The purpose of this quantitative post measure only experimental study was to determine if, or to what extent, the use of emojis by a chatbot pedagogical agent in a threaded conversation is effective in eliciting social presence, human-like, and engaging perceptions by adult learners living in North America. Social presence theory provided the theoretical foundation to address the researcher questions: Is there a statistically significant positive effect of emoji social cue use on social presence in a threaded conversation by adult learners?; Is there a statistically significant positive effect of emoji social cue use on human-like in a threaded conversation by adult learners?; and Is there a statistically significant positive effect of emoji social cue use on engaging in a threaded conversation by adult learners? The sample was composed of 147 English speaking adults living in the United States of America who do not possess a college degree. The human-like two-independent samples t-test scores were statistically significantly higher for the emoji exposure group (M-treatment = 4.038, SD = 0.570) than for the control group (M-control = 3.873, SD =0.593), t(143) = 1.708 and p = 0.045 with a Cohen's d of 0.284. The social presence scores and engaging scores did not achieve statistical significance. These findings have implications for future chatbot pedagogical agent research based on the study's strengths and weaknesses, while also laying the groundwork for future research into improving social presence development by pedagogical agents for adult learners. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]