A Closer Look at Enhanced eBooks: Compatible Versus Distracting Games Julia Hrobon Under the Direction of Dr. Georgene Troseth

What is an eBook? Electronic books that can be read on computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. Two types of eBooks: basic and enhanced

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)

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

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

Research Question & Prediction Research Question: Does the quality of an enhanced eBook’s interactivity affect how much a child learns from the story? Does co-reading play a role in children’s learning from the eBook? Prediction: Reading comprehension and story vocabulary will be strong for eBooks with compatible games, weak for eBooks with distracting games

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

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

Method Participants: 29 children, 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

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

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

Posttest Vocabulary Assessment: measures what words child learned from story Reading Comprehension: measures what child remembers from story Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT): measures child’s general vocabulary knowledge

Co-Reading

Prediction Revisited Compared with basic versions, reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition strong for eBook with compatible games, weak for eBook with distracting games

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)

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) = , p = 0.559)

Results: Co-Reading Compatible (PP) NCR: Significant difference between basic (M = 6.000, SD = 3.899) and enhanced (M = , SD = ); t(5.981) = , p = 0.031, d = ) CR: No significant difference between basic (M = , SD = ) and enhanced (M = , SD = ); t(10) = 1.681, p = 0.124, d = 0.971)

Results: Co-Reading Distracting (WIGU) NCR: Significant difference between basic (M = 9.14, SD = 6.203) and enhanced (M = 44.60, SD = ) (t(10) = , p = 0.037, d = ) CR: No significant difference between basic (M = 42.71, SD = ) and enhanced (M = 23.40, SD = ) (t(10) = 1.044, p = 0.321, d = 0.607)

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

Limitations Small sample size Co-reading coding unreliable Difficult to control for the differences between the two eBooks

Future Directions Partner with eBook designer to create one eBook that has both compatible and distracting games Further investigate effects of co-reading on children’s learning from eBooks Parents trained on effective co-reading vs. do not communicate (Strouse, O’Doherty, & Troseth, 2013)

Acknowledgements Thank you to… Dr. Georgene Troseth Graduate student Colleen Russo Dr. Megan Saylor Research assistants in Early Development Lab VUSRP