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 a web-based environment, as well as how learners used the conversational component of the pedagogical agent in their learning process. A total of 47 university students enrolled in two fourth-semester Spanish classes participated in this study. Both the Control group and the Experimental group used a web-based environment that presented new vocabulary (in audio and text), along with activities for practicing the vocabulary in context. The difference between the two groups was that an animated pedagogical agent (Laura) was present in the environment used by the Experimental group. In addition, a conversational component was added at a second phase to the environment used by the Experimental group, which the learners used to chat with the pedagogical agent about the material presented. The data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data were derived from a demographic information questionnaire, a vocabulary pre-test and two vocabulary post-tests (an immediate post-test and a delayed post-test), as well as from attitudes scales completed prior to the learners’ exposure to the web-based environments and after completing the learning sessions. The qualitative data were derived from a learning experience questionnaire completed by all learners at the end of the learning sessions, as well as from the scripts of the chat sessions between the learners in the Experimental group and the pedagogical agent, and a chatting experience questionnaire completed by the same group. Analysis of the quantitative data did not yield significant differences between the Control and the Experimental groups with respect to vocabulary learning outcomes and affective outcomes. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed learners’ preferences with respect to features embedded in the web-based language learning environments. In addition, it explored how learners utilized the conversational aspect of the pedagogical agent, and provided information as to the type of information the agent’s knowledge base should include in order for the agent to be a beneficial tool for the learners’ progress. / text

With the dominance of the Web in education and English language learning, new literacies have emerged. This thesis is motivated by the assumption that these literacies need to be integrated into the Egyptian pre-service EFL teacher education programmes so that EFL student teachers can cope with the new reality of language teaching/learning. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to develop a theoretical understanding of the relationship between Web-based new literacies and the teaching of TESOL in a way that supports the possibility of expanding Egyptian pre-service EFL student teachers’ language-related literacy practices by integrating some Web-based new literacies into their education programme, with specific reference to the context of Assiut University College of Education (AUCOE). This requires accomplishing minor objectives represented in: (1) identifying the range of those Web-based new literacies that Egyptian EFL student teachers need in this ICT-dominated age; (2) identifying those Web-based facilities beneficial to them, and why and how they can be beneficial; and (3) generating framework for EFL curriculum design based on both literature and empirical data. To accomplish this, a design-based research (DBR) methodology drawing on a pragmatic epistemology is developed and employed as the main research paradigm informing this design study. Thus, the research design involves a flexible three-stage research framework: (1) the preliminary phase, which acts as a theoretical and empirical foundation for the whole study, and informs a preliminary design framework; it involves reviewing relevant literature and obtaining empirical data through documentary analysis (100 documents), online questionnaire (n=50), and semi-structured interviews (n=19); (2) the prototyping phase that involves two iterations (36 participants in the first iteration, and 30 in the second) conducted in the Egyptian context to test the proposed design framework. Each iteration acts as a micro-cycle of the whole design study, and thus involves its own objectives, learning design, research methodology and procedures (in line with the main DBR methodology), and results; (3) the assessment/reflective phase which, based on the prototyping phase results, presents a final design framework for expanding EFL student teachers’ language-related literacy practices. This has implications for the EFL curriculum design process within the Egyptian context in general, and AUCOE in particular. Results indicate that throughout the two iterations, it has become evident that the process of expanding EFL student teachers’ language-related literacy practices by integrating some Web-based new literacies into the AUCOE pre-service programme is quite feasible once some design principles are considered. Some significant conclusions and educational implications are provided, along with some main contributions to knowledge in TESOL/TEFL, language-learning theory, research methodology, and educational practice as far as the Egyptian context of pre-service EFL teacher education is concerned.