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The effect of amount, type and reoccurrence of interactions in electronic books on word learning and story comprehension by kindergartners

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Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the positive and negative effects of various types of interactions that occur while children view electronic book (e-book) stories. However, the effects of the different types of interactions have not been compared, and more importantly, the optimal amount and reoccurrence of these interactions on children has not been explored. The present study was designed to fill this gap by examining the effect of amount, type and reoccurrence of e-book interactions on kindergarteners’ new word learning and story comprehension. To do so, 72 children aged 5–6 year-old viewed three picture e-book stories in one session read by digital narrators, and then repeated this procedure in a second session. Each story included a word clarification or a story elaboration type of interaction, which occurred at low (every two screens), medium (every screen), or high frequency (more than once on most screens) during viewing. Following each story, participants were asked to define target words and answer comprehension questions. Results showed that increasing the amount of interactions, whether word clarifications or elaborations, enhanced word learning and story comprehension following the second exposure to the e-book stories. These findings suggest that interruptions during e-book viewing to explain difficult words or expand the plot by inferential information, do not interfere with the narrative course and do not impair learning processes, at least not in the amounts of interactions examined in this study. These conclusions bear practical implications for the design of e-books, and more generally, for the interactive approach adults may adopt when reading a story to children.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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  1. School of Education, Bar Ilan University, 52900, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Menahem Yeari, Adi Hadad & Ofra Korat

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  1. Menahem Yeari
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Appendices

Appendix 1

An example of one of the e-books used in this study—“The balloon that wanted to be a kite”, including all dictionary and elaboration interactions which are presented following the corresponding sentences. The underlined interactions were presented in the low-frequency condition. The interactions presented in the medium-frequency condition were those that are underlined and those in italics font. The high-frequency condition included all interactions presented in this appendix. Note that this text was translated from Hebrew. Thus, the level of familiarity and difficulty of the words selected for the dictionary interactions may differ in the two languages.

Screen

Story

Dictionary

Elaborations

1

Once there was a balloon, a purple balloon, a big balloon. One summer morning the balloon left his house. It was hot and he wanted to tour.

Tour: travel

The sun: nice balloon, outside there is a nice breeze, it will be pleasant to walk around outside.

2

He wandered in the mountains and above the houses.

Wandered: went from place to place

House: Goodbye balloon, how high you are in the sky!

3

He floated slowly and he smelled the flowers.

Floated: flew

Flower: Come to us purple balloon. We have a wonderful scent, that will give you feelings of happiness and peace.

He hummed to himself: “How good it is to be a purple balloon”.

Hummed: sang

Balloon: How fun it is to fly in the air and enjoy the wonderful aromas.

4

He suddenly noticed four kites.

Noticed: saw

Balloon: Hey, here are kites…maybe I will join them and we will travel together.

“Hello”, said the purple balloon, “What are you doing?”, “We are flying”, replied the blue kite.

Replied: answered

Blue kite: The wind blowing helps us to fly.

5

“Could I fly with you?”, asked the balloon. “You are kidding!! You are a balloon and not a kite”, Said the kites, and turned their back to him.

Turned their back to him: Turned away and left, refused.

Green kite: You are different from us. You cannot fly with us.

“Perhaps I could take hold of your tail?”

Take hold of: grab, catch

Balloon: It would be more fun for me to fly together with some friends.

6

But the kite laughed at the balloon: “Fat balloon, he’s got a baby in his belly”, the orange kite made fun of him.

Made fun of: laughed at, insulted

Orange kite: You are fat and slow. You cannot fly as fast as us.

“Leaning balloon, without enough string”, giggled the green balloon.

Giggled: laughed lightly

Green kite: Your string is short, no child can hold on to you from below.

7

“Faceless balloon, that cannot fly”, guffawed the blue kite.

Guffawed: laughed

Blue kite: We do not want you to fly with us.

“Flea balloon, wart-head”, joked the red kite.

Joked: laughed at

Red kite: If we insult him he will leave.

8

The balloon experienced sadness. “If I could only be a kite…”.

Experienced: felt

Balloon: If I were a kite, I could play with all the kites, and I would not be alone.

The kites played catch and hide and go seek, they jumped rope, had fun and ran races, and the balloon floated alone on the side and viewed them.

Viewed: looked at

Cloud: The kites do not understand they are hurting you. They do not understand that it is not pleasant to be left alone.

9

Suddenly the wind stopped, and the kites fell slowly to the ground.

Fell: dropped down

Orange kite: Hey friends, without wind we cannot manage to fly in the air.

Just the purple balloon remained in the air, because balloons do not depend on wind to fly.

Depend: need

Balloon: The kites are not like me, they need wind in order to fly.

10

“Hi purple balloon”, called the blue kite, “take me with you, I will grab your string and we will fly”.

Grab: hold onto

Blue kite: I need your help to continue flying without wind.

“Take us too, take us too!!!”, pleaded the other kites.

Pleaded: begged

Balloon: Now when there is no wind, the kites need me so they can continue flying. Therefore, they are being nice to me.

11

“You are kidding! You are kites and not balloons. You cannot fly without wind”, responded the balloon, and went flying on his way.

Responded: answered

Balloon: Before you made fun of me and did not want to play with me. Now I do not want to play with you.

He returned and sang: “How good it is to be a purple balloon”.

Returned: came back to do something he had done before

Balloon: How fun it is that I am a balloon and not a kite! Balloons can fly even when the wind stops!

12

The kites remained sad on the ground, and thought to themselves: “If we could only be balloons…”.

Remained: stayed

Kite: We did not need to make fun of the balloon then. Everyone has his own good qualities.

Appendix 2

The following are the 7 open-ended comprehension questions the participants answered after viewing the e-book story “The Balloon that Wanted to be a Kite” presented in Appendix 1.

  1. 1.

    Why did the balloon leave his house and want to tour?

  2. 2.

    How did the balloon feel while floating and singing to himself?

  3. 3.

    Why did the kites make fun of the balloon?

  4. 4.

    Why did the balloon feel sad?

  5. 5.

    Why did the kites suddenly fall to the ground, while the balloon remained in the air?

  6. 6.

    Why did the balloon not agree to the kite’s request that he would take them with him?

  7. 7.

    What can be learned from the story? What is the important thing you learned from the story?

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Yeari, M., Hadad, A. & Korat, O. The effect of amount, type and reoccurrence of interactions in electronic books on word learning and story comprehension by kindergartners. Educ Inf Technol 29, 6841–6863 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12077-w

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