Enhancing Young Children's Home Literacy Through Digital Books: A Türkiye Case Study

• In Event: Family and intergenerational learning and literacy: International perspectives from Argentina, Egypt, Jamaica, and Turkey

Proposal

A nurturing home literacy environment is crucial for the development of early literacy skills in children aged 3 to 8. Within this environment, picture books play a vital role in learning to read. To address limited access to children's books and physical libraries in regions with scarce resources, various global and national initiatives have emerged, such as WorldStories, African Storybook, Global Storybooks, and BookDash.

Türkiye (Turkey) has responded to unequal book access by introducing a similar initiative. In 2021, Turkey's National Broadcasting Channel (TRT) launched the Children's Digital Book Library app, providing over 200 Turkish children's books. This app is available for free download and allows users to read books offline on their mobile phones and tablets. In contrast to other digital libraries, the Turkish initiative stands out by integrating interactive multimedia enhancements into digital books. These enhancements encourage children in various ways to engage actively with the story content. The incorporation of gamification elements adds an extra layer of interactivity, offering rewards such as solving a labyrinth game or other puzzles upon completing a book. Additionally, the app includes hidden visual effects that add an element of surprise and discovery. Each screen conceals these effects, and they can be revealed by touching specific hotspots. Some of the effects hidden behind these hotspots activate background knowledge that is relevant to understanding the story. For instance, in a book where a father and son plan to go fishing, users can uncover the fishing equipment by touching a particular spot on the page.

The initiative has garnered over five million downloads since its launch, but despite this impressive accomplishment there is still uncertainty about whether access to a digital library contributes to an increase in regular reading activities at home and how efficacy can be improved. In this presentation, the authors will examine the effectiveness of the multimedia features incorporated in the books to enhance children's reading experiences. Additionally, they will identify areas where improvements can be made in the book format. Based on the content analysis of 60 digital books in the Turkish library, they discuss the extent to which the visual effects align with multimedia learning principles. More specifically, this analysis evaluated the alignment of visual effects with the story and revealed a frequent disconnection. These findings, in conjunction with other observations, highlight the specific areas in which improvements are needed in the digital books. Additionally, the authors identify the use of gamification and explore additional features, such as the inclusion of a human-like coach to foster the development of a reading habit among young children.

Authors

• Burcu Sari Ugurlu, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University

• Adriana G. Bus, University of Stavanger