US Latine Parents' Perceptions and Preferences for Using Digital Devices to Read to Young Children

• In Event: Children’s Media and Technology: What Context and Content Reveal about children’s development and learning.

Abstract

Educational media is woven into nearly every aspect of children’s lives, from home to school settings, and children’s everyday routines, entertainment, and education (redacted). While research has explored Latine families’ engagement with media and technology at home (Katz, 2014; Sánchez & Salazar, 2012), most studies have focused on how media practices shape Latine caregivers' engagement. Comparatively, few studies have explored Latine parents’ perceptions and preferences for using e-books. Research has already shown that using participatory design approach ensures design decisions account for users’ needs and experiences (Matuk et al., 2017). This study aims to integrate Latine parents in the design of children’s math e-book to help explore the social determinants of their media and technology beliefs and usage to understand not only what is effective, but also for whom, in what contexts, and toward what ends.
Methods. This study explores the following research question: What are US Latine parents' perceptions and preferences that influence their choice of digital books for their children? Methods included (1) a survey with demographic questions on parents’ and children's gender, age, and racial/ethnic identity, and a Likert-type scale to collect self-assessed information about parents' access to, perceptions of, and preferences for technology/media and e-book features. (2) The qualitative instrument included focus groups to explore narratives of richer expressions regarding parents' perceptions and beliefs that could not be explored through the survey.
Preliminary Results: A total of n=211 US Latine parents of preschool-aged children (Mage= 4.2 years) participated in the online survey. From the 211 participants, a total of n=23 parents participated in four focus groups. Most caregivers identified as US Latine (25.84%), Mexican Latine (32.06%), and South American Latine (17.22%). Regarding media and technology, key findings showed parents reported co-use of smartphones (49.75%) and tablets (60.41%) with children. Meanwhile, 33% of parents reported having more than 15 e-books or reading apps on mobile devices, and 39% of those are math-focused (e.g., numbers, counting, shapes). When selecting math e-books, parents preferred a story with a math narrative (45%) with fun illustrations (42.47%). Parents also reported that different Spanish dialects would not be a priority if given the option with 41.94% of parents stating they would use it sometimes and 40.32% stating it would sometimes be distracting. When reading to their children, 69.19% of parents reported liking when e-books have examples of dialogic reading questions for children, and 70.27% reported liking when e-books have interactive texts (e.g., animation, popups, layout/scenery). The focus groups findings expanded on the survey results: Parents stated a preference for integrated interactive elements within scenes to highlight math through illustrations. Parents also preferred to see visual mechanics that highlight interactive “hotspots” on the screen to offer guidance when using the e-book. Finally, parents mentioned that emphasizing key math words or text would be helpful when co-reading, but the same emphasis could be distracting for children reading alone.

Authors

• Susana Beltran-Grimm, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Connor O'Rear, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Patrick Ehrman, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Alexa Ellis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

• Tanya Maria Paes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Memphis

• Sarah H. Eason, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette