Abstract
Young children’s use of digital devices is increasing as we progress through the 21st century and handheld and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have become increasingly available. While older children using tablets to read has been more broadly investigated, less is known about the impacts of digital reading on children at the stage of literacy acquisition. An analytical review was conducted on the effects of interactive e-book interventions for young children’s literacy development when compared to (a) listening to print books, (b) regular school programs, and (c) reading non-enhanced and non-interactive e-books. A significant additional beneficial effect of e-book interventions was found for phonological awareness and vocabulary learning based on data from 1138 children in 14 randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies. When e-books are properly selected and used, children develop literacy skills equally well and sometimes better than with print books. Additionally, e-book interventions outperformed the regular school program in the development of literacy skills. Similarly, enhanced e-book conditions revealed benefits over the non-enhanced e-book interventions in literacy skill acquisition. The impact of these findings related to health issues, e-book design, disadvantaged populations, and adult-led e-book sharing is discussed.
Highlights
The aims of this paper are to (a) explore how effective e-books are for supporting early literacy skills: Concepts about print, phonological awareness, and vocabulary as well as reading comprehension; (b) examine the effects of e-book reading interventions compared to printed book reading; (c) study the results of enhanced e-book reading interventions compared to non-enhanced e-book reading interventions or simple static e-books; (d) study the effects of e-book reading interventions compared to the regular school program; and (e) analyze the reviewed studies from adult support, e-book design, and disadvantaged populations
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and matching procedures to ensure equivalence at baseline for treatment and comparison groups were used. These features of study design are critical to establishing the internal validity of study findings [38]; The study contained a targeted e-book reading intervention. This included interventions that used e-book reading to target specific literacy skills; it included interventions with kindergarten, preschool, and first grade age children; interventions delivered by researchers, teachers, or parents; and interventions delivered on a one-to-one basis or to children in groups; The study measures’ dependent variables that focused on literacy outcomes; The study contained at least one literacy outcome measure that yielded an objective quantitative score
In the present research synthesis, including 14 studies and 1138 children aged 7 years or younger, we found evidence that e-book stories improve phonological awareness and vocabulary as compared to traditional stories and regular school programs
Summary
Children are growing up in a digital media environment where interactions with digital media are an increasing part of children’s daily lives in classrooms and at home. Across all levels of society, are using interactive and mobile media on a daily basis [1]. In a recent survey of parents of children aged 8 years and under, the majority (98%) reported that they live in a home with some type of mobile device [2]. As a result of this exposure to technology, children today have many opportunities to explore digital devices and play with them. Many activities in children’s lives are digital, including early literacy experiences. Children’s books are increasingly available in a digital format on electronic devices—often handheld and mobile [3]
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