A Closer Look at Enhanced eBooks: Compatible Versus Distracting
Games Julia Hrobon Under the Direction of Dr. Georgene Troseth
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What is an eBook? Electronic books that can be read on
computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. Two types of eBooks: basic
and enhanced
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Current Literature: Pros Pros: Can improve emergent literacy
levels when games or dictionary are included (Korat & Shamir,
2008) Young children are more engaged reading an eBook than print
book (Chiong, Ree, & Takeuchi, 2012)
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Current Literature: Cons Cons: Children who read an eBook +
games Remember less of the story than eBook games Much less than
those who read a print book ( deJong & Bus, 2002) As reading
tools Basic eBooks and print books similarly effective Enhanced
eBooks less so (Chiong, Ree, & Takeuchi, 2012) Example of
problematic enhanced eBookenhanced eBook
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Why the Conflicting Findings? Past research may have looked at
most extreme kinds of enhanced eBooks All enhanced eBooks might not
be bad for learning; some poorly designed to promote literacy
development Compare eBooks with compatible versus distracting
games
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Research Question & Prediction Research Question: Does the
quality of an enhanced eBooks interactivity affect how much a child
learns from the story? Does co-reading play a role in childrens
learning from the eBook? Prediction: Reading comprehension and
story vocabulary will be strong for eBooks with compatible games,
weak for eBooks with distracting games
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Design Strategy One enhanced compatible story, one enhanced
distracting story Problem with two eBooks: More differences between
books than just interactivity Created basic versions of enhanced
eBooks Became baseline of comparison Compatible story Distracting
Story
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Revised Prediction Children who read an enhanced compatible
eBook will learn more vocabulary words and remember more from the
story than those who read the basic version Children who read an
enhanced distracting eBook will learn less vocabulary and remember
less from the story than those who read the basic version
Demonstration of Prediction: Parker Penguin When I Grow Up
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Method Participants: 29 children, 51-71 months Two-day study,
each visit 2-3 days apart Four conditions: Enhanced Compatible PP,
Basic PP, Enhanced Distracting WIGU, Basic WIGU 8 children in BC
Condition, 7 each in the other three conditions Procedure: Pretest:
Story Vocabulary Assessment Read eBook Posttest Co-reading
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Pretest: Vocabulary Assessment Left card: compatible story
(down), Right card: distracting story (professions) Measures what
words child already knows before reading story 18 cards total 2
practice 8 from each story
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Read eBook 2 times on first day, 1 time on second day Child and
parent read together narrated story Top pictures: compatible story,
bottom pictures: distracting story
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Posttest Vocabulary Assessment: measures what words child
learned from story Reading Comprehension: measures what child
remembers from story Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT):
measures childs general vocabulary knowledge
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Co-Reading
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Prediction Revisited Compared with basic versions, reading
comprehension and vocabulary acquisition strong for eBook with
compatible games, weak for eBook with distracting games
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Results: Vocabulary No significant condition difference in the
number of vocabulary words learned from the story they read ( F (3,
25) = 1.025, p = 0.399)
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Results: Reading Comprehension No significant difference
between story comprehension with or without games for both
compatible stories (t(13) = 0.337, p = 0.742) and distracting
stories (t(8.248) = -0.608, p = 0.559)
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Results: Co-Reading Compatible (PP) NCR: Significant difference
between basic (M = 6.000, SD = 3.899) and enhanced (M = 20.833, SD
= 12.384); t(5.981) = -2.799, p = 0.031, d = -1.615) CR: No
significant difference between basic (M = 48.167, SD = 33.102) and
enhanced (M = 21.833, SD = 19.385); t(10) = 1.681, p = 0.124, d =
0.971)
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Results: Co-Reading Distracting (WIGU) NCR: Significant
difference between basic (M = 9.14, SD = 6.203) and enhanced (M =
44.60, SD = 38.991) (t(10) = -2.410, p = 0.037, d = -1.270) CR: No
significant difference between basic (M = 42.71, SD = 38.431) and
enhanced (M = 23.40, SD = 23.362) (t(10) = 1.044, p = 0.321, d =
0.607)
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Discussion Interactivity in these enhanced eBooks did not
affect how many new words children learned from story Interactivity
in these enhanced eBooks did not affect how much children
remembered from story Enhanced eBooks elicited more NCR exchanges
due to games/hotspots These interactive aspects tended to not take
away from amount of CR exchanges
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Limitations Small sample size Co-reading coding unreliable
Difficult to control for the differences between the two
eBooks
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Future Directions Partner with eBook designer to create one
eBook that has both compatible and distracting games Further
investigate effects of co-reading on childrens learning from eBooks
Parents trained on effective co-reading vs. do not communicate
(Strouse, ODoherty, & Troseth, 2013)
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Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr. Georgene Troseth Graduate
student Colleen Russo Dr. Megan Saylor Research assistants in Early
Development Lab VUSRP
