Poster #238 - Evaluation of the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) Apps

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Technology, Media & Child Development

Integrative Statement

The Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program is a set of language-learning touchscreen applications (apps) designed to enhance interest in language learning amongst children in preschool services. The aim of this project was to determine whether young children are learning from the ELLA apps.

Preschool-aged children (aged 3.5–5 years old) attended the Swinburne Babylab with parents for two visits. During Visit 1, the children first played on either an ELLA app or a digital flash card on an iPad for up to 20 minutes. They were then asked to complete the following tasks 1) a Behavioural Word Test designed to test the children’s knowledge of their newly-learnt words; 2) an Eye-tracking Word Test designed to see what the children had just learnt using a wall-mounted eye-tracker (Tobii T120). After Visit 1, children took the iPad home (with either the ELLA or flash card app) for two weeks. Parents were instructed to ask them to play on the apps for 15-20 minutes per day for two weeks. Parents were asked to complete a home-usage log to record how much time their child spent playing on the apps. After 2 weeks, children were invited back to the lab and the two abovementioned tests were repeated. Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were also collected from a subset of children in visit 2.

For the Behavioural Word Test, data from 41 participants were included in the analysis. Children from both ELLA and flash card groups correctly identified significantly more words than would have occurred by chance (i.e., 25% correct rate). This means both groups had learnt words during Visit 1, and during their home use.

For the Eye-tracking Word Test, data from 43 participants were included in the analysis. Both groups of children looked at the target pictures for significantly longer than they looked at the non-target pictures—in both lab visits. This indicates that both groups of children learnt words during Lab Visit 1 and during their home use. Participants in the ELLA apps group fixated on the target pictures for a significantly longer period of time in Visit 2 compared to Visit 1, suggesting that the ELLA group had learnt words from the apps during the two-week home usage.

For the EEG experiment, data from 25 participants were included in the analysis. Preliminary analysis showed a different pattern of brain responses were elicited after they heard learnt words versus not-learnt words.

Group Authors

Ms Jessica Guy, Dr Sumie Leung, A/Prof. Conrad Perry, Dr Joanne Tarasuik, Dr Kate Highfield, A/Prof Jordy Kaufman

Author

• Jessica Guy, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
  Presenting Author