The Effects of Traditional and Digital Books on Early Literacy Skills in Preschoolers

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Rachel Pearce (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Literacy is a skill that develops even before a child begins attending school. Traditionally , this exposure to literacy has relied solely on print books. However , this literacy exposure has shifted to include different forms of media , including e-books. The participants of this study included 19 3 and 4-year-old children from two different preschools in Greenville , NC. Pre-experimentally , speech , language , and hearing screenings were completed followed by the administration of The Test of Preschool Early Literacy (Lonigan , Wagner , Torgesen , & Rashotte , 2007). Experimentally , Dr. Seuss's ABC book was read with each child in two different formats (traditional paper book and an interactive , electronic book on an iPad). After each book reading , the child was assessed on measures of letter naming , letter recognition , sound-symbol relationships , and sound/picture association. Accuracy for each measure was determined for each book type and compared as a function of book type , age , and gender. Overall , the mean accuracies for the traditional book were higher when compared to the e-book for each experimental task; however , only two of these differences were found to be statistically significant. The difference between book types for overall accuracy was found to be statistically significant , as well as for the sound-symbol relationship task. The sound-symbol knowledge accuracy was found to be higher for the traditional book (56.58%) , as compared to the eBook (35.53%). The overall accuracy was found to be higher for the traditional book (60.94%) , as compared to the eBook (48.75%). These results suggest that while the children were more engaged during the e-book reading , they were focused on the information unrelated to the experimental tasks , including sound-symbol relationships.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2017

Keywords

literacy, language, preschool

Subjects

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