Early Literacy and Oral Language Ties: Extending the Range of Human-Computer Interface for Early Assessment

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Division H Section 3 Poster Session 2: Examining Assessment in Schools

Abstract

As a first step in evaluating the inclusion of extended oral discourse in the administration and scoring of language and literacy assessments using social robots, this pilot study reports on how well pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students performed with JIBO, a social robot, being developed to assist educators in the regular monitoring of children’s language and literacy progress. A key finding was that a measure of contextualized vocabulary (i.e., produced during explanatory discourse) was related to letter recognition and a formal measure of expressive vocabulary—important early literacy and literacy-related language skills, respectively. The study will help evaluate the overall educational value of automated language and literacy assessment and help in making adjustments to improve the assessment experiences of young students.

Authors

• Alison L. Bailey, University of California - Los Angeles

• Alejandra Martin, American Institutes for Research

• Anahit Pogossian, University of California - Los Angeles

• Marlen Quintero Pérez, University of California - Los Angeles

• Gary Joseph Yeung, University of California - Los Angeles

• Abeer Alwan, University of California - Los Angeles

• Amber Afshan, University of California - Los Angeles