The question of whether traditional or digital books are more effective
at supporting and developing children’s literacy skills is an important one and
one that has been examined in several studies (e.g., De Jong & Bus, 2002). However, as digital books are predicted to be
used increasingly at home and within schools, perhaps a more interesting question
is not whether traditional or digital books are more effective, but rather
which design features of digital books are most likely to support children’s
literacy skills and development. I’ve provided below a short discussion of
some of the features to consider in the design of digital books:
1. Text placement and attention to text
Like many traditional books, digital books typically present the text separately from the picture (usually underneath the picture, and often within a specifically designed text box). However, if there is an opportunity to embed the text within the picture, this may influence the amount of time children spend looking at the text. Embedding text within the picture has two advantages: 1) It helps the child to realise that the text is not separate from the picture – the two combined create the story; 2) It may increase the amount of time that children spend looking at the text. Researchers interested in multimedia learning often refer to the ‘split attention effect’ (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). When the text is separate from the picture, children have to split their focus/attention across the screen; integrating the text within the picture is therefore beneficial in this respect.
Interestingly, research with traditional books has shown just how little time young children actually spend attending to print. For example, in an eye tracking research study with pre-schoolers comparing picture and print salient books (Justice et al., 2005), in picture salient books, pre-school children spent approximately 2.7% of their fixations focused on print and 2.5% of their time looking in regions of print. In print salient books, this only increased slightly: 7% of fixations focused on print and 6% of time was spent in print zones. Therefore, young children are not naturally inclined to focus on print, thus highlighting even more the importance of embedding print within pictures.
However, it is important to note that shared reading experiences with adults can increase children’s attention to print. For example, Justice et al., (2008) found that when adults provide verbal and nonverbal references to print, pre-schoolers attention to print increased significantly. Within digital texts, this can be done automatically; words can be highlighted (e.g., by changing colour), thus potentially increasing children’s attention to print.
Like many traditional books, digital books typically present the text separately from the picture (usually underneath the picture, and often within a specifically designed text box). However, if there is an opportunity to embed the text within the picture, this may influence the amount of time children spend looking at the text. Embedding text within the picture has two advantages: 1) It helps the child to realise that the text is not separate from the picture – the two combined create the story; 2) It may increase the amount of time that children spend looking at the text. Researchers interested in multimedia learning often refer to the ‘split attention effect’ (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). When the text is separate from the picture, children have to split their focus/attention across the screen; integrating the text within the picture is therefore beneficial in this respect.
Interestingly, research with traditional books has shown just how little time young children actually spend attending to print. For example, in an eye tracking research study with pre-schoolers comparing picture and print salient books (Justice et al., 2005), in picture salient books, pre-school children spent approximately 2.7% of their fixations focused on print and 2.5% of their time looking in regions of print. In print salient books, this only increased slightly: 7% of fixations focused on print and 6% of time was spent in print zones. Therefore, young children are not naturally inclined to focus on print, thus highlighting even more the importance of embedding print within pictures.
However, it is important to note that shared reading experiences with adults can increase children’s attention to print. For example, Justice et al., (2008) found that when adults provide verbal and nonverbal references to print, pre-schoolers attention to print increased significantly. Within digital texts, this can be done automatically; words can be highlighted (e.g., by changing colour), thus potentially increasing children’s attention to print.
2. Narrator
Digital texts potentially allow children to independently access more cognitively advanced books, as the feature of a narrator can provide a helpful aid to support children with new/unfamiliar words. However, heavy reliance on a narrator is not ideal. Many digital books only have a “read to me” option, rather than a “read by myself” option, or an option for children to only highlight specific words they cannot read themselves. It is important to note that when the narrator is reading, the text essentially becomes redundant; in multi-media learning, this is known as the ‘redundancy effect’ (Mayer and Moreno, 2003). If the text becomes redundant, children will arguably spend less time looking at it, thus reducing opportunities to develop their word reading skills.
A common error often made in the design of digital books is checking
the level of coherence between the text and the picture/dynamic images/interaction
points. Take for example a screen shot,
where the text reads: “The boat sailed out to sea” and children have the option
to click on the boat. If the boat starts
sailing into the distance, this is supportive of children’s language and
comprehension skills. Indeed, dynamic
images are a very useful feature of digital texts as they visually illustrate
the time course of events and therefore can support children’s story understanding.
If, however, after clicking on the boat,
a monkey starts jumping up and down on the deck; this undermines an opportunity
to develop/support children’s language and comprehension skills and could,
importantly, impede them. As a result,
it is a good idea to check whether the dynamic images/interaction points within
digital books are supportive of children’s learning (i.e., coherent with the
story or text) or an unhelpful distraction.
Positive effects of shared book reading on children’s vocabulary
growth result when adults do not just read a story but also pause and pose
additional questions. For example,
children learn 10 - 18% more words when their reading experiences include extra
questions (Smeets & Bus, 2012). However,
do computer generated questions produce similar benefits for language skills?
Smeets and Bus (2012) recently contrasted the effects of questions
(multiple choice questions posed by the computer – ‘computer pal’) interspersed
throughout the story with questions posed at the end (after the entire story
had been read without interruptions).
They found that multiple choice questions significantly contributed to
children’s vocabulary. While children
learned approximately 15% of the target words (i.e., words of interest) with no
additional instruction, multiple choice questions added another 18% gain to
vocabulary (amounting to an average gain of 33%) which is comparable to the
reported additive value of adult questions during adult–child book.
References:
Mayer, R. E.,
& Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in
multi-media learning. Educational Psychologist, 38,
43-52.
