PAPEL: A Collaborative System for Parental Guidance during Preschool Play-Based English Learning

2026-06-10

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge parents face in effectively scaffolding English learning during open-ended home play with preschoolers. To this end, the paper proposes PAPEL, the first AI-augmented collaborative framework specifically designed to enhance parental facilitation skills in “learning through play.” PAPEL delivers dynamic, context-aware real-time support through four integrated modules: context-aware content generation, linguistic adaptation, pedagogy–play balance assessment, and elaborative response expansion. Evaluation via a Wizard-of-Oz prototype demonstrates that PAPEL significantly outperforms a lightweight chatbot baseline, not only strengthening parents’ ability to integrate instructional language within playful interactions but also substantially increasing parent–child conversational turns. These findings underscore PAPEL’s effectiveness and innovation in supporting early English language development in informal home settings.

Abstract

Play-based parent-child interaction offers preschoolers rich opportunities for everyday foreign language learning, yet many parents struggle to turn open-ended play into effective English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learning experiences at home. To explore how AI might support this process, we conducted formative studies through interviews and a Wizard-of-Oz study. We identified four key challenges: content selection, language expression, balancing instruction and play, and problem solving. To address these challenges, we present PAPEL, a parent-AI collaborative system that grounds suggestions in the ongoing play scene and organizes support into four core modules: content generation, language adaptation, balance assessment, and extended response. In a counterbalanced within-subjects study with 16 parent-child dyads, PAPEL was associated with more integrated parent utterances that combined playful and instructional content, as well as more parent-child conversational turns, than the lightweight chatbot baseline used in our study.

Problem

• parent-child interaction
• play-based learning
• English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL)
• parental guidance
• early language learning

Innovation

• parent-AI collaboration
• play-based EFL learning
• context-aware suggestion
• instruction-play balance
• interactive language support