A politeness effect in learning with web-based intelligent tutors

  • Authors:

  • Bruce M. McLaren;Krista E. DeLeeuw;Richard E. Mayer

  • Affiliations:

  • Human Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891, USA;Knowledge Media Research Center, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 40, 72072 Tuebingen, Germany;Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

College students learned to solve chemistry stoichiometry problems with a web-based intelligent tutor that provided hints and feedback, using either polite or direct language. There was a pattern in which students with low prior knowledge of chemistry performed better on subsequent problem-solving tests if they learned from the polite tutor rather than the direct tutor (d=.78 on an immediate test, d=.51 on a delayed test), whereas students with high prior knowledge showed the reverse trend (d=-.47 for an immediate test; d=-.13 for a delayed test). These results point to a boundary condition for the politeness principle-the idea that people learn more deeply when words are in polite style. At least for low-knowledge learners, the results are consistent with social agency theory-the idea that social cues, such as politeness, can prime learners to accept a web-based tutor as a social partner and therefore try harder to make sense of the tutor's messages.