The educational electronic book as a tool for supporting children’s emergent literacy in low versus middle SES groups

The effects of an educational electronic book (e-book) on 149 five- to six-year-old kindergarteners’ emergent literacy levels were researched in two SES groups: low (LSES) (79 children) vs. middle (MSES) (70 children). In each SES group, children were randomly assigned to four groups. Three groups were assigned to work individually in one of three e-book activity modes: “Read story only”, “Read with dictionary”, or “Read and play” during three similar activity sessions and the fourth group served as a control which received the regular program of the kindergarten. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included word meaning, word recognition, and phonological awareness. Results show that word meaning of children from both middle and low SES improved following the educational e-book activity, regardless of mode. Second, LSES children’s emergent literacy levels showed relatively greater improvement rates than did those of the MSES children. Third, children in the “Read with dictionary” and “Read and play” activity modes showed more improvement in their emergent literacy levels than did those in the “Read story only” mode. Implications for future research and for education are discussed.     

The effects of CD-ROM storybook reading on low SES kindergarteners’ emergent literacy as a function of learning context

We investigated the effects of a highly rated commercial electronic book (e-book) for young children on kindergarteners’ emergent literacy skills within the context of paired peer versus individual use of the e-book. The sample of 110 kindergarteners had a mean age of 5.64 years and approximately equal numbers of boys and girls, randomly chosen from four kindergartens in a low SES Israeli township. All participants spoke Hebrew. None had been diagnosed with learning disabilities. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups: 30 tutors, 30 tutees, and 30 individual learners, all of whom used the e-book, and 20 children in a control group who were only exposed to their regular kindergarten program. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included phonological awareness, reading of words from the e-book, word recognition, and story comprehension and production. The overall improvement in the measured emergent literacy skills from pre- to post-intervention of the children in the three experimental groups was higher than that of the children in the control group. In addition, there were significant learning context differences in several of the children’s measured emergent literacy skills, suggesting that those who work on an e-book activity in a paired peer learning context with same age peers (tutors and tutees) seem to gain an advantage in phonological awareness, emergent reading, and story comprehension over those who work with it individually. Implications for educators and e-book designers are discussed.     

Enhanced recognition of written words and enjoyment of reading in struggling beginner readers through whole-word multimedia software

The effectiveness of a reading intervention using the whole-word multimedia software ‘Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) for Clicker’ was compared to a reading intervention using traditional ORT Big Books. Developing literacy skills and attitudes towards learning to read were assessed in a group of 17 struggling beginner readers aged 5–6 years. Each child was given each of the two interventions, and the order of intervention was counterbalanced across the group. Each intervention was integrated into the literacy hour over five consecutive days. Measures of written word recognition, written word naming, phonological awareness and attitudes towards computers were taken before and after each intervention. Significant gains in performance were found following both interventions for all of the literacy measures, but significantly greater gains in written word recognition and enjoyment of instruction were found following the Clicker than Big Book intervention. These results suggest that whole-word multimedia software could be a useful classroom aid for supporting early literacy skills in children who are struggling with learning to read.     

Reading electronic books as a support for vocabulary,story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade

The effect of reading an electronic storybook (e-book) on Israeli children’s language and literacy was examined in kindergarten children (N = 40; age 5:2–6:3) compared to first graders (N = 50; age 6:3–7:4). The children in each age group were randomly assigned to two groups: an intervention group which read the e-book five times and a control group which was afforded the regular school program. Pre- and post-tests included vocabulary and word reading measures. Post-tests included story comprehension and production. Children who read the e-book exhibited significant progress in word meaning and word reading compared to the control group. Kindergarten children progressed in word reading more significantly than first graders across treatment groups. This could be explained by the ceiling effect of the first graders’ word reading level which did not leave much room for progress in this skill compared to the kindergarten children. No interaction was found between age and treatment groups. Kindergarten children exhibited a good level of story comprehension, similar to first graders, although their story production was lower. Implications for future research and education are discussed.     

The effect of electronic books on enhancing emergent literacy skills of pre-school children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of e-books on enhancing Jordanian preschool children's emergent literacy skills (experimental group), in comparison to children who were exposed to regular printed books (control group). To achieve the objectives of this study, the total of 92 children were assigned to either experimental group (n = 48) and control group (n = 44). The pre- and post-test data was collected on print awareness, vocabulary, alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness skills to determine the effectiveness of e-books. The results indicated that children in experimental group performed significantly better than the children in control group. Moreover, significant differences were found according to gender, as the female children exhibited superior emergent literacy skills to the male children. Regarding the different emergent literacy skills, children in the experimental group achieved better improvement in the areas of print awareness and vocabulary. Based on these findings, it is recommended that pre-school institutions incorporate e-books activities into their classrooms.     

The learning value of computer-based instruction of early reading skills

Abstract This study examined the unique contribution of computer-based instruction when compared with more conventional modes of instruction (i.e. teacher instruction with textbooks) to early reading skills acquisition, as well as the effects of specific features of computer technology on early reading skills performance. Forty-six pre-school children (aged 5–6), at high risk for learning disabilities, participated in the study. They were assigned to one of three study groups that received different treatments. Three dependent variables were defined, i.e. children's phonological awareness, word recognition and letter recognition skills measured prior and after the treatment. Results clearly indicated that children at high risk who received the reading intervention program with computer materials significantly improved their phonological awareness, word recognition, and letter naming skills relative to their peers who received a reading intervention program with only printed materials and those who received no formal reading intervention program. The results are discussed in detail, with reference to the features of the computer-based materials that contributed to the acquisition of critical early reading skills.     

The effects of keyword cues and 3R strategy on children's e‐book reading

Various studies have found that electronic books (e‐books) promote learning, but few works have examined the use of e‐books along with an adaptive reading strategy for children. The current study implemented a method to extract keyword cues from e‐books to support e‐book reading with the read, recite and review (3R) strategy, and then examined the impact of this on children's reading performance. A pilot work recruited 76 first‐graders, developed the related reading tests and questionnaires. These were later used in assessing the effects of different interventions on the reading performances and perspectives of 74 first‐graders in the main study. Based on the findings of this work, the 3R strategy can be used as an effective approach to guide children's reading with e‐books. In addition, the use of keyword cues incorporated with retrieval practice can provide support with regard to Chinese characters and phonetic information in order to aid children's memorization of the story, thus promoting both phonological awareness and reading comprehension.     

Do ABC eBooks boost engagement and learning in preschoolers? An experimental study comparing eBooks with paper ABC and storybook controls

Alphabet books are an important instructional text used in early education. Advances in mobile technology have led to alphabet books of an electronic format with accompanying sound, animations, and interactive hot spots. This study investigates the differential effectiveness of paper alphabet books and alphabet eBooks in training alphabetic knowledge in 4-year-olds. Three groups of approximately 30 children were assigned to one of three conditions: paper alphabet book, alphabet eBook, or storybook control. Book reading sessions composed of three to four children were run twice a week over eight weeks, with child-book behaviours coded at each session. Measures of early reading ability were collected pre and post-intervention. Children in all conditions improved over time in emergent literacy but no significant differences between conditions were found. Children using paper alphabet books were more likely to say letter names, and their time oriented to the books predicted post-test letter-name and phonological awareness after controlling for pre-test scores. In contrast, time oriented to the alphabet eBooks made no prediction to post-test sores.     

Promoting contextual vocabulary learning through an adaptive computer‐assisted EFL reading system

The study developed an adaptive computer‐assisted reading system and investigated its effect on promoting English as a foreign language learner‐readers' contextual vocabulary learning performance. Seventy Taiwanese college students were assigned to two reading groups. Participants in the customised reading group read online English texts, each of which was customised by the developed system to offer immediate and repeated meetings with previously encountered unknown words, while participants in the typical reading group read online texts without control on unknown word recurrence. After the 4‐week online reading treatment, the two groups of learners were tested by online immediate and delayed vocabulary tests, and the students from the customised reading group were also required to complete the questionnaire regarding system use. The results showed that the vocabulary mean scores from both immediate and delayed testing demonstrated significantly better results in word gain and word retention with the customised reading group and that the adaptive reading system was appealing for the students. The study demonstrated that by providing customised reading with word recurrence specific to individuals' unknown words, this adaptive computer‐assisted English as a foreign language reading system creates a more favourable condition for foreign language vocabulary growth.     

Computer-assisted learning in young poor readers: The effect of grapho-syllabic training on the development of word reading and reading comprehension

Two experiments examine the effects of two computer-based interventions, one with grapho-syllabic training (GST) and another with grapho-phonemic training (GPT) on the development of word recognition and reading comprehension in French children during Grade 1 and Grade 2. In Exp 1, poor readers (N = 27) in second grade were selected and divided into three equal groups, one GST group, one GPT group and a control group. After the session training (10 h), the children from the grapho-syllabic training group outperformed their counterparts in word reading. In Exp 2, poor readers in first grade (N = 18) were divided in two groups, a GST group and a GPT group. Six sessions were conducted in order to examine the possible long-term effect of training (10 h) during 16 months. The results revealed an effect of grapho-syllabic training on silent word recognition, word reading aloud and reading comprehension. A computer-assisted learning (CAL) system based on the syllable, which is considered to be the phonological and orthographic unit that is used by French young readers, could be a promising tool to help poor readers decode words and consequently boost their word recognition and reading comprehension capabilities.     

Moved to learn: The effects of interactivity in a Kinect-based literacy game for beginning readers

Reading to young children has a number of benefits, including supporting the acquisition of vocabulary and literacy skills. Digital reading games, including ones with new modes of interface such as the Kinect for Xbox, may provide similar benefits in part by allowing dynamic in-game activities. However, these activities may also be distracting and detract from learning. Children (ages 5–7 years, N = 39) were randomly assigned to either i) jointly read a story with an adult, ii) have the story read by a character in a Kinect game, or iii) have the story read by a character in a Kinect game plus in-game activities. Both Kinect-Activities and Book Reading groups had significant gains for High Frequency Words, Active Decoding, and Total Reading Score, but only Kinect-Activities group had significant gain for Sight words (p < .05). Overall, these findings are encouraging for the next generation of digital literacy games.     

Understanding the nature and impact of young readers’ literacy interactions with talking books and during adult reading support

This paper reports an extended analysis of the study reported in [Wood, C. (2005). Beginning readers’ use of ‘talking books’ software can affect their reading strategies. Journal of Research in Reading, 28, 170–182.], in which five and six-year-old children received either six sessions using specially designed talking books or six sessions of one-to-one tuition with an adult using the paper-based versions of the same books. This analysis focuses on the nature of the children’s interactions with either the adult or the computer in an attempt to explore how these different resources impacted on the children’s literacy interactions, and whether different styles of literacy interaction observed within each group were associated with gains in phonological awareness or changes in reading strategy. Four styles of literacy interaction were identified and there was a significant association between these styles and membership of one of the two experimental conditions in the study. Interactional style was also seen to impact positively on phonological awareness development for lower ability children who used the talking books. In contrast, interactional style affected changes in reading strategy amongst children in the adult tutor condition. Finally, there was also an influence of interactional style on spontaneous dialogic reading by the children overall, but this effect originated from the children in the adult tutor group.     

Do Hebrew electronic books differ from Dutch electronic books? A replication of a Dutch content analysis

Abstract This replication study of Hebrew versus Dutch electronic books for young children was based on De Jong & Bus's content analysis, which explored whether e‐books are appropriate supports for young children's literacy development. Our criteria for analysing 43 Hebrew e‐books for young children included book processing, multimedia in pictures, multimedia connected to printed or spoken text, interactivity of pictures, interactive legibility, printed text quality, and congruence to story content. Like Dutch e‐books, currently available, Hebrew e‐books have no uniform components design and are unsatisfactory supports for children's literacy. Although most Hebrew e‐books did not include hidden hot‐spots that could be activated, when included, their congruence with the storyline was good. Recommendations for CD e‐storybook designers and practical implications for educators are discussed.     

Responsiveness to a game-based intervention to enhance reading efficiency in first graders

In the present study, a 5-week tablet-based word reading efficiency game intervention (Reading Turbo) was integrated in a comprehensive phonics-based reading curriculum. The aims of the study were to examine whether the game would advance children's word reading efficiency, and to determine the extent to which pre-reading capacities and in-game mechanisms could explain individual variation in responsiveness to the game. To do so, word reading efficiency scores of first graders in an intervention group (n = 132) and a control group that continued with the usual reading curriculum (n = 118) were compared prior to, directly after, and 2 months after the 5-week intervention period. Individual variation in responsiveness was examined by relating reading precursors (i.e., phonological awareness, letter efficiency, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and verbal working memory) measured at the onset of the intervention, and in-game accuracy and efficiency to word reading efficiency outcomes in untrained words. Results indicated that playing the word reading game significantly enhanced first graders' word reading efficiency directly after the intervention, but the effect was no longer significant 2 months after the intervention. With respect to individual variation in game responsiveness, it was found that phonological awareness, letter efficiency, and verbal working memory predicted responsiveness to the game via in-game accuracy. In addition, phonological awareness and RAN predicted responsiveness to the game via in-game efficiency, and letter efficiency and verbal working memory were directly related to responsiveness. The effectiveness of the word reading game thus differentiated between children with higher and lower pre-reading capacities, and operated via in-game child affordances.     

Audio-visual training in children with reading disabilities

This study tested the effectiveness of audio-visual training in the discrimination of the phonetic feature of voicing on the recognition of written words by young children deemed to at risk of dyslexia (experiment 1) as well as on dyslexic children’s phonological skills (experiment 2). In addition, the third experiment studied the effectiveness of this word recognition training in dyslexic children who regularly used a computer at home. A traditional pre-test, training, post-test design including comparison groups (experimental vs. control) provided a base-line for assessing the training effects. In the three experiments the intervention group showed higher increases performances in phonological skills and phonological recoding than the control group did. Beyond providing evidence for the effectiveness of this audio-visual training, these results contribute to an understanding of the nature of reading difficulties and successful training. Globally, the results show the impact of the audio-visual training about voicing on performances of reading-disabled children. A such type of training leads children to connect print and phonology. Phonological representations could be specified by training which involves both phonological and orthographic units. The mapping between these two units could be easier in a computerized remedial program.     

Effects of computer-assisted comprehension training in less skilled comprehenders in second grade: A one-year follow-up study

This study examines the effects of a new CAI program designed to remediate text comprehension difficulties in less skilled comprehenders at the beginning of learning to read. In a randomized control trial design, two groups of second grade children experiencing comprehension difficulties were selected and trained using two CAI programs. One of these was designed to assist comprehension processes (experimental group) whereas the other encouraged word decoding (control group). Four tasks were administered using a classical pre-test/training/post-test design: listening comprehension, reading comprehension, vocabulary and comprehension monitoring. In addition, two post-test sessions were conducted: one just after the training and one 11 months later. The experimental group exhibited a greater level of progress in both listening and reading comprehension, with notable lasting effects. In contrast, the results relating to the vocabulary and comprehension monitoring tasks were more mixed. The results are discussed in the light of the possible use of CAI when training higher-level skills such as text comprehension.     

The effectiveness of adaptive versus non-adaptive learning with digital educational games

For the training of academic skills, digital educational games with integrated adaptivity are promising. Adaptive games are considered superior to non-adaptive games, because they constantly assess children's performance, and accordingly adapt the difficulty of the tasks corresponding to the children's individual level. However, empirical evidence with regard to the effectivity of adaptive compared to non-adaptive games is limited. A study was conducted with 191 children from the third year of Kinder garten who were enrolled in one of three conditions, that is, playing an adaptive version of the reading game (RG), a non-adaptive version of the RG or training with pen-and-paper exercises. In all three conditions, children trained emergent reading (phonological awareness and letter knowledge) once a week for 30 min over a period of 5 weeks. Children's performance on cognitive (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, reading fluency) and non-cognitive (motivation, self-concept) factors was assessed. Results revealed a significant improvement in phonological awareness and letter knowledge in all conditions. However, no differences between the conditions were observed with respect to children's improvement on phonological awareness and letter knowledge or on their post-test scores for reading fluency. With regard to motivation and self-concept, again, no differences in these non-cognitive factors were observed across conditions.     

Interactions with talking books: phonological awareness affects boys' use of talking books

Abstract Framed by current concerns about boys' attainment in literacy, this paper investigates the potential of talking books software to support the literacy development of male beginning readers. The study primarily considered whether typically developing boys who showed lower levels of attainment in phonological awareness would show a greater degree of improvement in phonological awareness or a change in reading strategy, following a talking books intervention, than boys who were demonstrating higher levels of phonological awareness. It also examined whether the boys' phonological awareness attainment would affect how they used the software to support their attempts at reading, both in terms of their interactions with the computer and the types of speech feedback that they selected. The analysis also considered whether there was any association between the nature of the boys' teaching and learning interactions with the computer and any changes in their reading strategies from pre- to post-test. The findings suggest that the use of the talking books software was particularly beneficial for boys who initially showed lower phonological proficiency, and that the boys in this study utilised the talking books software adaptively depending on their phonological proficiency. Moreover, there was evidence that contact with the talking books affected the reading strategies of the boys who had higher phonological awareness. There was also evidence of an association between the way in which the boys interacted with the software and changes in their reading strategy between pre- and post-test.     

The effect of text messaging on 9‐ and 10‐year‐old children's reading,spelling and phonological processing skills

This paper reports on an intervention study that considered the impact of text messaging on 9‐ to 10‐year‐old children's literacy skills. One hundred and fourteen children who had never owned a mobile phone before were recruited and randomly allocated to either the intervention or control conditions. All children were pre‐ and post‐tested on a range of reading, spelling and phonological awareness measures. Children in the intervention group were given access to a mobile phone (enabled for text messaging only) for weekends and during half‐term break for a 10‐week period. It was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups of children in terms of their literacy attainment during that period. However, within the mobile phone group, there was evidence that use of text abbreviations was positively related to gains in literacy skills. Moreover, after controlling for individual differences in IQ, and the children's performance at pre‐test, textism usage was able to account for a significant amount of variance in post‐test spelling scores. These results show that text messaging does not adversely affect the development of literacy skills within this age group, and that the children's use of textisms when text messaging is positively related to improvement in literacy skills, especially spelling.     

Hypermedia annotation presentation: The effect of location and type on the EFL learners’ achievement in reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition

This study investigated the effect of gloss presentation in different text locations whilst participants read EFL texts in a hypermedia environment. Seventy-eight undergraduate EFL learners read and summarized seven texts and completed a vocabulary assessment. The number of propositions recalled in each summary was recorded. The data suggest that reading passages with hypermedia annotations significantly benefits passage comprehension and vocabulary (compared to reading passages with no annotations). The best performance was observed in the condition where glosses were placed after the glossed word. The study also reported large observed score mean differences for the definition gloss type of 3–5-words.