Improving emergent literacy with school-based shared reading: Paper versus ebooks

Shared reading interactions with electronic books (ebooks) versus paper books were compared, using a randomized controlled crossover design. The ebooks were designed to encourage an interactive reading style by the adult reader and to highlight text-meaning correspondences for the child participants. Twenty-eight children from kindergarten classes situated in a low income community participated in the study, sharing books with an adult reader. Each child shared the same paper book three times in a single week and an ebook three times in a second week, with story and book presented in counterbalanced order. At the end of each week the childs learning with respect to story comprehension and emergent literacy was assessed by research personnel. All outcomes were significantly related to the childs letter knowledge. However, emergent literacy knowledge was greatest in the ebook condition compared to the print book condition, especially for those children with poor letter knowledge. Therefore, ebooks designed to facilitate supportive adult reading strategies may improve emergent literacy skills, especially in children with deficient skills at school entry.

[1]  Jo-Anne LeFevre,et al.  Differential Effects of Home Literacy Experiences on the Development of Oral and Written Language , 1998 .

[2]  P. Sedgwick.  Randomised controlled trials: “within subject” versus “between subject” designs , 2014, BMJ.

[3]  Keiran M. Rump,et al.  Shared book reading: When and how questions affect young children's word learning. , 2009 .

[4]  Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen,et al.  Joint Book Reading Makes for Success in Learning to Read: A Meta-Analysis on Intergenerational Transmission of Literacy , 1995 .

[5]  Ferran Ferrer,et al.  Tablet PCs, academic results and educational inequalities , 2011, Comput. Educ..

[6]  Angela Notari-Syverson,et al.  Parent-Child Book Reading as an Intervention Technique for Young Children with Language Delays , 1996 .

[7]  O. Korat,et al.  Expanding the boundaries of shared book reading: E-books and printed books in parent–child reading as support for children’s language , 2013 .

[8]  G. Whitehurst,et al.  Accelerating Language Development through Picture Book Reading. , 1988 .

[9]  L. Girolametto,et al.  Training day care staff to facilitate children's language. , 2003, American journal of speech-language pathology.

[10]  Adina Shamir,et al.  Electronic books versus adult readers: effects on children's emergent literacy as a function of social class , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[11]  N. Mahajan,et al.  Once upon a Time: Parent-Child Dialogue and Storybook Reading in the Electronic Era. , 2013 .

[12]  P. Dale,et al.  Enhancing Linguistic Performance , 1999 .

[13]  Adriana G. Bus,et al.  Benefits and Pitfalls of Multimedia and Interactive Features in Technology-Enhanced Storybooks , 2015, Review of educational research.

[14]  Laura M. Justice,et al.  Enhancing Children’s Print and Word Awareness Through Home-Based Parent Intervention , 2000 .

[15]  Grover J. Whitehurst,et al.  Effects of a shared-reading intervention on the inclusion of evaluative devices in narratives of children from low-income families , 2003 .

[16]  Nicola J. Pitchford,et al.  Does whole-word multimedia software support literacy acquisition? , 2010 .

[17]  Jean Saint-Aubin,et al.  Letter names and alphabet book reading by senior kindergarteners: an eye movement study. , 2009, Child development.

[18]  Laura M. Justice,et al.  Print Referencing During Read‐Alouds: A Technique for Increasing Emergent Readers' Print Knowledge , 2009 .

[19]  Betty Ann Levy,et al.  Four year old children’s acquisition of print knowledge during electronic storybook reading , 2009 .

[20]  Linda D. Labbo,et al.  Weaving Chains of Affect and Cognition: A Young Child's Understanding of CD-ROM Talking Books , 2000 .

[21]  Jean Saint-Aubin,et al.  What Children Are Looking at During Shared Storybook Reading , 2005, Psychological science.

[22]  Annemarie H. Hindman,et al.  Untangling the Effects of Shared Book Reading: Multiple Factors and Their Associations with Preschool Literacy Outcomes. , 2008 .

[23]  Xi Chen,et al.  Contextual effects on the conversations of mothers and their children with language impairment , 2015 .

[24]  Barbara A. Wasik,et al.  The Effects of a Language and Literacy Intervention on Head Start Children and Teachers , 2006 .

[25]  A. Bus,et al.  The Promise of Multimedia Stories for Kindergarten Children At Risk , 2006 .

[26]  Jan L. Plass,et al.  Moved to learn: The effects of interactivity in a Kinect-based literacy game for beginning readers , 2014, Comput. Educ..

[27]  R. Bakeman.  Recommended effect size statistics for repeated measures designs , 2005, Behavior research methods.

[28]  O. Korat,et al.  Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: effects on emergent reading , 2010 .

[29]  Monique Sénéchal,et al.  Relations Among the Frequency of Shared Reading and 4-Year-Old Children's Vocabulary, Morphological and Syntax Comprehension, and Narrative Skills , 2008 .