Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Factors that Affect Emergent Literacy Development When Engaging with Electronic Books

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article reviews extant literature with the purpose of identifying factors that affect the potential efficacy of electronic books to support literacy development during early childhood. Selection criteria include experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational studies from peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2013 with a target population of 3–7 year olds. Results established the following factors as relevant to potential literacy outcomes: interactive features, quality assessment, repetition, and adult interaction. Each factor is discussed in its relationship to literacy skills in order to identify optimal conditions for literacy growth. Findings in this review are pertinent to parents, educators, legislators, and software developers who are making software decisions that will impact early childhood students at home or in school. Future research and implications are considered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bus, A., van IJzendoorn, M., & Pellegrini, A. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis of intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chera, P., & Wood, C. (2003). Animated multimedia ‘talking books’ can promote phonological awareness in children beginning to read. Learning and Instruction, 13, 33–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ciampa, K. (2012a). Improving grade one students’ reading motivation with online electronic storybooks. Journal of Educational Media and Hypermedia, 21(1), 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciampa, K. (2012b). Reading in the digital age: Using electronic books as a teaching tool for beginning readers. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 38(2), 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, M., & Bus, A. (2002). Quality of book-reading matters for emergent readers: An experiment with the same book in a regular or electronic format. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(1), 145–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, M., & Bus, A. (2003). How well suited are electronic books to supporting literacy? Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 3(2), 147–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Jong, M., & Bus, A. (2004). The efficacy of electronic books in fostering kindergarten Children’s emergent story understanding. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 378–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flouri, E., & Buchanan, A. (2004). Early father’s and mother’s involvement and child’s later outcomes. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 141–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong, Z., & Levy, B. (2009). Four year old children’s acquisition of print knowledge during electronic storybook reading. Reading and Writing, 22, 889–905.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, B., & Risley, T. B. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap by age 3. American Educator, 27(1), 4–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Justice, L., & Sofka, A. (2010). Engaging Children with Print. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J., & Anderson, J. (2008). Mother–child shared reading with print and digital texts. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8(2), 213–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O. (2009). The effects of CD-ROM storybook reading on Israeli children’s early literacy as a function of age group and repeated reading. Education and Information Technologies, 14, 39–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O. (2010). Reading electronic book as a support for vocabulary, story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade. Computers & Education, 55, 24–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Blau, H. (2010). Repeated reading of CD-ROM storybooks as a support for emergent literacy: A developmental perspective in two SES groups. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 43(4), 445–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Or, T. (2010). How new technology influences parent-child interaction: The case of e-book reading. First Language, 30(2), 139–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., Segal-Drori, O., & Klien, P. (2009). Electronic and printed books with and without adult support as sustaining emergent literacy. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 41(4), 453–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Shamir, A. (2004). Do Hebrew electronic books differ from Dutch electronic books? A replication of a Dutch content analysis. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20, 257–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Shamir, A. (2007). Electronic books versus adult readers: Effects on children’s emergent literacy as a function of social class. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23, 248–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Shamir, A. (2008). The educational electronic book as a tool for supporting children’s emergent literacy in low versus middle SES groups. Computers & Education, 50, 110–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korat, O., & Shamir, A. (2012). Direct and indirect teaching: Using e-books for supporting vocabulary, word reading, and story comprehension for young children. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 46(2), 135–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Labbo, L., & Kuhn, M. (2000). Weaving chains of affect and cognition: A young child’s understanding of CD-ROM talking books. Journal of Literacy Research, 32(2), 187–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, L. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 15–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeFever-Davis, S., & Pearman, C. (2005). Early readers and electronic text: CD-ROM storybook features that influence reading behaviors. Reading Teacher, 58(5), 446–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, R. (2009). ‘You have to understand words…but not read them’: Young children becoming readers in a digital age. Journal of Research in Reading, 32(1), 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, C. (2000). Exploring the effects of talking book software in UK primary classrooms. Journal of Research in Reading, 23(2), 149–157. ISSN:0141-0423.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonnell, S., Frierl-Patti, S., & Rollins, P. (2003). Patterns of change in maternal–child discourse behaviors across repeated storybook readings. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 323–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGee, L., & Schickedanz, J. (2007). Repeated interactive read-alouds in preschool and kindergarten. The Reading Teacher, 60(8), 742–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moody, A. (2010). Using electronic books in the classroom to enhance emergent literacy skills in young children. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 11(4), 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moody, A., Justice, L., & Cabell, S. (2010). Electronic versus traditional storybooks: Relative influence on preschool children’s engagement and communication. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 10(3), 294–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearman, C., & Chang, C. (2010). Scaffolding or distracting: CD-ROM storybooks and young readers. Tech Trends, 54(4), 52–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roskos, K., Brueck, J., & Widman, S. (2009). Investigating analytic tools for e-book design in early literacy learning. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(3), 218–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Shamir, A., & Klein, P. (2010). Reading electronic and printed Books with and without adult instruction: Effects on emergent reading. Reading and Writing, 23, 913–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A. (2009). Processes and outcomes of joint activity with e-books for promoting kindergarteners emergent literacy. Educational Media International, 46(1), 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A., & Korat, O. (2006). How to select CD-ROM storybooks for young children: The teacher’s role. Reading Teacher, 59(6), 532–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A., & Korat, O. (2007). Developing an educational e-book for fostering kindergarten children’s emergent literacy. Computers in the Schools, 24(1/2), 125–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A., Korat, O., & Barbi, N. (2008). The effects of CD-ROM storybook reading on low SES kindergarteners’ emergent literacy as a function of learning context. Computers & Education, 51, 354–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A., Korat, O., & Fellah, R. (2012). Promoting vocabulary, phonological awareness and concept about print among children at-risk for learning disability: Can-books help? Reading and Writing, 25, 45–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shamir, A., & Shlafer, I. (2011). E-books effectiveness in promoting phonological awareness and concept about print: A comparison between children at risk for learning disabilities and typically developing kindergarteners. Computers & Education, 57, 1989–1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharif, I., Ozuah, P., Dinkevich, E., & Mulvihill, M. (2003). Impact on a brief literacy intervention on urban preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(3), 177–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smeets, D., & Bus, A. (2012). Interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112, 36–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. (2001). Click and turn the page: An exploration of multiple storybook literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 36(2), 152–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhallen, M., & Bus, A. (2010). Low-income immigrant pupils learning vocabulary through digital picture storybooks. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 54–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhallen, M., Bus, A., & de Jong, M. (2006). The promise of multimedia stories for kindergarten children at risk. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(2), 410–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehurst, G., Falco, F., Lonigan, C., Fischel, J., DeBaryshe, B., Valdez-Menchaca, M., et al. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture story book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24, 552–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehurst, G., & Lonigan, C. (2002). Emergent literacy: Development from prereaders to readers. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 11–29). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, C. (2005). Beginning readers’ use of ‘talking books’ software can affect their reading strategies. Journal of Research in Reading, 28, 170–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, C., Pillinger, C., & Jackson, E. (2010). Understanding the nature and impact of young readers’ literacy interactions with talking books and during adult reading support. Computers & Education, 54, 190–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, T., Moody, A., & McKenna, M. (2009). The effects of electronic books on pre-kindergarten-to-grade 5 students’ literacy and language outcomes: A research synthesis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(1), 47–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lynda G. Salmon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Salmon, L.G. Factors that Affect Emergent Literacy Development When Engaging with Electronic Books. Early Childhood Educ J 42, 85–92 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0589-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0589-2

Keywords

Navigation