Teaching At-Risk Toddlers New Vocabulary Using Interactive ...€¦ · tions, and cloze procedures (Trivette & Dunst, 2007). After-reading strategies can include asking questions

Butler et al.: Teaching At-Risk Toddlers New Vocabulary 155

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Contemporary Issues In CommunICatIon sCIenCe and dIsorders • Volume 41 • 155–168 • Fall 2014 © NSSLHA 1092-5171/14/4102-0155

Teaching At-Risk Toddlers New Vocabulary Using Interactive Digital Storybooks

Claire Butler Florida State University, Tallahassee

Jennifer A. BrownUniversity of Georgia, Athens

Juliann J. WoodsFlorida State University

t is well documented that vocabulary knowledge predicts academic success and that children from lower socioeco-

ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of extending interactive shared book reading strategies to digital interactive books. Specifically, children’s comprehension and production of new vocabulary words was explored by incorporating evidence-based teaching strategies in e-book reading sessions. Method: A single-case repeated-acquisition design across 3 e-books with replication across 5 par-ticipants was used to evaluate the effects of the vocabulary intervention. The participants included 5 children between 25 and 36 months of age who attended an Early Head Start program. The inter-ventionist used a combination of interactive shared book reading strategies and digital interactive fea-tures within e-book reading sessions. Each e-book was shared 3 times before progressing to the next e-book.

nomic status (SES) backgrounds have slower rates of vocabulary acquisition compared to children from higher SES backgrounds (e.g., Dollaghan et al., 1999; Gormley & Ruhl, 2005; Hart & Risley, 1995). The

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), as well as newer initiatives such as Race to the Top, have increased the focus on all children meeting specific educational outcomes. These initiatives highlight the importance of address-ing predictive skills for later academic success early

Results: All 5 children demonstrated increases in their receptive knowledge of targeted words, and 4 out of 5 children increased their expressive use of targeted words. For all of the children, the gains were higher in receptive acquisition than expres-sive acquisition. Targeted words with and without digital interactivity were learned at a similar rate.Conclusion: Results support the use of interactive shared book reading strategies with toddlers and show promise for incorporating technology into vocabulary interventions for young children. Clini-cal and research implications of using e-books to support vocabulary development for toddlers who are at risk for language and academic delays are discussed.

KEY WORDS: vocabulary intervention, digital book reading, at-risk children

156 Contemporary Issues In CommunICatIon sCIenCe and dIsorders • Volume 41 • 155–168 • Fall 2014

in childhood. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) play a critical role in helping children to develop the oral and written language skills, including vocabu-lary acquisition, needed to succeed in the academic curriculum (American Speech-Language-Hearing As-sociation, 2001). These compounding factors demon-strate the need for effective vocabulary instruction to provide children who are at risk for language, social, and academic delays with the necessary school-readi-ness skills (Coyne, Simmons, Kame’enui, & Stool-miller, 2004; Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000).

Interactive Shared Book ReadingInteractive shared book reading is an instructional practice that has been shown to have positive effects on young children’s vocabulary development (Coyne et al., 2004; Goldstein, 2011; Justice, Meier, & Walpole, 2005). This practice expands on the context of shared book reading (i.e., adult–child engagement centered on a book) by embedding specific learning opportunities. Specifically, interactive shared book reading focuses on the interaction between the adult and child during storybook reading as a way to intro-duce new vocabulary and reinforce language develop-ment by engaging the child in dialogue.

Interactive shared book reading strategies in-clude specific before-reading, during-reading, and after-reading strategies within a shared book read-ing interaction. These strategies are embedded in the foundation of a shared interaction (Klesius & Griffith, 1996). Before-reading strategies may include preview-ing or taking a picture walk through the book (Fountas & Pinnel, 1996) and making predictions with the child about what the story will be about (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2003). During-reading strategies can in-clude talking about a targeted word in another context, having the child repeat the targeted word aloud, imitat-ing the word with an action/sound, asking wh-ques-tions about the story, prompting for elaborations and expansions, modeling expansions, asking for descrip-tions, and cloze procedures (Trivette & Dunst, 2007). After-reading strategies can include asking questions relating to the story that are both higher level and open ended (McKeown & Beck, 2003; Stahl, 2004; Wasik & Bond, 2001) and constructing and revising any misunderstandings (Pearson & Duke, 2002).

Several studies support the use of targeting vo-cabulary development through interactive shared book reading for at-risk preschool and kindergarten stu-dents. For example, in a study by Loftus, Coyne, Mc-Coach, Zipoli, and Pullen (2010), at-risk kindergarten children demonstrated increased vocabulary knowl-edge subsequent to participation in a supplemental interactive shared book reading intervention compared

to children who participated in only classroom learn-ing. Similarly, in a study by Pollard-Durodola et al. (2011), at-risk Head Start preschool children exhib-ited higher vocabulary scores after participating in a shared storybook intervention compared to children who participated in typical book reading practices. Justice et al. (2005) found that kindergarten students who had lower vocabulary levels before starting a small-group storybook reading intervention ben-efited the most from elaboration strategies embedded in shared book interactions. In a study by Blewitt, Rump, Shealy, and Cook (2009), preschool chil-dren demonstrated deeper word understanding when embedded questions followed a low- to high-demand scaffolding procedure. Building on the evidence with preschool and kindergarten children and the predic-tive relationship of early vocabulary knowledge, it is important to examine the effects of interactive shared storybook reading with younger children.

Child EngagementChildren’s engagement with the adult during shared storybook reading is crucial for success (Goldstein, 2011). Motivation for and engagement in book read-ing is impacted by many factors, including the child’s book sharing experiences, age, developmental level, and personal interests. Therefore, finding ways to make book reading a motivating and engaging con-text for children who are at risk and/or present with limited interest in books is a necessary prerequisite for successful shared book instruction (Kaderavek & Justice, 2002). Books in which the child has an active role, such as lift-the-flap and slot books, have been recommended for increased engagement (Justice & Kaderavek, 2002). These features may encourage verbal communication and interaction between the child and adult, which can in turn increase the use and understanding of new vocabulary words (Gold-stein, 2011). Extending the notion of child role and interactivity to digital formats (i.e., e-books) has implications for increasing children’s motivation and engagement and therefore could be a mediating vari-able to the overall success of the instruction.

E-books. The assistive technology literature on display design provides valuable information on developing technology-supported interactive e-books. Light, Drager, and Wilkinson (2010) demonstrated that the visual scene display is the easiest type of display for a child to use, and it increases the child’s rate of expressive vocabulary. Visual scene displays consist of a picture that displays an event or concept holistically as opposed to traditional grid displays (Light & McNaughton, 2013). Wilkinson, Carlin, and Thistle (2008) also found that the role of color cues


is important in facilitating children’s attention and focus in visual scene displays.

E-books can be created by constructing visual scenes based on age-appropriate storybooks through commonly used slide presentation software. Similar to lift-the-flap features in hard-copy books, digital inter-activity can be incorporated in e-books by developing visual scene displays for each page in the storybook and selecting one (or more) components of the scene to have a digital interactive feature. For example, when the selected component (i.e., a specific part of the visual display) is clicked on, a sound or move-ment will occur within the visual scene. Adding in digital interactivity for a specific targeted word may cause children to be more engaged with learning.

Early Vocabulary InstructionProviding children with access to varied vocabulary is important for their academic success. When chil-dren enter school with low vocabularies, they are at a disadvantage academically. The performance discrep-ancy between children with high and low vocabular-ies widens in early elementary school (Biemiller & Slonim, 2001). In children as young as 3 years of age who participated in an interactive shared book reading intervention, Blewitt et al. (2009) found that differential effects of vocabulary growth were attrib-uted to the children’s previous vocabulary knowledge. Children with less advanced vocabularies at the start of the intervention learned fewer words than chil-dren with more advanced vocabularies (Blewitt et al., 2009). Stranovich (1986) referred to this phenom-enon as the Matthew effect; that is, children who are rich in vocabulary become richer, and those who are poor in vocabulary become poorer. The impact of early vocabulary exposure and learning on children’s future academic performance underscores the need to examine approaches designed to increase young children’s vocabulary acquisition that can be feasibly implemented.

Interactive shared book reading has several implementation advantages, including the ability to be used within a variety of curricula and to allow children who are at risk for and/or have developmen-tal delays to have access to the same content, interac-tion, and learning opportunities as typically develop-ing children. Interactive shared book reading can also be used in whole class, small groups, and individual contexts and has low program costs (Beauchat, Blamey, & Walpole, 2009; Gormley & Ruhl, 2005). Furthermore, adding digital interactive features to books may increase children’s engagement and word learning by providing the children with additional learning opportunities to focus on targeted words.

The purpose of this study was to examine the ef-fects of integrated e-book visual scenes with interac-tive shared book reading strategies on receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge in toddlers who are at risk for language and academic delays. In addition to exploring vocabulary acquisition during partici-pation in e-book interactive book reading sessions, we also examined the impact of digital interactive features.

MeThoD

ParticipantsChild participants. Participants included five chil-dren who attended an Early Head Start program. The children ranged in age from 25 to 36 months. Inclusionary criteria included (a) children enrolled in the Early Head Start program, (b) parents provided informed consent agreeing for their child to partici-pate in the intervention, (c) children between the ages of 24 and 36 months at the start of the intervention, (d) children passed a hearing screening, (e) children were not identified with a disorder or disability, and (f) children’s tested language level was within 1 SD from the mean (standard score of 85–115) on the Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition (PLS–5; Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2011). Participant de-mographics are presented in Table 1.

Interventionist. The primary interventionist was an undergraduate student in communication science and disorders in collaboration with and supervised by a licensed and certified SLP. All assessments were completed by the SLP. A research assistant accompa-nied the interventionist to sessions in order to video-tape the intervention for fidelity measurements.

Setting and ArrangementThe initial evaluation, book reading interactions, and weekly assessments were conducted in the Early Head Start center’s classrooms and library. All book reading interactions were conducted with two children at a time, although only one child was targeted as the research participant. The children sat side by side either on the floor or at a small table so they could both interact with the assessment materials or the laptop computer (Dell Inspiron 1545). The interven-tionist was seated next to the children so as to enable her to observe their focus of interest and assist with manipulating the mouse while leading the interaction. Each e-book reading interaction occurred 3 days a week for approximately 20 min each day. All sessions were videotaped for fidelity and monitoring purposes.


MaterialsBooks. Three e-books appropriate for 2- and 3-year-olds were used as the context for the intervention. For the purpose of this study, readily accessible children’s books were converted into e-books by developing PowerPoint slides for each page of the story. The authors (primary interventionist and two certified SLPs and language researchers) and two certified preschool classroom teachers judged the books to be age and developmentally appropriate. The books met the following criteria: (a) followed story grammar conventions, (b) included words of different parts of speech, (c) depicted action be-tween two or more communication partners, (d) included colorful pictures, (e) were geared toward early toddler and early preschool-age children, (f) had no more than 30 pages in length, and (g) intro-duced new vocabulary.

Target words. Before the study began, the au-thors analyzed each of the books in order to identify potential vocabulary words to teach the children. The chosen words met the following criteria: (a) were developmentally appropriate for young children to un-derstand and produce; (b) were interesting to 2- and 3-year-olds; (c) were included in the chosen text; and (d) included nouns, verbs, or adjectives. Eight target-ed words were selected per book; the targeted words are listed in Table 2. All targeted words were a focus of the interactive shared storybook reading strategies, and four included a word-level digital interactive feature. Two control words were also identified based on the same word criteria. The control words differed from the targeted words in that the control words were read in the story but were not targeted with interactive strategies or word-level interactivity.

Experimental Design and ProcedureA single-case repeated-acquisition design across three e-books with replication across five participants was used to evaluate the learning of explicitly taught embedded vocabulary words during repeated

interactive shared e-book reading sessions. Repeated-acquisition designs allow for examining equivalent learning tasks in a minimum of two experimental conditions (Kennedy, 2005). Repeated demonstrations of learning across conditions, in this case, e-books, provide support for the functional relationship between the treatment and the results (Kratochwill et al., 2010). For purposes of comparison, each child served as his or her own control, and trends were examined across children. The intervention phase was 9 weeks, and the overall study procedures lasted 16 weeks from initial standardized testing to the final test. Figure 1 is a flowchart depiction of the study progression.

Baseline. Before beginning the intervention, we completed baseline measures of the children’s expres-sive and receptive vocabulary using standardized and researcher-developed measures. The PLS–5 was used to describe each child’s receptive language, expres-sive language, and total language. The researcher-developed measure consisted of a probe measuring each child’s overall word knowledge of vocabulary in the three books. This probe included a total of 30 vocabulary picture cards consisting of both targeted and control words.

Vocabulary words. A predetermined script was used to teach the children eight targeted words per e-book. The specific vocabulary strategies that were used by the interventionist were (a) directly and indirectly teaching vocabulary words through interac-tive book reading strategies and technology-supported interactive features, (b) providing multiple exposures to words across readings, and (c) repeating the words within each reading.

Interactivity. Interactivity was included at two levels: (a) Interactive shared storybook reading strategies were used throughout each e-book reading session, and (b) word-level interactivity was accom-plished by incorporating technology- and/or action-supported interactive features specific to a word. Interactive shared book reading strategies used in this intervention were categorized as before-, during-, and after-reading strategies, which are outlined in the

Table 1. Demographic information including age at start of intervention, gender, and Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition (PLS–5; Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2011) auditory comprehension, expressive communication, and total language standard scores at the start of the intervention.

Age PLS–5 PLS–5 PLS–5 Child (in months) Gender auditory comprehension expressive comprehension total communication

Jermaine 36 Male 89 100 94Asia 36 Female 89 95 91Melody 26 Female 103 97 100Jacobi 25 Male 98 94 96Dwight 26 Male 106 110 109


following section. The word-level interactive features were used for half of the targeted words in order to explore their potential to increase the children’s par-ticipation and learning above and beyond that result-ing from the interactive shared book reading strate-gies. Examples of word-level interactivity include (a) child clicked on the bunny picture within the story display when the word hopping was read aloud, which made the bunny hop up and down; and (b) interventionist and child stood up and spun around while saying the word spin.

Book reading. The children interacted with each e-book three times, as research has indicated that repeated exposure of a book increases a child’s likeli-hood to learn new words (Kaderavek & Justice, 2002; Sénéchal, 1997). The interventionist followed a lesson plan to incorporate before-, during-, and after-reading strategies. A lesson plan from one of the e-books is included in the Appendix.

Before reading. When introducing the story to the pairs of children each day, the interventionist used the following strategies to promote comprehension: (a)

previewing or taking a “picture walk” of the cover of the story (Fountas & Pinnel, 1996), (b) activating background/prior knowledge (National Reading Panel, 2000), and (c) making predictions (Armbruster et al., 2003).

During reading. The interventionist used the eight targeted vocabulary words for each of the three e-books at least five times in various ways per read-ing session. For each word, the children were asked to (a) say the word aloud with the interventionist, (b) talk about the word by using an additional sentence containing the word, and (c) produce the word on his or her own (Trivette & Dunst, 2007). Additional op-portunities for the children to engage with the word through technology- and/or action-supported features were included for the four targeted words that also included word-level interactivity. For example, the target word puddle was taught with word-level inter-activity by having the child click the picture of the puddle and then having a splash sound occur.

After reading. Immediately following the completion of each storybook reading, the following

Table 2. List of targeted words in each book.

Part of speech

Book Words Noun Verb Adj.

Mouse Was Mad (Urban, 2009) hopping x screaming x puddle x shaking x stomping x standing x hedgehog x bobcat x We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Rosen, 2003) forest x deep x shiny x stumble x cave x narrow x gloomy x thick xThe Very Busy Spider (Carle, 2004) spin x owl x chase x catch x thread x fencepost x blew x goat x

Note. Words in bold are words that were taught with interactivity at the word level.


after-reading strategies were used: (a) asking higher level and open-ended questions related to the story (McKeown & Beck, 2003; Stahl, 2004; Wasik & Bond, 2001), (b) constructing and revising misunder-standings (Pearson & Duke, 2002), and (c) making predictions (Armbruster et al., 2003).

MeasuresStandardized language measure. The PLS–5 was administered before the intervention began in order to characterize the children’s overall language. Specifi-cally, auditory comprehension, expressive communica-tion, and total communication standard scores were reported.

Researcher-developed assessment probes. To assess the children’s overall word knowledge at baseline and following all three storybook interven-tions, we developed a comprehensive initial and final assessment probe of the control and targeted words.

A similar researcher-developed word knowledge probe that only tested the targeted words was also given before and after each storybook intervention. The probes used similar procedures as those used in the receptive vocabulary items of the PLS–5 and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition (PPVT–III; Dunn & Dunn, 1997).

Comprehensive word probe. A comprehensive receptive and expressive word knowledge probe was administered before the first e-book intervention and after all e-book interventions were completed. This initial and final probe included 30 words and was made up of both explicitly targeted words and control words. To assess expressive word knowledge, each child was shown a picture of a targeted or control word and was asked, “What is this?” If the child answered correctly, the item was marked correct. If the child answered incorrectly, the item was marked incorrect and he or she was presented with the next picture. To assess receptive identification, each child

Figure 1. Participant flowchart.


was shown four pictures on a single piece of paper and was asked to point to the picture of the named target or control word. The item was scored correct if the child pointed to the correct picture. If the child pointed to an incorrect picture, the item was marked as incorrect and he or she was presented with the next item. To minimize a learning effect from repeat-ed testing, the children were not provided with the correct answers for incorrect answers.

Pre and post e-book intervention probe. At the beginning and end of each individual e-book inter-vention, a researcher-developed pre and post e-book probe of the targeted words in that specific book was given to measure each child’s receptive and expres-sive word knowledge. Similar to the procedure for the comprehensive word probe, the children were first asked to name the pictures of the targeted vocabulary words to measure expressive knowledge and then were asked to point to the picture of the target word out of four pictures to measure receptive knowledge.

Fidelity of InterventionBefore initiation of the study, an undergraduate re-search assistant was trained on the intervention and practiced coding videotaped book reading intervention sessions. To evaluate the fidelity of implementation of the intervention, the research assistant completed a 10-item fidelity checklist for 36% of the interven-tion sessions. The 10-item fidelity checklist addressed the following categories: environmental arrangement, before-reading strategies, during-reading strategies, after-reading strategies, frequency of targeted word, and specific feedback.

ReSUlTS

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using e-books as the context for inter-active shared book reading strategies on receptive and expressive vocabulary in toddlers who are at risk for language and academic delays. Throughout the inter-vention, an independent coder measured fidelity for 36% of the intervention sessions. Compliance to the established intervention procedures ranged from 90% to 100% (M = 98%).

Throughout the study, the children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary growth was measured in two primary ways: (a) comprehensive vocabulary probes that included all of the vocabulary words, and (b) pre and post e-book vocabulary probes that included the vocabulary words specific to the current book. The comprehensive probes were given before the interven-tion began and again after the intervention was

completed. Both targeted and control words from all three books were measured on the initial and final comprehensive probes. The pre and post e-book probes only measured the targeted words for that specific book. The pre and post e-book probes were given before the initial reading of the specific book and then after the third reading of the book before progressing to the pre book-specific test for the next book.

Results of the initial comprehensive probe dem-onstrated that the selected word groups for each book were appropriate for teaching and measuring partici-pants’ vocabulary. Several children demonstrated recep-tive knowledge of a limited number of words, M = 26% (range of 0%–43%); however, no child correctly named any of the words in the expressive portion of the probe. The initial test results, presented in Table 3, were similar for the targeted and control words. The children’s initial receptive word knowledge, albeit limited, was not unexpected when selecting words that are developmentally appropriate for a group of preschool children. Of several potential books, some children demonstrated receptive knowledge across the books. However, the low rate of receptive identifica-tion allowed for a basis of comparison if differences occurred as a result of this intervention.

Targeted Versus Control WordsThe results of the individual participants and the group averages are presented in Table 3. From the initial to final probe, there was a 50% average in-crease in targeted words that were correctly identified receptively compared to a 20% average increase in control words that were correctly identified receptive-ly. More specifically, the mean correct targeted recep-tive words increased from 5.4 at baseline to 17.4 at the end of intervention. When the control words were considered, the initial mean of 2.4 increased to 3.6 after intervention. The more substantial increase of targeted words in comparison to control words demonstrated that explicit and repeated instruction of a word in a story enhanced the participants’ word learning more than simply being exposed to words that were read in the story.

Four out of five participants made overall gains in expressively naming the targeted words. The initial mean of correctly named targeted words was 0, and this increased to 3.8 after the intervention compared to the initial mean of control expressive words of 0 with an increase to a mean of 0.6 after the interven-tion. Similar to the receptive word increases, the children correctly named more targeted words than control words following the intervention. The increas-es in expressive vocabulary were smaller than those in receptive vocabulary.


Word-Level Interactive FeaturesThe secondary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of digital interactive features on the tod-dlers’ vocabulary acquisition. Targeted words with and without word-level interactivity were learned at a similar rate. Results from the pre and post book-specific tests are shown in Table 4. After the Mouse Was Mad (Urban, 2009) e-book condition, all of the participants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words with word-level interactivity, and two demonstrated expressive gains. Similarly, all of the participants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words without word-level interactivity, and three demonstrated expressive gains. For the vocabu-lary in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Rosen, 2003), all five participants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words with word-level interactivity, and one demonstrated expressive gains. Three out of five participants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words without word-level interactivity, and two made expressive gains. Subsequent to The Very Busy Spider (Carle, 2004) condition, four of the five participants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words without word-level interactivity, and three demonstrated expressive gains. All of the par-ticipants demonstrated receptive gains for the targeted words without word-level interactivity, and four made expressive gains.

Parts of SpeechThe 24 targeted words that were explicitly taught across the three storybook interventions consisted of different parts of speech; nine were nouns, 10 were verbs, and five were adjectives. There were no con-sistent word-learning patterns across parts of speech or specific patterns across word-level interactivity for the different word forms. The targeted words in

which children demonstrated learning are presented in Table 5.

Individual Book VocabularyIt is important to review the results of this study not only in terms of the comprehensive vocabulary growth, but also in terms of the individual children’s vocabulary learning in each of the three books. These results are visually displayed in Figures 2 and 3. In all three e-book experimental conditions, the children demonstrated greater receptive gains than expres-sive gains. In the Mouse Was Mad condition, all of the participants receptively learned all eight targeted words. The mean expressive gains were the highest after The Very Busy Spider condition, and the mean expressive gains were the lowest after the We’re Go-ing on a Bear Hunt condition.

Jermaine showed the most word growth in tar-geted word knowledge. Before intervention for Mouse Was Mad, Jermaine correctly identified four words receptively but did not name any words expressively. At the end of the intervention for Mouse Was Mad, Jermaine demonstrated knowledge of eight words receptively and two words expressively. Before inter-vention for We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Jermaine correctly identified two words receptively; he did not correctly name any of the words. After intervention, Jermaine demonstrated knowledge of seven words re-ceptively and two words expressively. Jermaine’s pre-intervention data for The Very Busy Spider showed that he correctly identified four words receptively and one word expressively. After intervention, Jermaine demonstrated knowledge of five words receptively and four words expressively.

Asia showed substantial word growth in targeted word knowledge. Before intervention for Mouse Was Mad, Asia correctly identified six words receptively and no words expressively. By the end of the Mouse

Table 3. Results from the children’s initial and final comprehensive vocabulary test of targeted and control words.

Targeted words (n = 24) Control words (n = 6)

Child Initial TR Final TR Initial TE Final TE Initial TR Final TR Initial TE Final TE

Jermaine 9 23 0 7 2 6 0 2Asia 8 20 0 6 5 2 0 1Melody 3 22 0 3 2 4 0 0Jacobi 0 7 0 0 1 1 0 0Dwight 7 15 0 3 2 5 0 0

Mean 5.4 17.4 0 3.8 2.4 3.6 0 0.6% Correct 22.5 72.5 0.0 15.8 40.0 60.0 0.0 10.0Increase 50.0% 15.8% 20.0% 10.0%

Note. TR = total receptive, TE = total expressive.


Was Mad condition, Asia demonstrated knowledge of eight words receptively and correctly named four words expressively. Asia did not correctly identify any words receptively or expressively before inter-vention of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt; after inter-vention, she correctly identified six words receptively and two words expressively. Before intervention for The Very Busy Spider, Asia demonstrated knowledge of one word receptively but no words expressively.

After intervention, Asia demonstrated knowledge of eight words receptively and three words expressively.

Melody, Jacobi, and Dwight demonstrated in-creased receptive vocabulary knowledge with minimal expressive vocabulary gains. They presented with low pre-intervention receptive scores and increased their receptive identification by two to eight words per e-book condition, showing moderate to substantial gains. Melody and Dwight each demonstrated learning of one

Table 4. Results from the pre and post book-specific tests of targeted words.

Interactive words Noninteractive words

Receptive Expressive Receptive Expressive

Book Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post

Mouse Was Mad (Urban, 2009) Jermaine 2 4 0 1 2 4 0 1 Asia 3 4 0 2 3 4 0 2 Melody 0 4 0 0 1 4 0 1 Jacobi 0 4 1 0 0 4 0 0 Dwight 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 0

Mean 1 4 0.2 0.6 1.2 4 0 0.8

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Rosen, 2003) Jermaine 2 3 0 0 0 4 0 2 Asia 0 4 0 1 0 2 0 1 Melody 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jacobi 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dwight 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0

Mean 0.4 2.4 0 0.2 0 1.8 0 0.6

The Very Busy Spider (Carle, 2004) Jermaine 3 3 0 2 1 2 1 2 Asia 0 4 0 1 1 4 0 2 Melody 1 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 Jacobi 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 Dwight 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 1

Mean 0.8 3.4 0.2 0.8 0.6 2.6 0.4 1.2

Table 5. Percentage of targeted words correct by parts of speech.

Noun (n = 9) Verb (n = 10) Adjective (n = 5)

Interactive Noninteractive Interactive Noninteractive Interactive Noninteractive (n = 3) (n = 6) (n = 7) (n = 3) (n = 2) (n = 3)

Child Rec Exp Rec Exp Rec Exp Rec Exp Rec Exp Rec Exp

Jermaine 100 33 83 17 100 43 100 67 100 0 100 0Asia 67 0 67 17 86 14 100 67 100 50 100 33Melody 100 33 100 17 86 14 67 0 100 0 67 0Jacobi 33 0 33 0 29 0 67 0 0 0 0 0Dwight 67 0 67 0 71 0 100 67 100 0 0 33

Mean 73 13 70 10 74 14 87 40 80 10 53 13

Note. Rec = receptive; Exp = expressive.


word expressively, whereas Jacobi is the only partici-pant who did not increase his expressive scores as a result of any of the e-book conditions.

DISCUSSIoN

The current study examined the effects of integrating interactive shared book reading strategies and digital interactive features within e-book reading sessions

on vocabulary acquisition for at-risk toddlers. The results of this study support previous research on interactive shared book reading as an effective set of strategies for teaching new vocabulary (Gold-stein, 2011; Justice & Kaderavek, 2002; Klesius & Griffith, 1996; Trivette & Dunst, 2007). This study adds to the literature by extending the intervention to younger children and by showing promise for the use of e-books in interactive shared book reading inter-ventions, setting the stage for further examination of digital interactive features.

Figure 2. Visual depiction of each child’s receptive word growth for each book.

Figure 3. Visual depiction of each child’s expressive word growth for each book.


Word-Learning Effects

Intervention components. Because the intervention was provided as a package, it is difficult to make robust claims on the differential effects of interac-tive shared book reading strategies, digital interac-tive features, and e-books as the delivery medium. However, several procedural elements were included to provide a rudimentary understanding of the poten-tial effects of layering digital interactive features on top of interactive shared book reading strategies (i.e., target words with digital interactive features plus interactive shared book reading strategies vs. target words with interactive shared book reading strategies only) and explicitly targeted words with interactive shared book reading strategies (i.e., target words vs. control words). Children learned the target words with and without digital interactivity at a similar rate. Although this finding does not directly support digital interactive features as an effective intervention support, its use may have increased the children’s engagement in the book reading session and therefore had a mediating effect on their overall word learn-ing. The participants’ small to negligible increases in learning control words implies that being exposed to the words of books may not be enough for children to learn the words’ meaning. This further supports the practice of explicitly teaching words as a part of sto-rybook reading in order to increase children’s recep-tive and expressive vocabularies (Loftus et al., 2010).

Receptive and expressive gains. The children’s re-ceptive vocabulary gains were higher than their expres-sive vocabulary gains. This finding is not surprising as receptive word knowledge typically precedes expres-sive word knowledge (Benedict, 1979). Additionally, the difference may be attributable to the frequency of opportunities to practice the words. Other interactive shared book reading studies have increased practice opportunities by including vocabulary instruction both within and outside of book reading sessions (Wasik et al., 2006) and by using longer durations of interven-tion (Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011). It is possible that with additional and varied practice opportunities to produce the words, the children may have demon-strated greater expressive vocabulary gains.

Measuring word knowledge. The children may have had a difficult time generalizing their knowledge of the words learned in the intervention to the picture cards of the words used for the final assessment. Therefore, the children may have learned more words than they demonstrated in the assessments. Both the interventionist and classroom teacher reported hear-ing the children produce several of the target words appropriately in classroom interactions; however, some of those children did not produce the word

when asked during the assessment probes. Decon-textualized formal vocabulary testing of toddlers is inherently limited (Shipley & McAfee, 2009). Assess-ing vocabulary knowledge through multiple means, including naturalistic observation, language sampling with picture prompts, and teacher and parent report, would provide a more representative picture of the children’s vocabulary acquisition.

Differences across books. The amount of vocabu-lary words acquired following intervention fluctuated depending on the books used in the storybook inter-vention. For instance, the children learned the fewest new words during We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Pos-sible explanations may include the book’s familiarity to the participants, high frequency of adjectives, and minimal interaction between characters. In contrast, children learned the most words during Mouse Was Mad. This book was the first book used for the storybook intervention and may have been novel. It also had a frequency of verbs and included frequent interactions between the characters. The Very Busy Spider intervention yielded relatively high numbers of expressive words among the participants. This may be because it was the last book used for the story-book intervention; therefore, the children had more experience with the interactive storybook context and had increased maturation as a function of time. Ad-ditionally, The Very Busy Spider book appeared to be a favorite among the children. The story was short, with constant interaction between the characters, most of which were animals, and the target words were balanced across verbs and nouns. The participants play with toy animals in their classrooms, so it may have been easier for them to engage in the storybook reading when they had initial familiarity with some of the characters. Another possible explanation for the variation of learning across books could be at-tributed to the primacy/recency effect (Reed, 2007). This phenomenon provides an explanation for why the learning and maintenance of specified informa-tion is greater in early and late presentations, which aligns with the largest gains in the first and last book presentations.

E-book engagement. Observations of the chil-dren’s participation across the intervention demon-strated that the children responded favorably to the e-books. The children regularly sat as close to the computer as possible, repeatedly asked to click on the digital interactive features, and requested to go to storytime. Despite a lack of differential effects for digital interactive features on word learning, the children generally appeared to be more attentive to the pages in which digital interactive features were included. When the final assessments were conducted, the children asked where the computer was and if it


was broken, further demonstrating their interest in the e-books. The largest implementation challenge was limiting the children’s access to the keyboard on the laptop computer. In the future, touch screen technology may be beneficial for this type of book reading intervention. This study supports the utility of e-books for flexible adaptation to various intervention and teaching situations (Beauchat et al., 2009).

Limitations of the StudyAlthough the results of this study are important for extending interactive shared book reading strategies to toddlers and for exploring the use of e-books, there are several limitations that are important to con-sider. Due to the small number of participants used, the results of this study cannot be generalized to the larger population of toddlers. Additionally, because multiple evidence-based strategies were used, it can-not be clearly identified which before-, during-, and after-reading strategies were most effective. More-over, it cannot be determined from the results if any of the strategies would generate similar results if they were used independently or in different combinations. Finally, as the interactive storybook reading was conducted individually with pairs of children, large group application is limited.

ImplicationsPrevious research has demonstrated that many chil-dren enter preschool with vocabulary delays and that children from lower SES backgrounds are at higher risk for having vocabulary delays (Lonigan et al., 2000; Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011; Wasik et al., 2006). Examining approaches to ameliorate these delays before children enter preschool can provide valuable information, leading to potential increases in later academic achievement. The results of this study demonstrate promise for using interactive shared book strategies within e-book reading sessions for at-risk toddlers. Although this study supports implementation feasibility with positive learning outcomes in pairs of children, more research is needed to determine how to develop and implement effective vocabulary interventions for larger groups of toddlers. Lessons learned from this investigation can be applied in implementing e-book interactive reading sessions and planning future research.

It is possible that incorporating digital interactive features in the e-books provided the context for over-all vocabulary learning by increasing the children’s participation and engagement with the book, despite a lack of clear trends in the word learning with digital interactive features. Therefore, it would be interesting

to examine the digital interactive features in a more controlled manner. Future single-subject research could examine the difference between digital interac-tive and noninteractive features using an alternating treatments design. The potential differences could also be studied in a group comparison between chil-dren participating in e-book readings with digital in-teractive features versus a control group participating in readings of the same e-books without interactive features. Results from studies such as these may yield different results on the impact of digital interactivity in vocabulary learning of young children. Additional examinations on intervention duration and opportuni-ties to practice would provide data to support mean-ingful implementation. As the use of technology in classrooms and intervention contexts is increasing, it is important to study ways to use technology as a tool to embed evidence-based instructional practices supporting children’s learning.

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APPeNDIx. leSSoN PlAN FoR Mouse Was Mad

Before-Reading Strategies• Have the child name something they see on the title page. – What do you see in this picture?• Have the child imitate the interventionist. – This is a mouse. Say “mouse” with me… “mouse.” • Have the child answer a question pertaining to the book. – What do you think the story is about?

During-Reading Strategies With each target vocabulary word, the child will:

• Say the word out loud with the interventionist. – Word order: 1. Hopping 2. Puddle 3. Stomping 4. Shaking 5. Screaming 6. Bobcat 7. Hedgehog 8. Standing• Talk about the word with the interventionist. – One additional sentence about the word• Imitate the action of the word with the interventionist or produce the new word on their own. – Let’s do it together! – Let’s say the word together.

After-Reading Strategies• The child will tell the interventionist one thing/word/picture they can remember from the book. – What is one thing you remember from the book? A picture? A word? • The interventionist will ask the child: – What is one thing you liked from the book?• The interventionist will repeat the new vocabulary words with the child. – Let’s say the new words together: hopping, puddle, stomping, shaking, bobcat, screaming,

hedgehog, standing

aided symbols by children with and without Down syn-drome. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17(2), 179–193. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2008/018)

Zimmerman, I., Steiner, V., & Pond, R. (2011). Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.

Contact author: Jennifer A. Brown, Department of Com-munication Sciences and Special Education, University of Georgia, 536 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail:[email protected]

Documents

Teaching At-Risk Toddlers New Vocabulary Using Interactive ...€¦ · tions, and cloze procedures (Trivette & Dunst, 2007). After-reading strategies can include asking questions