Reapproaching human-chatbot interaction for early literacy development: A learner-centered review of literature and technology prior to ChatGPT 3.0

Lei, Zhichao; Huang, Yangwen

doi:10.5281/zenodo.15767795

Volume 3, 2025 – Issue 2

Reapproaching human-chatbot interaction for early literacy development: A learner-centered review of literature and technology prior to ChatGPT 3.0

Zhichao Lei ^¹ and Yangwen Huang ^²

¹ Department of Communication, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.

² School of Art and Media, Guangzhou Vocational and Technical University of Science and Technology, Guangdong, China.

Corresponding author: noisee11211@snu.ac.kr

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15767795

Abstract

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has presented tremendous potential in reshaping early childhood education, particularly in literacy development. Extending this concern, recent investigations have been marching along with the wide application of LLM (Large Language Model) and contributing to the on-going discourse on various roles assumed by this increasingly prominent form of human-computer interaction (HCI) for human development. However, multiple challenges associated with AI deployment at the early stage of life remain underexplored, most of which can date back as early as before the game-changing debut of ChatGPT 3.0. Taking a learner-centered approach to such long-standing issues, this paper addresses the implications of chatbots as educational tools for enhancing early literacy in an increasingly diverse socio-cultural landscape. First, through a media archeological lens, the literature review reapproaches certain early chatbot features, discerning the instructional designs and implications for early literacy development, while considering the potential overlaps among chatbot, videogame, and virtual pet as three practically related technologies. The following discussion on a chatbot prototype is grounded in the insights drawn from a case study on the Talking Tom Cat application, as an example of combining chatbot, videogame, and virtual pet features and presenting opportunities for early literacy development even without the use of AI. The “AI-less” case study focuses on the foundational designs and analyzes 14 curated user comments to understand user experiences, highlighting the advantages of a chatbot-like videogame slash virtual pet, and foregrounding its limitations as caveats for future chatbot designs. Hopefully, this paper could contribute to the agenda of AI evolutions in early personalized education, offering practical implications and theoretical insights into how AI-driven learning tools could be devised and implemented in rapidly changing socio-cultural systems.

Keywords: HCI, chatbot, early literacy development, learner-centered approach.

PDF

Published

2025/06/30

—

Section

Research Papers

How to Cite (APA)

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 apa 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

Download Citation: EndNote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)

Chicago

MLA

IEEE

Harvard

Vancouver

APA

Chicago

MLA

IEEE

Harvard

Vancouver

APA

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 chicago-author-date 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 modern-language-association 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 ieee 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 harvard1 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 vancouver-author-date 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

16359756 {16359756:GNS48RCM} 1 apa 50 default 2165 https://ijtie.com/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/

References

Adamopoulou, E., & Moussiades, L. (2020). An overview of chatbot technology. In IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations (pp. 373-383). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49186-4_31

Bekele, M. K., Pierdicca, R., Frontoni, E., Malinverni, E. S., & Gain, J. (2018). A survey of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality for cultural heritage. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH), 11(2), 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1145/3145534

Belda-Medina, J., & Calvo-Ferrer, J. R. (2022). Using chatbots as AI conversational partners in language learning. Applied Sciences, 12(17), 8427. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12178427

Belda-Medina, J., & Kokošková, V. (2023). Integrating chatbots in education: insights from the Chatbot-Human Interaction Satisfaction Model (CHISM). International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20(1), 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-023-00432-3

Bergen, D., Davis, D.R., & Abbitt, J.R. (2016). Changes in Play Environments With Advent of Technology-Augmented Play Materials, In Technology play and brain development: implications for the future of human behaviors, (pp. 29-52). New York: Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781315681436-3

Biswas, G., Leelawong, K., Schwartz, D., & Vye, N. (2005). Learning by Teaching: A New Agent Paradigm for Educational Software. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 19(3-4), 363-392. https://doi.org/10.1080/08839510590910200

Bourdeaud’hui, H., Aesaert, K., Johan van Braak. (2021).Exploring the relationship between metacognitive awareness, motivation, and L1 students’ critical listening skills. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2021.1872474

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32(7), 513–531. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Ed.). (2021, February 22). Child Development. Retrieved October 31, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/preschoolers.html#print

Chen, Z.-H., Liao, C., Chien, T.-C. and Chan, T.-W. (2011), Animal companions: Fostering children’s effort-making by nurturing virtual pets. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42: 166-180 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01003.x

Cohen, J. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4(3), 245–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01

Cole, S. M. (2014). Gender identity construction through talk about video games. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 16(5) https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2487

Cottier, B., Besiroglu, T., & Owen, D. (2023). Who is leading in AI? An analysis of industry AI research. arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.00043. https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00043

Denham, S. A., & Brown, C. (2010). “Plays nice with others”: Social–emotional learning and academic success. Early Education and Development, 21(5), 652-680. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2010.497450

Dennen, V. P., & Hao, S. (2014). Paradigms of use, learning theory, and app design. The new landscape of mobile learning: Redesigning education in an app-based world. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203108420

Dickey, D. M. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53,67-83. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504866

Duggan, J. R., Lindley, J., & McNicol, S. (2017). Near Future School: World building beyond a neoliberal present with participatory design fictions. Futures, 94, 15-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.04.001

El Zaatari, W., & Maalouf, I. (2022). How the Bronfenbrenner Bio-ecological System Theory Explains the Development of Students’ Sense of Belonging to School? SAGE Open, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221134089

Gigante, M. A. (1993). Virtual reality: definitions, history and applications. In Virtual reality systems (pp. 3-14). Academic Pre https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-227748-1.50009-3

Goldman, A., & de Vignemont, F. (2009). Is social cognition embodied?. Trends in cognitive sciences, 13(4), 154-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.007

Hamby, A., Brinberg, D., & Jaccard, J. (2016). A conceptual framework of narrative persuasion. Journal of Media Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000187

Huang, W., Hew, K. F., & Fryer, L. K. (2022). Chatbots for language learning—Are they really useful? A systematic review of chatbot‐supported language learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 38(1), 237-257. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12610

Jonassen, D. H., & Hernandez-Serrano, J. (2002). Case-based reasoning and instructional design: Using stories to support problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(2), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504994

Kandpal, N., Wallace, E., & Raffel, C. (2022). Deduplicating training data mitigates privacy risks in language models. In International Conference on Machine Learning (pp. 10697-10707). PMLR. https://proceedings.mlr.press/v162/kandpal22a.html

King, B. P. (2015). Practical Natural Language Processing for Low-Resource Languages (Doctoral dissertation). https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/113373

Klopfer, E. (2008). Augmented learning: Research and design of mobile educational games. MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262516525

Klopfer, E., & Squire, K. (2008). Environmental Detectives—the development of an augmented reality platform for environmental simulations. Educational technology research and development, 56, 203-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-007-9037-6

Kuhail, M. A., Alturki, N., Alramlawi, S., & Alhejori, K. (2023). Interacting with educational chatbots: A systematic review. Education and Information Technologies, 28(1), 973-1018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11177-3

Laffey J.M., Espinosa L., Moore J. & Lodree A. (2003) Supporting learning and behavior of at-risk youth children: computers in urban education. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 35, 423–439. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2003.10782394

Lei, Z. (2023). How’s Identity Being Learned in City Museums? An Identity Education Approach to Museum Education. In: Guralnick, D., Auer, M.E., Poce, A. (eds) Creative Approaches to Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Workplace and Higher Education. TLIC 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 767. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41637-8_26

Lei, Z. (2023). On-site Learning in Museums: Re-conceptualizations and Re-directions for Museum Education in the Post-pandemic Digital Age. Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies, 49(4), 7-19. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajess/2023/v49i41182

Li R., Zhang B., Sundar S.S., Duh H.BL. (2013) Interacting with Augmented Reality: How Does Location-Based AR Enhance Learning?. In: Kotzé P., Marsden G., Lindgaard G., Wesson J., Winckler M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2013. INTERACT 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8118. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/10.1007/978-3-642-40480-1_43

Liu, C. C., Liao, M. G., Chang, C. H., & Lin, H. M. (2022). An analysis of children’s interaction with an AI chatbot and its impact on their interest in reading. Computers & Education, 189, 104576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104576

McLuhan, M. (2017). The medium is the message. In Communication theory (pp. 390-402). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315080918-31/medium-message-marshall-mcluhan

Morrow, L. M., & Dougherty, S. (2011). Early Literacy Development: Merging Perspectives That Influence Practice. Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts, 51-57. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203839713-13/early-literacy-development-merging-perspectives-infl-uence-practice-lesley-mandel-morrow-susan-dougherty

Pérez, J. Q., Daradoumis, T., & Puig, J. M. M. (2020). Rediscovering the use of chatbots in education: A systematic literature review. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 28(6), 1549-1565. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22326

Perkins, D. N. (1985). The fingertip effect: How information-processing technology shapes thinking. Educational Researcher, 14(7), 11-17. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X014007011

Rahman, L. (2024). Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development of Teaching and Learning in STEM Education. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), 13(08). https://www.ijert.org/vygotskys-zone-of-proximal-development-of-teaching-and-learning-in-stem-education

Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (Eds.). (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (p. 408). Boston: Pearson. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003502302

Reshmi, S., & Balakrishnan, K. (2016). Implementation of an inquisitive chatbot for database supported knowledge bases. sādhanā, 41, 1173-1178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-016-0544-1

Rojas-Drummond, S. M. (2016). Explaining Literacy Development from a Bioecological Systems Framework: Affordances and Challenges, Commentary on Jaeger. Human Development, 59(4), 188-194. https://doi.org/10.1159/000449263

Rudolph, R. E., Shech, E., & Tamir, M. (2025). Bias, machine learning, and conceptual engineering. Philosophical Studies, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-024-02273-w

Schlesinger, A., O’Hara, K. P., & Taylor, A. S. (2018). Let’s talk about race: Identity, chatbots, and AI. In Proceedings of the 2018 chi conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-14). https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173889

Shirky, C. (2008). Promise, Tool, Bargain. From Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations, 260-292. ISBN: 9781594201530

Shum, H. Y., He, X. D., & Li, D. (2018). From Eliza to XiaoIce: challenges and opportunities with social chatbots. Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, 19, 10-26. https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1700826

Stahl, C. C., & Literat, I. (2023). # GenZ on TikTok: the collective online self-portrait of the social media generation. Journal of youth studies, 26(7), 925-946. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2022.2053671

Sternberg, R. J. & Sternberg, K. (2012). Cognitive psychology. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage. ISBN-13: 978-1-111-34476-4

Sun, Z., Shen, Y., Zhou, Q., Zhang, H., Chen, Z., Cox, D., … & Gan, C. (2023). Principle-driven self-alignment of language models from scratch with minimal human supervision. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.03047. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.03047

Tessmer, M., & Richey, R. C. (1997). The role of context in learning and instructional design. Educational technology research and development, 45(2), 85-115. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02299526

Vainas, O., Bar-Ilan, O., Ben-David, Y., Gilad-Bachrach, R., Lukin, G., Ronen, M., Shillo, R., & Sitton, D. (2019). E-Gotsky: Sequencing Content using the Zone of Proximal Development. arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.12268. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12268

Van den Heuvel, M., Ma, J., Borkhoff, C. M., Koroshegyi, C., Dai, D. W., Parkin, P. C., … & Birken, C. S. (2019). Mobile media device use is associated with expressive language delay in 18-month-old children. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(2), 99. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000630

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (Vol. 86). Harvard university press. 978-0674576292

Webb, L. (2008). Jean Piaget. Perspectives in Theory: Anthology of Theorists affecting the Educational World, 271-285. Online Submission. ERIC Number: ED503707

Wong, C. H. T., & Yunus, M. M. (2021). Board games in improving pupils’ speaking skills: a systematic review. Sustainability, 13(16), 8772. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168772

Wu, S. H., Chen, L. P., Yang, P. C., & Ku, T. (2018). Automatic dialogue template synthesis for chatbot by story information extraction. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration (IRI) (pp. 485-490). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IRI.2018.00077

About the authors

Zhichao Lei, “Jacob,” is a full-time PhD student in the Department of Communication at Seoul National University (SNU). As a Brain Korea 21 scholar, Lei’s doctoral research in ICT-powered Urban Communication & Education for sustainable development is being fully supported by SNU, in efforts to address a wide range of social concerns faced by East Asia. Lei’s academic background also reflects a multidisciplinary approach to diverse communication and education issues. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcasting and Television from Fudan University, an LLB from East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPSL), and a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Media from Columbia University. Besides, Lei has gained numerous presentations, interview, mentoring, and evaluation experiences by assuming multiple roles in the field of multicultural communication and education. His former roles include China-Korea youth diplomat, HR officer of an international education group, lecturer, and speaker.
noisee11211@snu.ac.kr
↩︎
Yangwen Huang, “Wendy,” is a digital media arts student with interests in human-computer interaction, artistic design, and virtual reality. She is passionate about designing games that let people explore new identities in virtual worlds. Her research and design focus is to create playful experiences in which players craft unique avatars to express themselves freely, connect with others, and find moments of fun to ease real-life stress. Through storytelling and interactive design, Huang’s projects aim to build imaginative games serving various purposes.
↩︎

The International Journal of Technology, Innovation, and Education

ISSN: 2820 – 7521

Volume 3, 2025 – Issue 2

Reapproaching human-chatbot interaction for early literacy development: A learner-centered review of literature and technology prior to ChatGPT 3.0

Abstract

How to Cite (APA)

References

About the authors

TIE Journal

The International Journal of Technology, Innovation, and Education

Contact