Listening Comprehension in Digital Storybook Environments

• In Event: Roundtable Session 128
  In Roundtable Session: Technology in Early/Elementary Childhood Literacy and Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This study considers the effects of digital storybooks’ presentation features on and the relationship of prior knowledge to measures of listening comprehension in 136 at-risk preschoolers. MANOVA yielded significant effects of presentation format and age on the dependent measures. Comprehension outcomes also served as criterion variables with knowledge variables as predictors in multiple regression. Vocabulary, domain and topic knowledge are significant predictors of explicit and implicit comprehension, with more variance in explicit and implicit comprehension of three-year-olds accounted for by domain knowledge.
Data suggest that digital storybooks employed insufficiently supported preschoolers’ comprehension and recommends that the field continues advocating for inclusion of technology in schools, particularly in communities at-risk for reading failure. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Author

• Kathleen Ann Paciga, Columbia College Chicago