Beginning readers' use of ‘talking books’ software can affect their reading strategies

Abstract

This paper reports on a small‐scale study that considered whether a phonic‐based ‘talking book’ could outperform one‐to‐one reading tuition with an adult with respect to improving beginning readers' phonological awareness over a short period. It also examined whether the children's reading strategies were affected by their use of the software. Two groups of children, one aged five years and one aged six years, used three phonic‐based talking books over six 15‐minute sessions and were assessed on their phonological awareness and reading strategies both before and after this intervention. Their performance was compared to that of matched comparison groups who were given one‐to‐one adult tutoring with the paper versions of the same books. There were no significant differences between the two groups in their phonological awareness attainment, with both groups showing equivalent gains from pre‐ to post‐test. Use of specific features of the software was associated with gains in rhyme detection ability and with changes in the children's reading strategies.