When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescents and a female pedagogical agent

In this article, we investigate the discourse between a female conversational pedagogical agent and 59 adolescents in the context of a social studies lesson. We note that previous pedagogical agent research has focused on the positive effects of agents, while failing to take into account the intricacies of learner–agent discourse, and subsequently missing the abuse suffered by pedagogical agents at users’ fingertips. Our analysis indicates that learners readily misuse and abuse pedagogical agents while placing them in a subordinate and inferior role. We conclude by making recommendations on agent design and future research.