Parent-child interactions during joint reading play an important role in young children's cognitive and language development. However, contemporary digital book formats---such as e-books or audiobooks---often overlook the role of the parent in reading the text, by either dubbing voice narration over it or reading it aloud automatically. With the advancement and prevalence of voice-based conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agents, AI reading an e-book emerges as a novel reading experience, yet reducing the role of parents in the reading process similarly. When the reading experience becomes less of a joint activity between children and parents, the potential benefits children can gain from reading may diminish. In this study involving 11 parent-child pairs, we aimed to explore how voice agents (VAs) could be used to create an interactive digital space to 1) promote parental engagement in joint e-book reading with children and 2) enhance parents' and children's joint reading experiences. We developed and evaluated TaleMate, an interactive joint reading app that allows parents and children ages 3-6 years to assign different AI voices to the characters from a book while enabling parents to embody one of the characters to read the book with the voice agents. We found that the system supported children's engagement and story comprehension. Parents reported that they found value in the interactivity of the system and enjoyed a participatory, joint reading experience, where both they and their children could choose which characters to embody. These findings offer insights into design considerations for researchers interested in developing applications that facilitate collaborative reading experiences involving parents, children, and voice agents. / Master of Science / In today's digital age, the traditional practice of joint reading between parents and children is evolving. E-books and voice agents (VAs) are becoming more prevalent, but often reduce parental involvement in the reading process, potentially diminishing the benefits for children's cognitive and language development. This study introduces "TaleMate," an innovative app designed to enhance the joint reading experience. TaleMate allows parents and their children (ages 3-6) to engage interactively by assigning roles and voice agents to different characters in a story. Our research involved 11 parent-child pairs, focusing on evaluating the app's ability to maintain parental engagement and improve the reading experience. The findings reveal that TaleMate effectively supports children's engagement and story comprehension while providing a more interactive and enjoyable reading experience for both parents and children. This exploratory study suggests that digital reading formats, when designed thoughtfully, can successfully incorporate voice agents to not only preserve but enhance the valuable interactions in joint reading sessions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119329 |
| Date | 06 June 2024 |
| Creators | Vargas Diaz, Daniel Alfredo |
| Contributors | Computer Science and#38; Applications, Lee, Sang Won, Choi, Koeun, Chen, Yan |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds