The role of arousal in L2 readers’ engagement and comprehension during pedagogical agent–guided online reading

Abstract

Reading comprehension is essential for second language (L2) learners’ academic success, yet many struggle in English–speaking schools due to their various backgrounds and limited lexical knowledge. Prior research highlights the importance of attitude and motivation in promoting the use of reading strategies, but little work has examined how multimedia design can support these factors. In this study, we designed four arousal conditions of pedagogical agent–guided online reading materials in which four pedagogical agents induced two types of arousal (perceptual vs. inquiry) in two levels (high vs. low) through the manipulation of their background images, gestures, voices, and delivered messages. Using a randomized 2 x 2 factorial design, we examined how the study conditions influenced L2 readers’ situational interest, cognitive load and reading comprehension. A total of 157 L2 readers participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Two–way ANOVA results revealed significant main effects of inquiry arousal on germane cognitive load and reading comprehension, as well as an interaction between inquiry and perceptual arousal on germane cognitive load. These findings suggest that inquiry arousal is a key design consideration for pedagogical agent–guided reading tasks for L2 learners.