computer program. However, the scaffolding components of the feedback were largely ignored during the learning process. An in-depth discussion of the results yielded guidelines and implications for future design and development of the intelligent elaborative feedback strategy, the pedagogical agent based learning environments and the intelligent ZPD-elaboration feedback model. Recommendations for future research were also offered.