Comparing electronic and paper storybooks for preschoolers: Attention, engagement, and recall

Abstract Preschool children's attention, engagement, and communication during readings from comparable electronic and paper storybooks, and their recall of story content were assessed. Seventy-nine preschoolers listened to one story on a tablet and another in paper format. The e-book contained multimedia and interactive features that activated story-related information. Dependent measures were attention to the book, the adult, and off-task; engagement and communication; recall of story content. Language and executive functioning were assessed. Results showed that (1) the e-book took twice as long to complete, (2) children were more attentive to, and engaged in the e-book, (3) children communicated more about the device during the e-book but more about the story during the paper book, (4) there was no difference in recall by format, (5) executive functioning was a stronger predictor of attention and story recall than was age. Results were discussed in relation to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning.

[1]  David Willoughby,et al.  Do ABC eBooks boost engagement and learning in preschoolers? An experimental study comparing eBooks with paper ABC and storybook controls , 2015, Comput. Educ..

[2]  M. A. Bell,et al.  Psychobiology of executive function in early development. , 2016 .

[3]  E. Skarakis-Doyle,et al.  Assessing Story Comprehension in Preschool Children , 2008 .

[4]  S. Bryson,et al.  Executive function in preschoolers: a review using an integrative framework. , 2008, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  Lynda G. Salmon.  Factors that Affect Emergent Literacy Development When Engaging with Electronic Books , 2013, Early Childhood Education Journal.

[6]  Philip David Zelazo,et al.  Individual differences in executive functioning predict preschoolers' improvement from theory-of-mind training. , 2013, Developmental psychology.

[7]  S. M. Carlson,et al.  From external regulation to self-regulation: early parenting precursors of young children's executive functioning. , 2010, Child development.

[8]  Richard E. Mayer,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning: Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning , 2005 .

[9]  D. E. Montgomery,et al.  A review of the day–night task: The Stroop paradigm and interference control in young children , 2010 .

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

[11]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Young children and e-reading: research to date and questions for the future , 2014 .

[12]  R. Fivush,et al.  Two-year-old talk about the past , 1987 .

[13]  Suzanne E. Mol,et al.  To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. , 2011, Psychological bulletin.

[14]  M. Farah,et al.  Executive function as a mediator between SES and academic achievement throughout childhood , 2017, International journal of behavioral development.

[15]  Laura M. Justice,et al.  Socio-emotional climate of storybook reading interactions for mothers and preschoolers with language impairment , 2010 .

[16]  Andrea M Philipp,et al.  Control and interference in task switching--a review. , 2010, Psychological bulletin.

[17]  Fathi Ihmeideh,et al.  The effect of electronic books on enhancing emergent literacy skills of pre-school children , 2014, Comput. Educ..

[18]  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..

[19]  Suzanne E. Mol,et al.  Added Value of Dialogic Parent–Child Book Readings: A Meta-Analysis , 2008 .

[20]  Adina Shamir,et al.  Direct and Indirect Teaching: Using e-Books for Supporting Vocabulary, Word Reading, and Story Comprehension for Young Children , 2012 .

[21]  S. Neuman.  The Impact of Different Media on Children's Story Comprehension , 1989 .

[22]  Ofra Korat,et al.  Repeated Reading of CD-ROM Storybook as a Support for Emergent Literacy: A Developmental Perspective in Two Ses Groups , 2010 .

[23]  L. Justice,et al.  Validity of the children's orientation to book reading rating scale , 2014 .

[24]  Kathleen A. Roskos,et al.  A Typology for Observing Children's Engagement with eBooks at Preschool , 2012 .

[25]  G. Whitehurst,et al.  Child development and emergent literacy. , 1998, Child development.

[26]  Alexis R. Lauricella,et al.  Parent-child interactions during traditional and computer storybook reading for children's comprehension: Implications for electronic storybook design , 2014, Int. J. Child Comput. Interact..

[27]  J. Richards,et al.  Infants' attention to patterned stimuli: developmental change from 3 to 12 months of age. , 2006, Child development.

[28]  Adriana G. Bus,et al.  Quality of book-reading matters for emergent readers: An experiment with the same book in a regular or electronic format , 2002 .

[29]  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 .

[30]  Monique Sénéchal,et al.  Discussing stories: on how a dialogic reading intervention improves kindergartners' oral narrative construction. , 2011, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[31]  Natalia Kucirkova,et al.  iPads in early education: separating assumptions and evidence , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[32]  Laura M. Justice,et al.  Electronic versus traditional storybooks: Relative influence on preschool children’s engagement and communication , 2010 .

[33]  Attentional Engagement in Infancy: The Interactive Influence of Attentional Inertia and Attentional State. , 2004, Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies.

[34]  Drew P. Cingel,et al.  Parent–Child Joint Reading in Traditional and Electronic Formats , 2014 .

[35]  G. Bohlin,et al.  Individual Differences in Early Executive Functions: A Longitudinal Study from 12 to 36 Months , 2016 .

[36]  A. Paivio.  Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach , 1986 .

[37]  Georgene L. Troseth,et al.  Effective coviewing: Preschoolers' learning from video after a dialogic questioning intervention. , 2013, Developmental psychology.

[38]  D. Bishop,et al.  Inferential processing and story recall in children with communication problems: a comparison of specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairment and high-functioning autism. , 2002, International journal of language & communication disorders.

[39]  Roderick W. Barron,et al.  Direct and Mediated Influences of Home Literacy and Literacy Interest on Prereaders' Oral Vocabulary and Early Written Language Skill. , 2000 .

[40]  L. Justice,et al.  Emergent literacy intervention for vulnerable preschoolers: relative effects of two approaches. , 2003, American journal of speech-language pathology.

[41]  A. Bus,et al.  Interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth. , 2012, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[42]  C. Blair,et al.  Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. , 2007, Child development.

[43]  Alexis R. Lauricella,et al.  Please Scroll down for Article Journal of Children and Media Emerging Computer Skills , 2022 .

[44]  J. Colombo,et al.  The emergence and basis of endogenous attention in infancy and early childhood. , 2006, Advances in child development and behavior.

[45]  C. Clark,et al.  The structure of executive function in 3-year-olds. , 2011, Journal of experimental child psychology.

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

[47]  R. Aslin.  What's in a look? , 2007, Developmental science.

[48]  A. Gopnik,et al.  Words, thoughts, and theories , 1997 .

[49]  Ofra Korat,et al.  Reading electronic books as a support for vocabulary, story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[50]  T. Jones,et al.  Reading Engagement: A Comparison between E-Books and Traditional Print Books in an Elementary Classroom. , 2011 .

[51]  David F. Bjorklund,et al.  The development of memory strategies , 2008 .

[52]  A. Bus,et al.  The efficacy of electronic books in fostering kindergarten children's emergent story understanding , 2004 .

[53]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Attention and Effort , 1973 .

[54]  Jonathan M. Campbell,et al.  Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test , 2010 .

[55]  A. Greenhoot,et al.  More than pretty pictures? How illustrations affect parent-child story reading and children's story recall , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[56]  S. M. Carlson,et al.  Incorporating early development into the measurement of executive function: The need for a continuum of measures across development. , 2016 .

[57]  Rebekah A. Richert,et al.  Parents Support Preschoolers' Use of a Novel Interactive Device , 2015 .

[58]  Michael C. McKenna,et al.  The Effects of Electronic Books on Pre-Kindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students' Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis , 2009 .

[59]  Elaine Reese,et al.  Picture book reading with young children: A conceptual framework , 2005 .

[60]  Suzanne E. Mol,et al.  Interactive Book Reading in Early Education: A Tool to Stimulate Print Knowledge as Well as Oral Language , 2009 .

[61]  Gabrielle A. Strouse,et al.  From ABCs to DVDs: Profiles of infants' home media environments in the first two years of life , 2014 .

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

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

[64]  O. Korat,et al.  Developing an Educational E-Book for Fostering Kindergarten Children's Emergent Literacy , 2007 .

[65]  Shalom M. Fisch,et al.  A Capacity Model of Children's Comprehension of Educational Content on Television , 2000 .

[66]  Adriana G. Bus,et al.  Can the computer replace the adult for storybook reading? A meta-analysis on the effects of multimedia stories as compared to sharing print stories with an adult , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[67]  Kathleen A. Roskos,et al.  Young Children’s Engagement With E-Books at School , 2014 .