Kindergartners' Reading With Multimodal Digital Texts: An Analysis of Patterns and Text Affordances

• In Event: iPad Apps and Early Literacy Development

Abstract

iPad app books (involving multiple modes of information such as sound, images, animation, text, etc.) are increasingly part of young children’s reading ecology (Schuler, 2012; Vandewater, et al., 2006). However, our understanding of how children engage with multimodal text and how digital text affordances affect this process is still limited. Aiming to address this gap, our study investigated the following questions:
1. What are kindergartners’ reading patterns with multimodal digital app books?
2. How do affordances of multimodal digital text mediate these patterns?

Informed by Rosenblatt’s (2004) view of reading as dynamic, reciprocal, non-linear, and recursive transactions between reader, text, and context, we expect reading multimodal digital texts will include complex transactions between reader and text’s digital features occurring across diverse pathways. Sociocultural perspective also directs our attention to the meditational role of the multimodal text as a reading artifact (Vygotsky, 1978).

Across the school-year, 55 kindergarteners’ individual readings of four novel multimodal app books were recorded, one book after each unit of instruction that included three whole class lessons about how to use digital features in similar books. Grounded theory and constant comparative analysis were used to identify kindergarteners’ reading patterns (e.g., pages accesses in/out of sequence, engagement and order of listening to text/hotspot use, relevance/non-relevance of hotspots used, etc.). To understand the meditational role of the texts, we focused on the affordances of each of the app books that children individually read (e.g., reading modes, hotspots available, menus, etc.).

Multiple patterns emerged regarding how affordances of text mediated reading patterns. For example, the affordance of an app book menu that allowed children to navigate pages throughout the book easily seemed related to children’s greater non-sequential reading for these books (Goldfish-45%, Troop-11%, and Fox-53%), as compared to Hippo (2%) that did not have a menu. Potentially, the relative simplicity of Troop (one concept and hotspot per page) vs. the greater complexity of Goldfish and Fox (multiple ideas and hotspots on each page) may explain differences in the extent to which children read non-sequentially across those texts. It is possible that non-sequential navigation was one approach to handling the complexity of these texts. While retelling scores were generally higher for sequential reading (Fox-63%) vs. non-sequential reading (Fox-52%), these differences are small. Thus, interpretations that these menus may not appropriate for children this age, or that more direct instruction would be needed to use them effectively, should be approached with caution. Further, whether non-linear ways of engaging with text foster reading skills suited to multimodal text should be considered. Finally, guidelines for the complexity of text that is appropriate for various age groups would be helpful (e.g., length, type/number of hotspots, concepts per page, etc.).

Authors

• Tanya M. Christ

• X. Christine Wang, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Hyonsuk Cho, State University of New York, Buffalo

• Li Pei, Oakland University

• Wen Wu, Oakland University

• Narges Kazemi Zadeh Gol, Oakland University