Evaluating the Embodied Agent Effect in an English as a Foreign Language Learning Environment

Resumo

The use of Pedagogical Animated Agents is considered a very effective
way of improving learning, and some of their aspects can be evaluated in a
computer system in terms of what authors have been calling the ’Embodied
Agent Effect’. However, no research has been found on how the ’Embodied
Agent Effect’ affects students’ learning in a foreign language learning system.
Aiming at evaluating this effect, this paper describes an experiment with
forty-two Brazilian undergraduate students with intermediate level of English
using a web-based learning system containing one of the two versions of the
agent: static or embodied. Data collected from pretests and posttests were
evaluated using the paired t-test. Results revealed that the students had better
results after using the system, but the Embodied Agent Effect was not evidenced
in the experiment.