Understanding Preschool Children's Reading Engagement and Learning With Interactive eBooks

• In Event: Early Childhood Literacy

Abstract

In this experimental study, preschool children were assigned to read an interactive storybook independently or a paper-based version of the same book with an adult. We compared children's engagement behaviors during reading (i.e., verbal comments, emotion expression, and attention) and the association between engagement behaviors and reading comprehension across the two conditions. Results suggested that reading condition had a significant effect on children’s verbal comments and emotional expression. The relation between engagement behaviors and comprehension were also found to differ between conditions. Given the prevalence of interactive storybooks for young children, this study offers important insights into early literacy development in digital contexts.

Authors

• Ying Xu, University of California - Irvine

• Joanna Yau, University of California - Irvine

• Stephanie Reich, University of California - Irvine