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Using tablets and apps to enhance emergent literacy skills in young children
Abstract
Touch screen tablets (e.g., iPads) are being increasingly used by young children due to their stimulating multimodal features and intuitive touch-based interface. However, little is known about the effects of tablets and apps on the development of emergent literacy skills. This pre-post-test randomised controlled study explored the effects of using literacy apps on emergent literacy skills in English speaking children aged 2–5 years (N = 48). There were 24 children in the iPad group and 24 children in the waitlist control group. The 9-week (30 min/week) iPad literacy program focussed on three new alphabet letters each week using three apps (letter matching, letter tracing, and drawing). Following the program, children in the iPad group showed significantly higher letter name and sound knowledge, print concepts and name writing skills than children in the control group. No significant group differences were found for letter writing skills or numeral knowledge. The findings showed that tablets can positively support letter name and sound learning and aspects of emergent writing development. How teachers can best utilise these digital tools in early childhood classrooms to support emergent literacy requires further investigation.
... The literature shows that co-use strategies, especially in the form of "scaffolding", (Bruner, 1978, p. 19) can help foster family digital literacy practices in the home context (Neumann, 2018). Scaffolding is defined as "the steps taken to reduce the degrees of freedom in carrying out some tasks so that the child can concentrate on the difficult skill she/he is in the process of acquiring" (Bruner, 1978, p. 19). ...
... For example, a study conducted in Turkey showed that the positive attitude and supportive role of parents as scaffolders can improve children's attitudes towards reading in the home context (Ozturk & Ohi, 2018). Similarly, another study in the context of Australia acknowledged that parents play an important role by scaffolding their young children's use of tablets which can lead to early language learning (Neumann, 2018). Also, parent-child tablet interactions can be enhanced through cognitive scaffolding, which is defined as giving directions, asking questions, and supporting children to gain deeper conceptual and procedural understandings (Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017). ...
... Similarly, another study in the context of Australia acknowledged that parents play an important role by scaffolding their young children's use of tablets which can lead to early language learning (Neumann, 2018). Also, parent-child tablet interactions can be enhanced through cognitive scaffolding, which is defined as giving directions, asking questions, and supporting children to gain deeper conceptual and procedural understandings (Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017). Taken together, the use of digital tools in the home context can support children's development of digital literacy skills, as well as language and literacy, digital operational, socioemotional, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) skills. ...
Background
In today's society, a growing body of literature attests to the importance of young children's early digital literacy skills in their home environments and how acquisition of these digital literacy skills relates to their future learning and digital literacy.
Objectives
Research on young children's digital literacy practices at home was reviewed to explore the positive and negative influences on early learning. This is important due to the children's rapid uptake of online digital technologies over the past decade.
Methods
Peer‐reviewed research articles on home digital literacy practices of children (aged 0–8 years old) published between 2010 and 2021 from four education databases were carefully selected based upon pre‐determined criteria and examined using content analysis.
Results and Conclusion
A high proportion of studies (29 of the 31; 93.5%) demonstrated significant benefits of young children gaining a range of skills, including digital operational, early literacy and language, socio‐emotional, and STEM, through the use of digital technologies at home. Five of the 31 (16.12%) studies reported negative effects of digital technologies in the home context, including distraction, aggressive behaviour, and false self‐confidence. Tablets and smartphone use gained greater momentum in the home context, especially between 2015 and 2021, and there was a positive shift in parental mediation, family involvement, and the children's home digital literacy practices.
Implications
By leveraging children's acquisition of digital literacy skills in the home and taking into account the sociocultural context, we can enhance young children's preparation for the future and provide opportunities for skill development across various learning domains.
... Young children's access to and use of digital devices, particularly tablet computers, has been increasing globally (Ofcom, 2017;Rideout, 2017). In the early childhood education (ECE) sector, services are using tablets for teaching and learning (Neumann, 2018;Vaughan and Beers, 2017). Lu et al. (2017) in particular reported that services used tablets in a variety of ways such as one-to-one learning with a teacher, collaborative use with peers, and independent play. ...
... Howie et al.'s (2017) research highlighted how tablet use impacted children's health and socialisation. On the contrary, a few studies on tablet and app use by young children specified the benefits these technologies bring to fine motor skills development (Dubé and McEwen, 2017), language and literacy learning (Neumann, 2018), and socialisation (MacCallum and Bell, 2019). Their findings on using tablets for young children's learning and development depended on the disciplinary background of researchers and the beliefs of teachers and educators. ...
... These services scaffolded children's tablet use in various ways such as one-to-one learning or collaboration with peers similar to the findings of Lu et al. (2017). More particularly, by scaffolding tablet use, services in the "specialised" group aligned with Neumann's (2018) findings when teachers and educators fulfilled their roles as the more knowledgeable persons. ...
With the increasing use of tablets in early childhood education (ECE) services internationally, a sequential explanatory mixed-method doctoral study was undertaken to explore their use in New Zealand. The study surveyed four major service types: education and care, home-based, kindergarten, and playcentre. Qualitative data from one tablet user service and one tablet non-user service from each type were then collected. The findings revealed three main reasons for not using tablets: educational philosophy, funding, and company or service policy. The three main purposes for using tablets were for documentation and assessment, playing music, and using these devices for creative purposes. A collective case study identified that two non-users shifted from completely not using tablets to using them for specific purposes, suggesting that tablet computer adoption in ECE is not binary. The data suggest that teachers and educators play a key role in deciding when and how to use tablets in ECE services. Tablet computer use was not limited to a dichotomy of use and non-use; rather their use in New Zealand's ECE services was spread along a spectrum that ranged from limited, to specialised, to comprehensive use. This study suggests that access to and use of tablet computers is not fixed but varies according to services' goals and educational philosophies.
... Young children's access to and use of digital devices, particularly tablet computers, has been increasing globally (Ofcom, 2017;Rideout, 2017). In the early childhood education (ECE) sector, services are using tablets for teaching and learning (Neumann, 2018;Vaughan and Beers, 2017). Lu et al. (2017) in particular reported that services used tablets in a variety of ways such as one-to-one learning with a teacher, collaborative use with peers, and independent play. ...
... Howie et al.'s (2017) research highlighted how tablet use impacted children's health and socialisation. On the contrary, a few studies on tablet and app use by young children specified the benefits these technologies bring to fine motor skills development (Dubé and McEwen, 2017), language and literacy learning (Neumann, 2018), and socialisation (MacCallum and Bell, 2019). Their findings on using tablets for young children's learning and development depended on the disciplinary background of researchers and the beliefs of teachers and educators. ...
... These services scaffolded children's tablet use in various ways such as one-to-one learning or collaboration with peers similar to the findings of Lu et al. (2017). More particularly, by scaffolding tablet use, services in the "specialised" group aligned with Neumann's (2018) findings when teachers and educators fulfilled their roles as the more knowledgeable persons. ...
... Through this way, children are activated in an enriched language context which enables their multiple exposure to words (Beck & McKeown, 2001;Behnamnia et al., 2022;Kim et al., 2021). In fact, vocabulary teaching, when it is supported by digital media and tools (computer, video, educational software, e-books, digital storytelling, digital games, etc.), seem to attract children's interest and attention because of digital means' playful features which give children the opportunity to practice and develop skills at their own personal pace (Griffith et al., 2022;Koran et al., 2022;Neumann, 2018;Tatar & Gerde, 2022;Zwitserlood et al., 2022). Digital means' technical characteristics, such as the underlining, the lighting, the changing color, the shape and/or size of target vocaulary, the inclusion of digital dictionaries, the hotspots, as well as interactive games embedded in appropriately designed environments seem to provide the most opportunities for a different and rich learning experience compared to conventional methods (Korat & Shneor, 2019;Reich et al., 2019;Smeets & Bus, 2015;Strouse & Ganea, 2017;Tatar & Gerde, 2022;Vatalaro et al., 2018). ...
... In the last decade, the use of ICT and the related with digital means approaches have been spread in many educational and learning areas, such as language and literacy. A growing body of empirical research has shown that digital technologies offer promising opportunities for early literacy, targeting at significant skills and knowledge, such as vocabulary learning (Hans, 2018;Johnson et al., 2011;Neumann, 2018), especially when facilitated by adult guidance (Griffith et al., 2022;Strouse & Ganea, 2017;Tatar & Gerde, 2022). Specifically, technology including e-books, storyapps and e-learning apps are available to support children's vocabulary development (Karaaslan et al., 2018;Tatar & Gerde, 2022). ...
... The effectiveness of multimedia stories depends on their quality and on their good design which should be in accordance with children's developmental needs. To support children's literacy development, multimedia stories should include features, such as auto-narration accompanied by animated or video illustrations, background music and sound effects, which are congruent with the storyline (Bus et al., 2015;Ihmeideh, 2014;Korat & Shneor, 2019;Neumann, 2018;Reich et al., 2019;Takacs et al., 2014). ...
The aim of the present study was to compare the impact of two different didactic techniques, blended teaching and teaching by the exclusive use of ICT, on preschool children’s vocabulary development. Additional aim of the present study was to investigate whether the impact of the two didactic techniques is differentiated by several language and non-language factors. The sample consisted of 48 children aged 5–6 years old. The experimental design of the present study included two experimental groups and a business-as-usual control group. In the first experimental group, the blended learning approach was implemented combining face to face and ICT assisted activities for teaching vocabulary. In the second experimental group, vocabulary teaching was accomplished by the exclusive use of ICT. In the business-as-usual control group children participated in curriculum activities anticipated by the typical education program of the kindergarten. Children were pretested and posted for target word knowledge with a researcher designed measure. The results showed that both didactic techniques had a positive impact on young children’s vocabulary development. These outcomes point to the value of using ICT, especially tablet games, for vocabulary instruction in early childhood classrooms. The present study implies that appropriate scaffolding provided in practices using ICT is a teaching recommendation that needs to be adopted to reach the goal of effective vocabulary instruction.
... There is possible variability of language skills present within the sample. Lack of a control group to assess the effectiveness of the intervention 34/40= 85% computerized games and software applications (30)(31)(32). These interventions aimed to enhance fine motor skills, form basic strokes, and letter perception. ...
... Fine motor skills and visual motor skills intervention were discussed in nine studies (28,29,(31)(32)(33)(34)36,37). Two studies used HWT intervention for pre-writing interventions (28,29). ...
... Two studies used HWT intervention for pre-writing interventions (28,29). Another three studies examined the effects of fine motor and visual-motor skills intervention simultaneously with two groups of children and found that the intervention group in both studies showed significant improvement compared to the control group (31,34,38). Finally, two studies that used computerized typing and touch screen tablet interventions showed significant fine motor improvements (32,34). ...
This scoping mapped the evidence regarding pre-writing interventions for developmental disabilities and typically developing children. This review followed the PRISMA-Scoping Review guidelines. Evidence between January 2011 and July 2021 was retrieved from four databases: EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science. Selected articles were evaluated for quality using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool (CCAT). Ten articles were included in the study, with CCAT scores ranging between 68% and 85%. Findings were arranged in five themes: (1) pre-writing interventions, (2) pre-requisite handwriting skills, (3) protocol and interventions, (4) intervention pioneer, and (5) conveyance of interventions. Generally, pre-writing interventions were aligned with the pre-requisite skills of handwriting. Digitized-based interventions were commonly utilized and expanded in developing pre-writing skills. Acquiring effective pre-writing interventions for both populations will refine the handwriting performance. Further exploration of the integration of pre-writing skills with digitized-based intervention is required to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
... Consequently, 53 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review (Figure 1). Schmitt et al., 2018;Schroeder & Kirkorian, 2016;Xu et al., 2021;Zhen, 2017;Zheng & Sun, 2021;Zimmermann et al., 2015), Australia (Axford et al., 2018;Barnett et al., 2012;Huber et al., 2018;McNeill et al., , 2021Neumann, 2014Neumann, , 2016Neumann, , 2018Trost & Brookes, 2021), the United Kingdom (Bedford et al., 2016;Herodotou, 2018;Outhwaite et al., 2019;Portugal et al., 2021;Ross et al., 2016), Taiwan (Lin, 2019;Lin et al., 2017;Lin et al., 2020) one study each from Canada (Courage et al., 2021), South Korea (Moon et al., 2019), and Israel (Elimelech & Aram, 2020). Only two studies were from middle-income countries Brazil (Souto et al., 2020;Spinosa et al., 2020) and China (Hu et al., 2020;Liu et al., 2021). ...
... The general use of screen devices and touch screens, such as iPads, was the subject of 22 of 53 studies (Antrilli & Wang, 2018;Bedford et al., 2016;Clarke & Abbott, 2016;Chen et al., 2013;Gremmen et al., 2016;Haegele et al., 2011;Hu et al., 2020;Kiefer et al., 2015;Konok et al., 2021;Kosmas & Zaphiris, 2020;Lin, 2019;Lin et al., 2017Lin et al., , 2020McNeill et al., 2021Moon et al., 2019;Neumann, 2014Neumann, , 2016Neumann, , 2018Picard et al., 2014;Zheng & Sun, 2021) and the use of specific digital applications/contents such as specific use of touch screen applications used on tablets and iPads was the Below, we summarize our findings into three main categories: ...
... , of which 22 studies were Tier 1(Antrilli & Wang, 2018;Chen et al., 2013;Courage et al., 2021;Desoete & Praet, 2013;Di Lieto et al., 2017;Elimelech & Aram, 2020;Fernández-Molina et al., 2015;Haegele et al., 2011;Herodotou, 2018;Huber et al., 2018;Konok et al., 2021;Liu et al., 2021;Neumann, 2018;O'Toole & Kannass, 2018;Outhwaite et al., 2019;Parish-Morris et al., 2013;Ross et al., 2016;Schmitt et al., 2018;Schroeder & Kirkorian, 2016;Xu et al., 2021;Zhen, 2017), and seven studies were identified as Tier 2(Fikkers et al., Morris et al., 2013;Schmitt et al., 2018;Schroeder & Kirkorian, 2016) and eight quasi-experimental studies were included in the synthesis(Courage et al., 2021;Di Lieto et al., 2017;Herodotou, 2018;Konok et al., 2021;Liu et al., 2021;Ross et al., 2016;Xu et al., 2021;Zhen, 2017). Studies in Tier 2 included one cohort and five cross-sectional studies.All studies in both tiers were exclusively aimed at exploring the association between use of interactive digital devices and cognitive skills and were focused on general use of touchscreen devices(Courage et al., 2021;Konok et al., 2021;McNeill et al., 2021) and educational software system (Fernández-Molina et al., 2015; Haegele et al., 2011; Huber et al., 2018; Outhwaite et al., 2019; Rogowsky et al., 2018; Zhen, 2017), digital applications such as e-books (O'Toole & Kannass, 2018; Parish-Morris et al., 2013), multimedia (Chen et al., 2013), or videogames (Desoete & Praet, 2013; Elimelech & Aram, 2020; Fikkers et al., 2019; Herodotou, 2018; Russo-Johnson et al., 2017; Schmitt et al., 2018; Schroeder & Kirkorian, 2016). ...
Background:
There is mixed evidence regarding the impact of interactive digital devices on child development. Tentatively some studies suggested that the use of digital devices may correlate negatively with language, executive function and motor skills. However, attempts to amalgamate this evidence has been limited related to the available number of experimental and cohort studies that have evaluated the impact of digital technology use on child development. We conducted this review to determine the impact of interactive digital devices on child development among children aged 7 years or younger. Interactive technology has been defined as methods, tools, or devices that users interact with in order to achieve specific tasks.
Data source:
CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, Scopus and Google Scholar.
Study selection:
We used the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for systematic reviews.
Data extraction:
Data extraction and synthesis was carried out by two reviewers and checked by a third reviewer. Studies were stratified into tiers depending on the level of evidence provided and the domain of development assessed.
Results:
Fifty-three studies were eligible for inclusion in the review, 39 tier 1 (Randomized Controlled Trials and quasi-experimental studies) and 16 tier 2 (descriptive studies). Children's use of interactive digital technology was positively associated with receptive language and executive function and negatively associated or unrelated to motor proficiency. Other critical aspects informing the evidence, such as dose of exposure, intensity, or duration were inconsistently reported, making estimates of exposure tentative and imprecise.
Conclusion:
The studies included in this review were predominantly correlational or comparative in nature and focuses on cognitive domains of learning rather than a specific developmental outcome. It is difficult to generalise our findings beyond the digital devices or applications that have been evaluated by earlier studies. The contextual factors that may moderate the relationship require elaboration in future studies.
... Based on these roles, scholars have classified parental mediation strategies differently for media use and first language learning purposes (e.g. Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017;Nikken & Jansz, 2007;Scott, 2022;Yelland & Masters, 2007;Zaman et al., 2016). However, to date, the types of mediation strategies used by parents for second language learning have not been explored extensively. ...
... In the literature on first language acquisition (Neumann, 2018(Neumann, , 2020Yelland & Masters, 2007) researchers have classified scaffolding mediation (i.e., participatory mediation) into three types namely, affective, technical, and cognitive scaffolding. In affective scaffolding, parents turn the attention of their children to specific digital practices using encouragement or reward (Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017;Yelland & Masters, 2007). ...
... In the literature on first language acquisition (Neumann, 2018(Neumann, , 2020Yelland & Masters, 2007) researchers have classified scaffolding mediation (i.e., participatory mediation) into three types namely, affective, technical, and cognitive scaffolding. In affective scaffolding, parents turn the attention of their children to specific digital practices using encouragement or reward (Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017;Yelland & Masters, 2007). For instance, parents might encourage their children to use tablets to solve puzzles resulting in higher-level thinking in their children (Neumann, 2018;Neumann & Neumann, 2017). ...
Research has shown that the home digital literacy practices of children are shaped based on their parents' mediation strategies. While there is extensive literature on parental mediation strategies for children's digital media use as well as first language learning, this line of inquiry is not extensively explored in the context of second language learning. Driven by these points, in this study, I have used demographic profiles, semi-structured interviews, and video-recordings to discover the mediation strategies used by Iranian mothers based on sociocultural theory. Drawing on thematic analysis and deductive-inductive coding, I found that there were porous boundaries between the types of mediation strategies that were used by Iranian mothers to control or support the home digital literacy practices of their children. These differences and similarities were caused by the social, historical, cultural, economic, and political factors in the context of Iran. The findings of this study have extended the knowledge about how parents control or support their children's second language learning (L2) through digital technologies in the home context. These findings can provide worthwhile insights to English Language Teaching (ELT) stakeholders in the context of Iran, particularly how to establish a nexus between children's second language learning in the home and classroom context. ARTICLE HISTORY
... paper-pencil) and digital tools (e.g. iPads) with their parents, carers, teachers, and peers (Neumann 2018a(Neumann , 2018b(Neumann , 2021). Yet, how preschool children draw and write their name with a social robot has to our knowledge, not yet been explored (Neumann 2020a). ...
... tablets, computer keyboards). Experimenting and learning through a range of mark-making tools fosters the development of early literacy and language skills (Knight and Dooley 2015;Neumann 2018b). This brings another dimension to young children's early learning experiences as social robots embody a tablet or computer (Johal 2020;Starcic, Bratko, and Rosanda 2021). ...
... In addition, although use of iPads for learning in the preschool classroom is increasingly common (e.g. Marsh et al. 2015;Neumann 2018b), future studies should consider children's previous experiences with iPads as this may influence how children interact with a social robot during a child-robot iPad activity. ...
Social robots communicate through human-like behaviours and are being used in preschool settings. However, the ways in which young children interact with social robots and how these impact upon early educational experiences are not fully known. This observational study explored preschoolers’ (Mean age = 4.58 years; N = 40) interactions with a social robot called NAO during a drawing activity, in South East Queensland, Australia. Most children (83%) engaged in the drawing activity and 60% talked to the social robot. A smaller proportion (10%) of children did not talk to the social robot or attempt the drawing task. Overall, the social robot successfully engaged and instructed preschool children during the drawing task however, not all children interacted with the social robot. It is recommended that a thoughtful approach to introducing social robots to preschools is needed to meet the individual and personal learning needs of young children.
... Among these domains, touchscreen language learning has garnered considerable research attention in the area of emergent literacy in the preschool age range (e.g. Neumann, 2014;2018;O'Toole & Kannass, 2018). For example, researchers have suggested the multisensory features of some literacy applications (apps) contributes to the enhanced learning of letter names and sounds in 2-5-year-old children (Neumann, 2018) and facilitates word learning in preschool children (Smeets & Bus, 2015). ...
... Neumann, 2014;2018;O'Toole & Kannass, 2018). For example, researchers have suggested the multisensory features of some literacy applications (apps) contributes to the enhanced learning of letter names and sounds in 2-5-year-old children (Neumann, 2018) and facilitates word learning in preschool children (Smeets & Bus, 2015). This benefit extends to second language learning, with the interactional and haptic feedback features of touchscreens providing an immersive-style learning experience (Nassaji, 2016;Minogue & Jones, 2006). ...
Aims: Previous research showed that short-term second language training modulates children’s brain responses. However, little is known about how well young children’s brains process second language-related information acquired from short-term usage of language-immersive apps. Methodology: To examine this, we compared the auditory event-related potential (ERP) to non-native language words learnt via language-immersive applications (apps), as compared to those learnt via digital flash cards, in 3-5-year-old children. We also compared their auditory ERPs to known and unknown words. Data analysis: Thirty-two participants have completed the (audio) word-picture pair experiment while their electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. We compared the auditory ERPs in the 200-300ms window and the 400-600ms window between the apps group and the flash-card group, and the response to the known and unknown words. Results: We found that the early positive potential (of the whole group) to the known words was significantly larger than that to the unknown words. Further, the early negative potential of the language immersed group was significantly larger than that of the flash card group. Conclusions: Short-term training from language-immersive apps has a positive impact on the developing brain.
... Specialist interventions can counter this risk by helping preschoolers acquire and master EL and EN skills (Borre et al., 2019;MacDonald & Murphy, 2021). Recent years have seen the launch of several such interventions centered around educational apps on touchscreen tablets (Neumann, 2018;Outhwaite et al., 2017Outhwaite et al., , 2019. ...
... Nevertheless, educational apps can help children develop early literacy skills such as alphabet knowledge, vocabulary (Neumann, 2018), and phonological awareness (Karemaker et al., 2010). Similarly, tablet-based apps can provide effective, personalized help in acquiring early mathematical skills (e.g., Ingram et al., 2016;Outhwaite et al., 2019;Pitchford, 2015, Schacter andJo, 2016). ...
Although the acceptance of educational apps and their contributions to learning have been widely researched, none of these studies have examined links between teachers’ acceptance of apps and their students’ skills. The present study investigated this issue with respect to a new, French-language educational app for helping preschool children improve their early literacy and early numeracy skills. To this end, we measured the app’s acceptance by 33 French preschool (école maternelle) teachers, who used it in class for ten weeks, and the early literacy and early numeracy skills of their 353 students (aged between 3.92 and 4.91 years). Multilevel regression analyses revealed a significant link between the students’ post-test early literacy and early numeracy scores and their teachers’ perception of the app’s usability. These results show that taking teachers’ acceptance into account is an interesting opportunity to better understand the potential effectiveness of educational apps in school settings. Implications for teachers’ training are also discussed.
... Because of that, oral storytelling is a suitable activity for linguistic progress and the development of narrative skills (Shiel et al., 2014). In this context, mobile devices are interesting resources for stimulating communicative abilities, such as in learning foreign languages (Read et al., 2021) and early literacy (Ablyaev et al., 2020;Neumann, 2018). There are also applications for producing digital stories which go beyond classical storytelling by including multimedia elements (Kucirkova, 2019;Lantz et al., 2020). ...
... The use of tablets in Preschool Education offers opportunities to learn through play, providing multi-sensorial stimulation. Fun-creative apps-such as story creation apps-encourage communication and creation of digital messages, driving motivation for literacy learning (Neumann, 2018) and promoting children's engagement (Al-Bogami & Elyas, 2020). ...
This study aims to discuss the design of the scale Oral Narrative Competence Evaluation with TellingApp (ONCE), and to validate it. ONCE was designed to evaluate oral narrative competence in preschool children (N=93) aged 4 to 6 through oral storytelling, using a digital application. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis were performed to confirm the starting theoretical model, giving good reliability (α=.842) and adequate indices of fit, justifying the validity of the scale. oral narrative competence is defined by 16 variables making up narrative competences (originality, coherence, cohesion, and conclusion of the story), communicative competences (pronunciation, intonation, gestures, vocabulary, tenses used, correct use of tenses, morphology and syntax), and engagement provided by the app (interest, curiosity, immersion, and enjoyment). Weighting was proportional to the level of precision, highlighting that engagement with the narrative task supported by the app was what most affected children’s levels of oral narrative competence. In addition, multiple linear regression analysis confirmed the high predictive capacity of the ONCE scale. The scale contributes to the evaluation of preschool children’s levels of oral narrative competence as a theoretical construct due to its reliability and validity.
... Enfin, un des atouts majeurs de la tablette tactile numérique réside dans l'utilisation active que nous faisons avec cette technologie numérique, plutôt que passive (Sweetser et al., 2012). Cet engagement actif avec la technologie numérique permet un engagement intense des enfants dans l'activité, par la multimodalité sensorielle (par exemple, grâce à des animations sonores et visuelles pendant une interaction tactile) permise par l'écran interactif , Neumann, 2018. Cette stimulation multimodale soutient l'engagement prolongé dans la tâche et maintient l'attention des enfants dans l'activité en cours en stimulant les sens visuel, auditif, et tactile . ...
... Flewitt et al., 2014). En effet, au travers de plusieurs études, Neumann (2014Neumann ( , 2016Neumann ( , 2017Neumann ( , 2018 a montré que l'utilisation des tablettes tactiles pouvait soutenir l'apprentissage de la lecture. Les enfants de 2 à 4 ans qui avaient utilisé régulièrement une tablette tactile à la maison montraient une meilleure connaissance des lettres et des sons que ceux qui avaient utilisé moins fréquemment ces supports numériques (Neumann, 2016). ...
Les technologies numériques sont omniprésentes dans le quotidien des enfants et adolescents. Les technologies interactives comme les tablettes tactiles semblent particulièrement attractives et faciles d’utilisation, apportant des bénéfices sur les apprentissages scolaires. La question se pose alors de savoir si ces avantages peuvent s’observer également pour d’autres formes d’activité ne faisant pas l’objet d’un apprentissage. Dans ce cadre, nous nous intéresserons aux activités créatives. Bien que la créativité soit conçue comme un phénomène de nature multifactorielle, les composantes sensorimotrices n’ont été que très peu intégrées dans le processus créatif. Pourtant, Dietrich et Haider (2015) ont récemment suggéré que le processus permettant de générer une idée créative emprunterait le même mécanisme que celui utilisé pour contrôler une action réalisée ou imaginée au travers de la prédiction sensorimotrice. Les afférences sensorielles étant centrales dans le contrôle de l’action sensorimotrice, elles pourraient être considérées comme des facteurs constitutifs de la créativité. Selon cette proposition, il pourrait être suggéré que modifier les afférences sensorielles disponibles dans une tâche pourrait moduler la créativité. Dans cette thèse, nous interrogeons cette relation entre créativité et sensorimotricité. Au travers de 4 études expérimentales, nous avons fait varier les afférences sensorielles disponibles dans une tâche créative en faisant dessiner des enfants et adolescents de 6 à 15 ans sur tablette tactile au doigt, au stylet, et sur papier au stylo. Les résultats montrent effectivement qu’augmenter les afférences sensorielles en utilisant le doigt sur tablette tactile améliore l’originalité à tout âge. En revanche, réduire les afférences sensorielles lors de l’utilisation du stylet n’amène pas aux mêmes effets sur les performances d’originalité selon l’âge des participants. Chez les enfants de 6-7 ans, utiliser le stylet sur tablette tactile ne modifie pas les performances d’originalité. Après 8 ans, les enfants réalisent des dessins plus originaux au stylet sur tablette tactile qu’au stylo sur papier. L’effet bénéfique du stylet sur les performances créatives à partir de cet âge pourrait s’expliquer par l’acquisition de la capacité à compenser la perte d’afférences sensorielles qui permet de maximiser les informations sensorielles, apportant ainsi des bénéfices sur l’originalité. Ces bénéfices de la tablette tactile s’observent également chez des adolescents qui, du fait de troubles du comportement, présentent des difficultés dans la mobilisation de leurs capacités cognitives. De plus, ces adolescents rapportent une préférence majoritaire pour l’utilisation du support tactile en comparaison du support papier, qui serait lié à une plus grande mobilisation sensorielle dans la production des gestes graphiques sur l’interface. Nous discutons de l’implication de ces résultats pour la nature du processus créatif et son développement, ainsi que l’utilisation d’afférences sensorielles pour aider les enfants et adolescents typiques, comme atypiques, à mobiliser plus efficacement leurs capacités cognitives.
... Using digital devices can support learning [16], as, e.g., tablets can improve children's motivation and concentration for literacy training and language skills [11,26,52,57,79]. Apps can provide individual and instant feedback, which a teacher cannot do while teaching class [8]. ...
... We further hypothesized H2: "SpARklingPaper does not decrease (1) the usability, (2) the motivation, (3) the feedback's understandably, and (4) the perceived functionality compared to state-of-the-art stylus-and tablet-based learning." Previous works have shown that digital devices can support children's motivation for handwriting training [11,26,52,57,79]. This is why multiple parents positively stated their children's use of the Anton app [62] for writing training. ...
Educational apps support learning, but handwriting training is still based on analog pen- and paper. However, training handwriting with apps can negatively affect graphomotor handwriting skills due to the different haptic feedback of the tablet, stylus, or finger compared to pen and paper. With SpARklingPaper, we are the first to combine the genuine haptic feedback of analog pen and paper with the digital support of apps. Our artifact contribution enables children to write with any pen on a standard paper placed on a tablet's screen, augmenting the paper from below, showing animated letters and individual feedback. We conducted two online surveys with overall 29 parents and teachers of elementary school pupils and a user study with 13 children and 13 parents for evaluation. Our results show the importance of the genuine analog haptic feedback combined with the augmentation of SpARklingPaper. It was rated superior compared to our stylus baseline condition regarding pen-handling, writing training-success, motivation, and overall impression. SpARklingPaper can be a blueprint for high-fidelity haptic feedback handwriting training systems.
... In recent times, students belonging to all levels of education have been highly exposed to technology, be it at home or outside. Considering the predominant existence of technology in students' lives, a number of researchers have recognized that the use of mobile technology presents multiple possibilities for the education system (Dennis, 2016;Kokkalia, Drigas, & Economou, 2016;Neumann, 2014;Neumann, 2018;Patchan & Puranik, 2016). As a result, considerable research attention has been paid to the use of technology in learning worldwide (Liu, Toki, & Pange, 2013). ...
With mobile technology rapidly permeating all aspects of modern society, including education, research on teaching and learning has not only demonstrated its benefits but also highlighted certain limitations, while resistance to their usage continues to be a common response among teachers. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic bringing about unprecedented changes in all levels and sectors of education since 2020, students have been compelled to adopt e-learning to master specific learning skills, such as spelling and counting, while teachers have served as curators for this new educational environment. In this context, the aim of this research is to investigate the experiences of early childhood teachers regarding the use of technology among learners aged five in early childhood educational institutions after the pandemic to offer suitable suggestions for the future of learning. The study participants for this qualitative approach-based research were 20 early childhood teachers identified using a comprehensive case design by employing purposive sampling methods. A questionnaire comprising open-ended questions was sent to the study participants over WhatsApp. This was followed by an interview, after which the obtained data were subjected to content analysis. The participants stated that completing e-activities may be considered time spent productively by students because such activities facilitate access to basic learning skills. The study results could help teachers enhance their skills by making sense of the factors that affect their use of e-learning in the classroom.
... Despite calls for more holistic capability development, contemporary teaching practices involving digital technologies in early years education appears more focused on informal and play-based interactions with digital devices that emphasise "playfulness, agency and creativity" (Burnett, 2010, p. 2), although in recognition of young children's improved digital capabilities, some research on more structured approaches to using digital devices such as iPads, apps and robots, is emerging (e.g., Bers et al., 2019;DeCarlo et al., 2018;Elkin et al., 2016). Regardless, most research still centres on informal device use in play-based scenarios for literacy and numeracy learning (e.g., Neumann, 2018;Sinclair et al., 2018), in home contexts for communication, reading and entertainment (e.g., Harrison & McTavish, 2018;Marsh et al., 2017), using social media or playing online or app games (Ofcom, 2022), or for promoting creativity and creative and imaginative thinking (e.g., Marsh et al., 2018). While results from these studies have been generally positive -particularly highlighting motivation, engagement and social/communication benefits from commonly-used apps, Marsh et al. (2018) comment that their effectiveness depends on particular design features such as embedded learning scaffolds or the presence of specific visual, audio or navigation cues that guide and not constrain children's interactions and choices. ...
The increasing use of digital devices by young children, has led to calls for earlier teaching for information literacy. However, some research indicates reluctance to do this, due to perceived limitations of young children and notions about what is and is not ‘appropriate’ for them learn. This study examines this proposition, through analysis of 6 and 7 year olds’ application of ‘Technoliteracy’ capabilities during a unit of learning about Matariki (the Maori new year). It used an updated and expanded revision of Durrant and Green’s (2000) l(IT)eracy capability model, to understand how the students applied ‘Technoliteracy’ capabilities to online research and production of an information artefact for an identified audience. Although results were mixed, data was found of students’ productive engagement of ‘Technoliteracy’ capabilities aligned with Durrant and Green’s dimensions, suggesting that with developmentally-appropriate curriculum and pedagogy they were capable of integrating these for meaning making, judging meaning quality, and meaning sharing and communication. Given increasingly ubiquitous access to devices from a young age, results indicate that serious consideration should be given to teaching basic ‘Technoliteracy’ capabilities in early years classrooms.
... Consistent research suggests the power of digital technology to engage children (e.g., Fantozzi, 2021), support learning (e.g., Neumann, 2018), and offer affordances for new and creative types of digital play unavailable outside of technology (e.g., Rowe & Miller, 2016). That said, longstanding concerns with children's access and use of technology persist, however technology is here to stay. ...
Computational thinking (CT) is an important twenty-first century skill that begins developing early. Recent interest in incorporating early CT experiences in early childhood education (i.e., preschool) has increased. In fact, the early years mark an important time during which initial competencies are acquired, interest and motivation begins to form, and in which children may develop a sense of belonging in STEM fields. As a result, providing children with access to robotics and computer science experiences to support CT that are also developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant is key. This paper uses the “powerful ideas” of computer science, seven developmentally appropriate CT concepts that children can learn, as a framework and explores the experiences of two (composite) teachers who participated in and co-developed a culturally relevant robotics program and the processes they undertake to support children’s CT development and learning. This paper considers practices that support the seven key powerful ideals while leveraging existing instructional routines and contexts that are already occurring in most classrooms, such as centers, small group activities, classroom environments, and read-alouds. Of note, this paper prioritizes approaches that acknowledge, center, and feature the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of young children and their families. Identifying affordable and accessible practices, this paper provides educators with tangible, integrated, and authentic practices to support children’s computational thinking, STEM learning, and sense of belonging.
... Aunque existen algunas discusiones sobre la edad en que los niños deben acceder a un dispositivo móvil, varios estudios teóricos y empíricos revelan las ventajas y limitaciones del uso de dispositivos móviles en las áreas del lenguaje con pre-escolares. Por ejemplo, Neumann (2018) investigó los efectos del uso de aplicaciones móviles con niños en edades de 2 a 5 años que participaron en un programa con iPads y en el cual se evaluó sonidos, el conocimiento y la escritura de letras. Las conclusiones del estudio revelaron que los niños del grupo que utilizó el iPad demostraron un mayor conocimiento en los nombres, sonidos y habilidades de escritura de las letras en comparación con los niños del grupo de control. ...
El uso de aplicaciones móviles y tecnologías digitales ha despertado un interés cada vez mayor en los ámbitos de la educación y el desarrollo infantil; la elección de aplicaciones adecuadas causa incertidumbre ya que no todas cumplen con estándares pedagógicos adecuados. El presente estudio expone un enfoque empírico, basado en el análisis de sentimientos de las reseñas publicadas por los usuarios de las cuatro aplicaciones para el desarrollo de lenguaje más populares en la tienda de Google. El objetivo es encontrar las similitudes y diferencias en cuanto a criterios y percepciones que tienen tanto padres de familia como educadores a la hora de elegir los aplicativos móviles. Para ello, se contó con 8.085 reseñas de padres y la evaluación pedagógica de educadoras de primera infancia. Los resultados muestran que padres y docentes concuerdan en que el diseño y la funcionalidad son importantes, pero difieren en cuanto al contenido educativo y las características técnicas que una aplicación móvil debe tener en el desarrollo del lenguaje. Las implicaciones pedagógicas pueden ser útiles tanto para docentes como para padres de familia.
... E-books also offer some new possibilities to increase children's independence, as experimental data suggest that independent e-book reading by preschool children (where the e-book offers an audio narration) produces similar effects than the reading of printed books by an adult (de Jong and Bus, 2004;Korat and Shamir, 2007), fostering linguistic comprehension. Therefore, 2-5 year old children not only improve their emergent literacy skills using tablets, but they can do so independently and potentially more stimulated and engaged than using printed materials (Neumann, 2018). ...
The Home Literacy model predicts different outcomes depending on formal and informal literacy practices carried out at home. However, this model does not explicitly consider the potential differences that the media (paper vs. tablets) in which these practices are carried out can have on performance. The present study explored this issue. Participants were 136 children aged 6-7 years old and their parents. The different activities performed at home were analysed through reports of the parents, and children were assessed at school for their reading performance (decoding and comprehension). Results showed how formal practices using traditional materials predicted reading comprehension, but informal practices did not predict any performance measure. The digital home literacy environment showed no impact on reading performance, suggesting that two different environments (paper and digital) might exist, each one of them having differential impacts on performance. Implications for research and education are discussed.
... Each session for the social robot or human instructor condition consisted of four phases: Introduction, Simon Says, iPad Drawing, and Conclusion. Simon Says and drawing tasks are common preschool activities for young children (Fridin, 2014;Neumann, 2018). The timings, speech, and actions for each phase are shown in Table 1. ...
Young children are exposed to new digital technologies, such as social robots. Limited research exists on how children engage with social robots and their role in the preschool classroom. This study observed 35 English-speaking children (M age = 4.60 years) participating in two tasks (Simon Says and iPad drawing) under the guidance of a social robot or human instructor. Children's engagement was measured across behavioural, emotional, and verbal domains. Results showed higher behavioural and positive emotional engagement with a human instructor than a social robot instructor across both tasks. Children uttered more words with the human instructor than the social robot instructor for the iPad drawing task, although there were no differences for the Simon Says task. Children's engagement and utterances were positively correlated during the social robot and human instructor conditions. The findings suggest that child engagement was overall higher with a human than with a social robot and such differences may be important for teachers to consider when using social robots in the preschool classroom.
... Numerous studies have established a causal relationship between educational apps and children's literacy skills. Neumann (2018) reported that preschool children who spent 30 minutes a week for nine weeks using three commercially available mobile apps enhanced their letter names and phoneme knowledge. In the case of mobile phones, interactivity and feedback during lessons might occur on-screen. ...
... The mode in which students produced their responses matched the modality of their instruction at the time as recommended by previous writing research (Neumann, 2018). Cohort 1 students received paper versions of the testing materials and hand wrote their responses. ...
To explore potential pandemic-related learning gaps on expressive writing skills, predominantly Hispanic (≈50%) and White (≈30%) primary-grade students responded to grade-specific writing prompts in the fall semesters before and after school closures. Responses were evaluated with an analytic rubric consisting of five traits (focus, organization, development, grammar, mechanics), each scored on a 1-4 scale. Data first were analyzed descriptively and, after propensity score weighting, with ordinal response models (for analytic scores) and generalized linear mixed effects models (for composite scores). Compared to first graders in 2019 (n = 310), those in 2020 (n = 203) scored significantly lower overall as well as on all rubric criteria and were more likely to write unintelligible responses. Second graders in 2020 (n = 194) performed significantly lower than those in 2019 (n = 328) in some traits but not all, and there was a widening gap between students who did/not score proficiently. A three-level longitudinal model analyzing the sample of students moving from first to second grade in fall 2020 (n = 90) revealed significant improvements, but students still performed significantly lower than second graders in the previous year. Implications for student resiliency and instructional planning are discussed.
... Providing intensive teacher support to provide high exposure for all at-risk children is economically and practically unfeasible. One way to provide this support in different settings such as schools and at home is with game-based interventions (Lassault et al., 2022;Neumann, 2018;Patel et al., 2021;Richardson & Lyytinen, 2014; Vanden Bempt et al., 2021). Game-based interventions have increasingly gained interest in recent years to train academic skills (Jaramillo-Alcázar et al., 2021;Lassault et al., 2022;Skiada et al., 2014;Yildirim & Surer, 2021). ...
Background
Learning which letters correspond to which speech sounds is fundamental for learning to read. Based on previous experimental studies, we developed a serious game aiming to boost letter‐speech sound (L‐SS) correspondences in a motivational game environment.
Objectives
The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of this game in training L‐SS correspondences in pre‐readers. Additionally, an extended version of the game was developed given the importance of handwriting in audio‐visual integration. We established whether including a motoric component in the game boosted the letter‐speech sound training on top of the effect of the game without the motoric component.
Methods
One‐hundred forty‐five kindergartners were randomly allocated to play either the standard audio‐visual version of the game, the motoric version or a control math game. All children were pre‐ and post‐tested on L‐SS knowledge and reading accuracy.
Results and conclusions
We found that playing the game enhanced pre‐readers' L‐SS knowledge, but not reading accuracy, after a short, intensive intervention period of 3 weeks. However, children who played the motoric version of the game did not differ significantly from either the standard or the control condition.
Implications
This game was efficient in training L‐SS correspondences in pre‐readers. These results suggest that this game might be useful as a preventive evidence‐based intervention for at‐risk children in kindergarten who might benefit from a head start before learning how to read. Future studies are needed to examine whether a longer intervention period results in L‐SS knowledge being translated into reading skills.
... Digital tools provide opportunities to apply and practice certain emergent literacy skills and have been shown to help develop phonological skills, concepts about print, letter names and sounds, as well as writing (Isgett and Mann, 2018;Neumann, 2018;Patchan & Puranik, 2016). ...
... Moreover, we can access them remotely and endlessly (Kay & Knaack, 2008;Taylor et al., 2022), and they are also supporting sustainable, situated, authentic, and connected learning-like features that have not been explored before. Most importantly, they are providing individualization (Shuler, C., 2009(Shuler, C., , 2012SiteProNews, 2020) and multimodality (Neumann, 2018) like learning features that were not yet enabled by any other teaching paradigm. Now it has been verified that this learning software is extremely effective for children with disabilities as well (Bentrop, 2014;Bhatasana, 2020;Edsys, 2017;Gupta, 2022;Instruc-tionalDesign.org., 2021;Mobile App Daily, 2021;Situated learning, n.d.). ...
Aim/Purpose The goal of this writing was not to promote any particular assessment tool. We aimed to critically explore the numerous assessment techniques that are accessible to app stakeholders with an emphasis on their strengths, shortcomings, and trustworthiness. We underline the importance of a relatively good and research-based tool that can readily assess the existing Learning Apps (LAs). Background A thorough and comprehensive literature review of LAs and their assessment tools was the primary goal of reporting the state of the art through this SLR (Systematic Literature Review) writing.
... In ECEC, digital technology has been primarily used for pedagogical purposes, as a tool to support and advance the quality of teaching and learning in areas, such as literacy (e.g. Beschorner & Hutchison, 2013;Burnett, 2010;Neumann, 2018), mathematics (Cicconi, 2014;Sinclair, 2018) and STEM (e.g. Dorouka et al., 2020;Kermani & Aldemir, 2015;Marsh et al., 2018). ...
Abstract This national study explored the role of digital technologies in early childhood education and care settings and whether they could contribute to quality improvement as reported by educators and assessors of quality in Australia. In this paper, data from Stage 2 of the Quality Improvement Research Project were used, which comprised 60 Quality Improvement Plans from educators linked with 60 Assessment and Rating reports from the assessors who visited early childhood centres as part of the administration of the National Quality Standards by each of Australia’s State and Territory jurisdictions. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory ( Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder, Jr., & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 619–647). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10176-018 ; Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, Psychological Review 101:568–586, 1994) was adopted to facilitate a systemic and dynamic view on the use of digital technologies in these 60 ECEC settings. References (e.g. comments/ suggestions/ examples) made by the educators about the implementation of digital technologies were counted and thematically analysed. Results revealed the strong role new technologies (e.g. documentation and management platforms, tablets, apps, etc.) play in the majority of ECEC settings and especially in relation to three of the seven Quality Areas: Educational programme and practice (Quality Area 1); Collaborative partnerships with families and communities (Quality Area 6) and Governance and leadership (Quality Area 7). Future directions for research are suggested and implications for embracing a more holistic, integrated and broad view on the use of digital technologies are discussed.
... Secara keseluruhan, temuan ini mencerminkan sifat beragam bidang ini dan menyarankan kelayakan keseluruhan penggunaan game digital untuk mempromosikan pembelajaran bahasa dan keaksaraan baik penutur asli dan non-penutur asli (Hung et al., 2018). Penggunaan aplikasi literasi dengan platform tablet secara positif meningkatkan pengetahuan huruf, konsep cetak dan keterampilan menulis nama (Neumann, 2018). Teknologi digital baru, seperti sistem Kinect, adalah media yang menjanjikan untuk mengembangkan game untuk mendukung literasi dan penguasaan bahasa anak-anak (Homer et al., 2014). ...
Berdasarkan analisis kebutuhan mengenai media pembelajaran yang akan dikembangkan bahwa sebagain besar guru memperhatikan reliabilitas media yang dikembangkan. Aspek pembuatan media pembelajaran hanya sebagian kecil guru membuat media pembelajaran, dan aspek penggunaan media pembelajaran sebagain besar guru tidak menggunakan media dalam pembelajaran. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah merancang aplikasi game calistung digital anak usia 5-6 tahun dengan menggunakan unity 3D berbasis android. Metodologi penelitian menggunakan metode Research and Development dengan langkah-langkah dari penelitian Borg, WR dan Gall,M.D yang mengadopsi model Dick and Carey dengan pengembangan multimedia berbasis software life cycle model. Hasil uji lapangan menunjukan nilai rata-rata lembar observasi kemampuan literasi awal pretest sebesar 3, 16 dan nilai rata-rata lembar observasi kemampuan literasi awal postest sebesar 3, 68 serta nilai rata-rata kenaikan skor pretest dan skor postest kemampuan literasi awal sebesar 0, 53. Hasil uji lapangan menunjukan bahwa media pembelajaran game ABaCa dapat meningkatkan kemampuan literasi awal anak usia 5-6 tahun pada aspek kesadaran fonologis, pengetahuan tulisan dan konsep tulisan, huruf dan kata.
... Real learning happens better in person-to-person exchanges rather than in machine-to-person interactions (Yogman et al., 2018). However, when children play modern games, they learn many things faster, such as recognizing letters, numbers and others (Neumann, 2018). Video games seem to be a unique type of digital activity. ...
Changes in societies and lifestyles have influenced the extrinsic conditions and partially the content of play .The changes that are happening now are in the world of children's games, namely traditional games until they have switched to more modern games. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of traditional and modern games on children's skills in facing them.
In order to examine this issue, two countries, Turkey and Iran, which have many cultural commonalities, were chosen as a case study. At first, a collection of the most popular traditional and modern games was examined. After studying all aspects of traditional and modern game, using library resources, six games including three traditional and three modern games) were selected. In the second phase, 30 parents randomly selected (15 Iranian and 15 Turkish) men and women between the ages of 35-45..The Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) questionnaire was developed based on). The data were analyzes using the RepPlus and Idiogrid software by two distance-based main methods: Cluster Analysis and the Principle Components Analysis (PCA). At the end of the study, it was found that 1. Iranian parents pay more attention to traditional games and maintaining their values in their children's lifestyle than modern games.2.The high speed of the modern era's influence on children's lifestyles in Turkey more than Iran. 3. Contrary to the common opinion in most societies about the negative effects of modern games on children's lifestyle, these games can improve many skills in children.
... Numerous studies have established a causal relationship between educational apps and children's literacy skills. Neumann (2018) reported that preschool children who spent 30 minutes a week for nine weeks using three commercially available mobile apps enhanced their letter names and phoneme knowledge. In the case of mobile phones, interactivity and feedback during lessons might occur on-screen. ...
... The knowledge and experience related to VSA are more consistent with the characteristics of embodied knowledge than literacy and arithmetic ability. The learning of literacy and arithmetic ability will enable learners to perform more tasks such as counting, operation, word recognition and story comprehension (Neumann, 2018;Pila et al., 2019). In these tasks, the active mobilization of cognitive processing is more conductive to the learners to organize strategies for solving problems and extract memory information. ...
Touchscreen devices have become the mainstream terminals for human-information interaction and have great appeal to children. Scholars still have disputes on the effects of touchscreen learning in young children aged three to six. This study aims to investigate whether touchscreen devices can promote young children’s learning achievements, and to explore the mechanism triggering young children’s touchscreen learning. Fifteen articles involving 5075 participants were included into the meta-analysis, in which corresponding combination of effect size and sub-group analysis were conducted. The result indicates that touchscreen learning can promote young children’s learning achievements in general. Subject is a significant moderator for young children’s touchscreen learning. Touchscreen devices has the best positive effect on young children’s visuo-spatial ability, but little on literacy and arithmetic ability. The advantages of touchscreen learning for young children’s academic performance could be maintained compared with different traditional teaching methods, and lasted throughout the whole stage aged three to six. There is a contradiction between embodied cognition theory and cognitive load theory in explaining young children’s touchscreen learning. The Embodied Cognitive Load Theory and three types of learning (sensorimotor load superiority learning, processing load superiority learning, and double loads learning) were put forward as the theoretical assumption to explore the mechanism and convergence of young children’s touchscreen learning.
... According to Neumann (2018), literacy is vital in school-age and adolescent language development. Teenagers master about 2000-3000 words each year, and there are almost 40,000 words in high school. ...
... Young children can receive a boost in knowledge and skill improvement through the use of new technologies [29]. Research has found that children aged 2-5 spend a lot of time on technology such as tablets or smartphones [30,31], because technology on tablets or smartphones that use multimodal functions (e.g., auditory, visual, and touch) are very accessible to young children through swiping, dragging, and tapping [32]. Tablets or smart phones provide learning and exploration using touch-based digital tools that keep children interested [33,34]. ...
Emerging information technology such as Internet of Things (IoT) has been continuously applied and deepened in the field of education, and the learning analytics technology based on children’s games is gradually moving toward practical application research, but there are few empirical studies on the micro level of emerging information technology and learning analytics methods in the evaluation of young children’s learning process and learning effects. As the research content, the study examines preschool children’s analogical reasoning abilities, reflecting their thinking levels and processing abilities. Using a decision tree model in learning analytics, the process data and result data of children’s analogical reasoning games based on Internet of Things technology are analyzed, and the classification model of preschool children’s analogical reasoning is constructed. The study found that the learning analysis of analogical reasoning based on games mediated by IoT technology is feasible and effective.
... Therefore, early writing includes composing skills such as generating ideas and messages to write and transcription skills (i.e., handwriting and spelling skills), children use to form letters and make connections between sounds and letters to write words as they record their messages (Quinn et al., 2022). Fortunately, both letter formation and composing-based writing apps are available for children (Neumann, 2018a). ...
Young children's engagement with digital tools (e.g., tablets, smartphones, ebooks/storyapps, and mobile apps) is increasing globally. This is inevitable in our digital world. Even though children primarily use digital technology for entertainment purposes, these tools offer valuable learning opportunities too. Importantly, adults can provide and engage children with digital tools that support and enhance their language and early literacy skills. This article identifies the ways teachers can guide families to select quality digital media and interact with their young children as they use digital technologies to support children's language, reading, and writing development. The authors encourage teachers to engage families as their partners in children's learning within digital spaces. Example family handouts support teachers to connect with families about using technology in ways that promote children's language and literacy development.
... The results of the current study could, therefore, extend the spectrum of previous studies on the educational potential of ICT and the way it supports learning in subjects, such as literacy, numeracy, and science. [48,[81][82][83][84][85][86]. ...
Twenty-first century demands students with critical thinking, digital and other soft skills, and capable of self-directed and self-determined learning. This chapter presents an educational design project, which focused on the development of a history online course for children of pre-primary level and the first grades of primary school, based on the constructivist paradigm of learning. Educational design research was carried out to explore how young children can respond to the demands of a contemporary online course, pursue the online course with growing confidence and independence, and earn history in a meaningful way, while developing twenty-first century skills at the same time. Data were collected by quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis showed that both pre-primary and primary school children responded remarkably well and managed to complete the online course with minimum parental support. They improved their knowledge and displayed critical thinking skills. Children showed no major difficulties in using the digital environment and expressed positive attitudes toward e-learning. The role of parents was also monitored and analyzed since it emerged as a critical factor in the successful completion of the course.
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (NST) education is at the
forefront of an emerging interdisciplinary frontier, ready to
address global challenges. In this context, our research adopts a
distinctive approach—using software applications in digital
games to introduce young children to NST concepts and analyse
resulting learning outcomes. The three-step research unfolds
strategically, aiming to assess the effectiveness of two distinct
digital technologies (computers and tablets) at an introductory
level, influencing children’s understanding of Nanotechnology
concepts. One hundred fifty second-grade students, divided into
experimental and control groups, participated in an exploration
facilitated by the Test for the NANOtechnology Elementary
Knowledge Assessment (TENANO). This tool meticulously
measures the depth of children’s knowledge about size, a
fundamental aspect of NST. The experimental groups, especially
the tablet group, significantly outperformed their post-test
control counterparts. This marks a pioneering stride in early
primary education. By leveraging children’s familiarity with digital
technology, this research harnesses the recent health crisis to
advance NST education through interactive games, leaving a
distinctive mark on early-primary NST education and paving the
way for transformative educational methodologies.
Aim
This study addresses the scarcity of longitudinal research on the influence of screen media on children. It aims to explore the longitudinal relationship between children's vocabulary development and their exposure to screen media.
Methods
The study, initiated in 2017, included 72 children (37 boys) in Östergötland, Sweden, at three key developmental stages: preverbal (9.7 months), early verbal (25.5 months) and preliterate (5.4 years). Parents completed online surveys at each time point, reporting their child's screen time. At 10 months and 2 years, age‐appropriate vocabulary assessments were conducted online. At age 5, children's vocabulary was laboratory assessed.
Results
Correlational analysis revealed a negative relationship between language scores and screen media use across all time points. Furthermore, a cross‐lagged panel model demonstrated that screen media use showed significant continuity over time, with screen use at age 2 predicting language development at ages 2 and 5.
Conclusion
This longitudinal study, spanned from 9 months to 5 years of age, established a predictive negative association between children's exposure to screen media and their vocabulary development. These findings underscore the need to consider the impact of screen media on early childhood development and may inform guidelines for screen media use in young children.
Since iPhone and iPad first appeared in 2007 and 2010, young children have increasingly used interactive smart screen devices worldwide. Considering device features such as simplicity, intuitive design, portability, connectivity, and speed, it is no wonder these devices have already become popular in this specific age group, in school settings and informal learning environments. An additional feature of these devices is that they can support the installation of software optimized for use by these devices (mobile applications - apps). Most of the educational apps in the two popular digital stores (Google Play and App Store) are presented as suitable for young children. At the same time, many studies show that parents and teachers accept these apps as a source of educational renewal and learning opportunities for young children. Based on the popularity of these devices in this specific age group, the software industry targets young children, offering dozens of new apps daily in both digital stores. App developers without specific criteria characterize apps as educational and suitable for preschool and first-school-age children. Nevertheless, the tag ‘educational’ or ‘for kids’ does not indicate that these apps have been validated for educational purposes.
This study aims to investigate the use of mobile devices including smartphones and tablets in terms of mediation types of parents who have young children. In this case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, criterion sampling was adopted for the selection of the study group. The fact that parents of 4–7-year-old children who use mobile devices is determined as the principal criterion. Twelve children aged 4–7 and their parents participated in the study. Data were collected through child observations and parent interviews. The results indicated that children with the mediation of parental supervision had fewer problematic behaviors in the use of media and faced fewer online risks. Besides, children whose parents have general restrictive mediation were the most likely to exhibit problematic media use behaviors. Children whose parents have active mediation were also the most likely to face Internet risks. It was observed that children frequently played games and watched videos on mobile devices. Most parents considered their children’s use of mobile devices as risky and harmful, while it was considered as useful only by co-using parents. It was found that children’s use of mobile devices causes physical, psychological, communicational, and cognitive issues while improving their academic abilities, interests, and cognitive structures. Nevertheless, it was discovered that parents used mobile devices to convince their children to go through their daily routines such as eating, bathing, and sleeping or calm them down in the workplace or social environments.
We aimed to investigate the relationship between screen time and school readiness. A total of 80 ppreschool children were included. Parents were interviewed about their children's daily screen time. The Metropolitan Readiness Test was utilized. Results showed that the school readiness of those with a total screen time of 3 hours or less was significantly higher. TV time was inversely associated with reading readiness (B=- 2.30,p < .001), whereas mobile device time was inversely associated with both reading (B = -0.96,p = .04) and numbers readiness (B = -0.98,p = .02). This study point to the importance of supervising children's screen use, and of awareness of parents and professionals.
Objectives
The purpose of this review is to describe the variety and effectiveness of instructional technologies used in the early childhood setting.
Methods
A systematic review of three databases was completed, and studies were reviewed by two independent coders to determine if they met inclusion criteria. Studies were excluded from this review if (a) the technology was used to train teachers and was not directly used with early childhood students, (b) participants were all enrolled in 2nd grade or higher, (c) the setting was not an early childhood education setting, or (d) studies were descriptive in nature or utilized a survey methodology. Data were extracted from each article related to participant characteristics, setting characteristics, research design, technology type, and dependent variables.
Results
Thirty-five studies met criteria were included in this review. A wide range of technologies were used to provide or facilitate instruction on (a) academics, (b) social and communication skills, and (c) cognitive skills. Academic outcomes targeted in Head Start preschools were the most common across studies. The results ranged from no effect to highly effective.
Conclusions
The findings from the included studies varied widely in their outcomes from reporting no difference between traditional instruction and technology-aided instruction to reporting significant difference between groups or reporting a functional relation between the technology-based intervention and the target behavior or skill. Studies that included students identified with neurodevelopmental disorders demonstrated a positive impact in the outcomes of students who experience an intervention that included technology-aided instruction. Future research is needed to identify critical components of effective technology-based interventions in early childhood educational settings.
Writing is a critical foundational literacy skill for preschool and kindergarten and has received increased attention in research and policy as a result. Further, the nature of literacy more broadly is shifting towards more digital forms and formats. Research suggests that children approach tasks with and without technology differently and similarly, other research suggests that young children approach writing differentially depending upon the task context. In a small sample (n = 35) of preschool and kindergarten children at university lab school, this study sought to understand children’s writing development in traditional (paper-pencil) and digital (iPad-stimulus/finger) contexts across a variety of writing skills. Results suggest that children have varied writing skills that develop considerably across the school year. Further findings indicate that children’s writing products and the ways they take up writing are often different depending on the context (traditional v. digital). Implications for practice are discussed
Монография представляет собой продолжение работы, связанной с цифровизацией образования в начальной школе и проблемой управления образовательными отноше- ниями в условиях цифровизации. Первая книга «Цифровой дебют образовательных от- ношений» вышла в 2021 г., название второй (этой) книги сохраняет метафору шахматной игры. Метафора умной игры не случайна, так как образовательные отношения, тради- ционно включающие взаимодействия между разными субъектами, при цифровизации сопровождаются искусственным интеллектом, и все участники образовательных отно- шений «ученики — учителя — родители — управленцы» вынуждены считаться с этим явлением, которое, по мнению авторов, уже необратимо. Авторы исходят из предпосыл- ки о том, что «цифра» в школе существенно и непрерывно изменяет учебные ритуалы, и наиболее приемлемый стиль управления образовательными отношениями в услови- ях изменений — адаптивное управление. Этот тезис является ключевым для всех глав данной монографии. Именно через призму адаптивного управления мы рекомендуем читать данную книгу. Авторы открыты для обсуждений и дискуссий, как контекстных теме монографии, так и по более широкому кругу проблем цифровизации школьного образования.
Social media tools are increasingly used in child's language and literacy development in early years. However, few researchers shed light on effectiveness and the practice that the EC professionals and teachers have adopted in ECE settings and other related contexts. This scoping review synthesized and evaluated the literature on social media integration in language and literacy development in ECE in the last decade, to provide a clearer picture on what social media tools were used, how they were used, and whether they were effective. Results showed that a wide-range of social media tools were used in diverse learning activities; however, few studies designed the learning activities with the guidance of an evidence-based teaching method or pedagogical framework.
Purpose:
Touchscreen devices are widely used in modern life and have quickly become part of daily life for children, including during Occupational Therapy sessions for children with disabilities. Touchscreen Assessment Tool (TATOO) is a prototype application used to evaluate children's performance when using touchscreen devices. The purpose of this study, based on the logical user-centred interaction design framework, was to evaluate TATOO's usability for occupational therapists and typically developing children and to examine the correlations between their usability scores.
Methods:
A convenience sample of clinicians (N = 10) and children with typical development (N = 60) was recruited for this study. The usability assessment was conducted using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and semi-structured interviews for the clinicians, and the Short Feedback Questionnaire-Child (SFQ-Child) for the children.
Results:
The SUS scores (M ± SD = 85.5 ± 8.04, range = 70-97.5) indicated good ratings of TATOO's usability by clinicians; the SFQ-Child results showed children also rated its usability very highly, including all ages (4-10 years) and all tasks. The clinicians all expressed positive attitudes towards using TATOO, and no bias was found between the clinicians' usability scores and the children's usability feedback.
Conclusion:
The TATOO is a user-friendly tool. Researchers and clinicians can benefit from the availability of an objective and low-cost assessment tool to promote their evaluation and intervention by providing more focussed individualized recommendations and adaptations. The study also suggests a model to follow when developing applications and evaluating their usability through a mixed-method approach to deepen understanding of the user's needs.Implications for rehabilitationTouchscreen Assessment Tool (TATOO) shows a user-friendly tool for assessing the different skills required to operate touchscreens interface.TATOO has the potential to become an essential objective and low-cost assessment tool for the clinician, in which the spread of touchscreens constantly increases.Researchers and clinicians can benefit from the availability of such tools to promote their evaluation and intervention by providing more focussed individualized recommendations and adaptations.TATOO will complement the assessment needs, as traditional fine motor assessment tools cannot capture the skills necessary to operate a touchscreen deviceThe study suggests a model to follow when developing applications and evaluating their usability through a mixed-method approach in order to deepen understanding of the user's needs.
As we progress in the 21st century, children learn to become proficient readers and writers of both digital and non-digital texts. Knowledge, skills, and understandings of literacy emerge through sociocultural interactions with non-digital tools (e.g., paper-printed books) and digital tools (e.g., touch screen tablets). However, debate is ongoing over the role that digital experiences play in emergent literacy development. Researchers have voiced the need to conceptualise a common framework for literacy development that considers the emergence of digital literacy skills alongside conventional literacy skills and how these skills might interact during development. This is particularly important in light of the increasing use of digital texts used by young children, such as E-books and digital games. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework that might guide research and practice by examining the relationships between emergent literacy skills, emergent digital literacy skills, and proficiency in reading and writing.
Computers can serve as useful tools in developing children’s literacy. The study compared the nature of mother-child interactions spelling words using a computer vs. pencil and paper and explored whether mothers have a consistent mediation style beyond the writing tool. We videotaped 49 preschoolers and their mothers in their homes, spelling an eight-item shopping list, half of the words using a pencil and half using a computer. We coded the interactions, and compared between them while controlling for the child’s spelling level. The results show that mothers supported their children somewhat differently based on the writing tool. When using the computer, mothers supported their children through a more complete cognitive spelling process and gave them more independence. When using the pencil, mothers were more willing to ignore errors and entered into their child’s space more frequently. Beyond these differences, we found support for some consistency in the mothers’ mediation across the two writing tools. When given a choice of tools to spell a word, children preferred the computer. We call for raising parents’ and teachers’ awareness of the opportunities that the computer offers for joint writing and early literacy activities with children as a complement to traditional early literacy support.
Positive parent-child interactions play an important role in fostering the development of pre-schoolers’ knowledge and understandings of their world. Due to the relatively recent launch of touch screen tablets (e.g., iPads) little is known about how parents scaffold their children’s learning with tablets. A mother and her two young children were observed interacting during a joint iPad activity and their verbal utterances were recorded and analysed. A coding system was designed to measure cognitive, affective, and technical scaffolding (CATs) strategies the mother used to support her children’s interactions with a literacy app. The findings showed the mother made more utterances than each of the children. The mother used cognitive scaffolding most frequently, affective scaffolding second most frequently, and technical scaffolding least frequently. Maternal scaffolding provided to young children may be important to support early learning with iPads and other touch screen devices. Further research is needed using a larger participant sample to validate the CATs coding system and to examine the different ways that parents provide cognitive, affective, and technical scaffolding to their children.
To effectively address early childhood screen time concerns raised by parents and policy makers it is important to examine the current home digital environments of young children. The present study draws upon research that examined the home digital environment of Australian parents and their children (aged 2 to 4; N = 69). Parents completed a questionnaire that asked how many digital devices families had at home, how much time children spend on them, and how easily children could operate them. The extent of parental engagement in digital activities and parent views on touch screen tablets were also measured. TVs and touch screen tablets were the most popular digital device among pre-schoolers being used on average for 80 mins and 20 mins per day respectively. Parents rated touch screen tablets as the easiest device for young children to operate. It is suggested that a differentiated screen time policy approach for TVs and tablets is needed to better address screen time concerns. Practical ways to help parents create a mindful approach to digital technology to foster positive screen time interactions is also discussed.
Young children living in technology-based communities are using touch-screen tablets (e.g. iPads) to engage with the digital world at an early age. The intuitive touch-screen interface, easily downloadable apps (applications) and mobility of tablets drive their increasing popularity with pre-schoolers. This review examines research to date on tablets, apps and emergent literacy in young children in the home and at pre-school. Evidence is building that suggests tablets have the potential to foster emergent writing and letter knowledge. Although the impact of tablets on emergent literacy is not yet fully known, developing themes highlight potential benefits and hindrances of tablets for emergent literacy. Two important considerations are the quality of emergent literacy apps and the importance of scaffolding young children's use of tablets at home and pre-school to support emergent literacy development. Directions for future research and recommendations for parents and teachers are discussed.
The authors tested theoretical models of the development of print concepts and word reading. Eighteen measures of print concepts and word reading were obtained from 81 children three to seven years of age. A five-component model hypothesized from previous findings fit the data better than a four- or two-component model. The five component model included a concepts-about-print component which influenced a graphic awareness component, which in turn influenced a phonemic awareness component, which influenced a grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge component, which ultimately influenced a word reading component; in addition, concepts about print also influenced grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge. According to results of developmental analyses, children expand their knowledge in each of these print components with age. /// [French] Les auteurs ont testé modèles théoriques de développement des concepts de l'écriture et la capacité de lecture des mots. On a recueilli 18 évaluations des concepts de l'écriture et de la lecture chez 81 enfants âgés de trois à sept ans. Un modèle hypothétique à cinq composantes semblait mieux convenir qu'un modèle à quatre ou deux composantes. Le modèle à cinq composantes présentait une composante de concepts de l'écriture influençant la composante de conscience graphique, influençant à son tour la composante de conscience phonémique, influençant la composante de connaissance de la correspondance graphème-phonème, laquelle influençait finalement la composante de lecture des mots; d'autre part, les concepts de l'écriture influençaient aussi la connaissance de la correspondance graphème-phonème. Selon les résultats des analyses de développement, la connaissance de chacune de ces composantes de l'écriture s'accroît avec l'âge chez l'enfant. /// [Spanish] Los autores probaron dos modelos teóricos de desarrollo sobre conceptos de la letra impresa y lectura de palabras. Se obtuvieron 18 medidas de conceptos de la letra impresa y lectura por palabra de 81 niños de tres a siete años de edad. Un modelo hipotético de cinco componentes corresponde mejor a los datos que lo que los modelos de cuatro o de dos componentes lo hacen. El modelo de cinco componentes incluía un componente de conceptos sobre la letra impresa que influía en un componente de percepción gráfica, el que a su vez influyó en el componente de percepción fonémica, que influenció en un componente de conocimiento de correspondencia de grafema-fonema, que por último influyó en el componente de palabra-lectura; además, los conceptos acerca de la palabra impresa también influyeron en el conocimiento de la correspondencia grafema-fonema. De acuerdo a los resultados del análisis de desarrollo, los niños expanden su conocimiento en cada uno de estos componentes de la letra impresa con la edad. /// [German] Die autoren prüften theoretische Vorbilder der Entwicklung von Druck-Vorstellungen und Lesen. Achtzehn Einheiten von Druck-Vorstellungen und Lesen wurden von 81 Kindern zwischen drei und sieben Jahren erhalten. Ein hypothetisches Fünf-Komponenten-Vorbild entspricht den Daten mehr als ein Vier- oder Zwei-Komponenten-Vorbild. Das Fünf-Komponenten-Vorbild enhielt eine Vorstellung-über-Gedrucktes-Komponente, welche eine graphische Erkenntnis-Komponente beeinflußte, welche dann ihrerseits eine phonetische Erkenntnis-Komponente beeinflußte, welche eine graphisch-phonetische Verbindungswissens-Komponente beeinflußte, welche dann letzten Endes eine Lese-Komponente beeinflußte; ausserdem beeinflußten Vorstellungen über Gedrucktes graphisch-phonetisches Verbindungswissen. Wie die Ergebnisse von Entwicklungs-Analysen zeigen, erweitern Kinder mit zunehmendem Alter ihr Wissen von all diesen Druck-Komponenten.
Touch-based interaction is increasingly a key feature of digital learning environments, yet we
know little about the specific ways in which digitally mediated touch reshapes interaction for
very young children. This paper examines how finger painting processes, a common activity in
early years learning environments, might change in digital (iPad) versus physical (paper) learning
environments. It draws on the observations of nursery school participants, from one and half to
three years old, finger painting on paper and on the iPad, using similar digital painting/drawing
activities. The analytical approach draws on multimodal methods of description and builds on
multimodal procedures for working with video. In particular, the analysis focuses on different
forms of touch-based interaction, to explore whether digital environments engender different
kinds of touch and re-shape the character of the physical painting process. Findings indicate
both quantitative and qualitative differences in types of touch across these two environments;
and suggest that individual children demonstrate different repertoires of interaction, which
may be linked to family practices and familiarity with technologies, such as touch screen and
handheld devices. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for learning and children’s
mark making development, future research directions, and methodological implications for
multimodal research approaches.
This study explores the themes in the talk of two mothers and daughters as they share a self-created story with an iPad app. Vygotsky's theory of learning is applied to inform a thematic analysis and help interpret the learning potential within the observed parent–child exchanges. A deductive–inductive thematic analysis identified three recurring themes in the parent–child talk: realistic fiction, scaffolding variations, and engaged players and objects of ‘play’. The themes suggested that Vygotsky's theory has particular relevance in exploring the learning processes facilitated by the iPad app. In addition, however, post-Vygotskian theoretical frameworks were helpful in capturing the dynamic co-construction of the authentic and multimedia stories parents and children shared.
The use of touch screen tablets by young children is increasing in the home and in early childhood settings. The simple tactile interface and finger-based operating features of tablets may facilitate preschoolers’ use of tablet application software and support their educational development in domains such as literacy. This article reviews current findings on using touch screen tablets in supporting early literacy development within a theoretical framework. The evidence suggests that tablets have the potential to enhance children’s emergent literacy skills (e.g., alphabet knowledge, print concepts, and emergent writing). However, the optimal use of tablets for early literacy learning may be dependent upon the type of scaffolding used by parent or teacher and the availability and quality of literacy tablet applications. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Young children are exposed to environmental print within their communities and this print may be a useful resource to foster emergent literacy skills. This pre-post-test randomised controlled study examined the effects of using environmental print to enhance emergent literacy skills in children aged three to four years (N = 50) from a low-SES community in south-east Queensland, Australia. The 8-week (30 min/week) environmental print programme provided multisensory strategies for children to interact with environmental print by identifying letters and words, tracing letters with fingers, and writing letters. ANCOVAs were conducted with pre-test scores as covariates. Children in the environmental print group significantly out-performed the control group on print knowledge, sound knowledge, and print awareness skills. The programme had moderate to large effects sizes and showed that guiding low-SES preschoolers’ interactions with environmental print using multisensory strategies is an effective way to foster emergent literacy skills.
Young children interact with touch screen tablets at home and this may impact upon emergent literacy. The present study examined home access and use of touch screen tablets, as reported by parents, in Australian pre-schoolers (N = 109) aged 3–5 years and whether this was associated with emergent literacy skills (letter name and sound, numeral identification, print concepts and name writing). Children with greater access to tablets were found to have higher letter sound and name writing skills. No relationships were found between time on tablets and emergent literacy
skills. The quality of experiences rather than time spent on tablets may be important especially when viewed within a socio-cultural framework. Most parents (69%) reported that tablets were easy for their child to operate and believed tablets support early literacy development (70%). 53% believed children should have access to tablets at pre-school. Tablets have the potential to foster emergent literacy although this may depend upon the quality of digital interactions.
We have explored the role of a tablet computer (the Apple iPad) and a shared display as extensions of a practitioner’s repertoire for language learning and literacy practices in a multicultural kindergarten.
In collaboration with a practitioner, an intervention was designed that included the use of two iPad apps in a language learning and literacy practice session with a group of 5 children aged 5.
We have analysed the conversations around the tablet computers and in front of a shared display, trying to identify types of talk. The roles of the iPads, the apps and the shared display are discussed in relation to the types of talk, engagement and playfulness observed in the activities.
We argue that the intervention led to valuable activities for language learning and literacy practices. The two selected apps differ in their levels of structure (directed vs. open) and genre (show and tell vs. fairy tale), and this difference will be discussed in relation to the types of conversation they initiate, and the extent to which they enable the children to transfer experiences from books and hence develop their literacy to include digital and multimodal resources.
Studied acquisition of the alphabetic principle in preliterate children, 3–5 yrs. The dependent variable throughout was a forced-choice between, e.g., "mow" and "sow" as pronunciations for the written word
mow after the child had been taught to read the words
mat and
sat. Reliable performance on this transfer task was only achieved by children who (a) understood two aspects of phonological organization—phonemic segmentation of the speech items and the identity of their initial segments, and (b) had learned graphic symbols for the sounds "m" and "s." Most children who demonstrated alphabetic insight with symbols in word-initial position were also successful at transfer when the symbols were word-final. Thus, phonemic awareness and grapheme-phoneme knowledge were needed in combination for acquisition of the alphabetic principle, and, once gained, alphabetic insight proved relatively robust. Implications for reading acquisition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Phonological awareness has been shown to be one of the most reliable predictors and associates of reading ability. In an attempt
to better understand its development, we have examined the interrelations of speech skills and letter knowledge to the phonological
awareness and early reading skills of 99 preschool children. We found that phoneme awareness, but not rhyme awareness, correlated
with early reading measures. We further found that phoneme manipulation was closely associated with letter knowledge and with
letter sound knowledge, in particular, where rhyme awareness was closely linked with speech perception and vocabulary. Phoneme
judgment fell in between. The overall pattern of results is consistent with phonological representation as an important factor
in the complex relationship between preschool children’s phonological awareness, their emerging knowledge of the orthography,
and their developing speech skills. However, where rhyme awareness is a concomitant of speech and vocabulary development,
phoneme awareness more clearly associates with the products of literacy experience.
This study compared two interventions: one focusing on language and storybook reading and the other on alphabetic skills and writing. Seventy-one preschoolers aged 3–5 from a low SES township in central Israel (35 in the reading program and 36 in the writing program) participated in evaluation of the interventions. Twenty-four untreated preschoolers served as a control group. The children were tested twice, at the beginning and at the end of the school year, in: phonological awareness, word writing, letter knowledge, orthographic awareness, listening comprehension, receptive vocabulary, and general knowledge. Both programs involved games and creative activities. The writing program encouraged letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and functional writing activities. The reading program utilized 11 children's books for focusing on language and exploring major concepts raised by these books. Results indicated that children in the two literacy programs progressed significantly more than the control group on phonological awareness and orthographic awareness. However, the joint writing group significantly outperformed both the joint reading group and the control group on phonological awareness, word writing, orthographic awareness, and letter knowledge. We also found that children as young as 3–4 years gained from literacy programs as much as did older children, aged 4–5, on all the measures assessed in our program.
Development of letter naming and writing (skills in writing first name, dictated and copied letters, and dictated and copied numbers) was examined in 79 preschool children (M age = 56 months). Skills were assessed in the fall to determine the status of these procedural skills that are components of alphabetic knowledge at the start of the school year. Children with high letter-naming scores also had high scores on letter writing, including dictated or copied letters and writing some or all of the letters of their names. Letter-naming skills were related to number-writing skills whether the numbers were dictated or copied. The highest writing scores were found for first name writing compared to writing or copying letters and numbers. A focus on the development of procedural knowledge in the preschool period may yield the hopep for impacts on later reading skills that has not been found in curricula emphasizing conceptual knowledge (e.g., knowledge of print concepts, book conventions).
In this paper, the nature of the skills and knowledge developed by young children When using tablets is explored. The paper reports on a study of young children's use of tablets and apps in the UK. A survey was completed in 2000 by parents of children aged 0-5 on children's tablet use, and case studies were undertaken of six children in cui Their use of tablets in the home was explored. The findings indicated That parents identify a range of skills and knowledge they perceive That Their children acquire using tablets. In Additions, researchers were Also incendio identify many of the skills reported by parents through extensive analysis of over 20 hours of video data of children using tablets. The paper examines the skills and competences Identified In These data in greater depth. It is argued That the Majority of skills and competences relate to the reception, design and production of texts, and That dissemination of texts is the least well-developed area for children of this age group. The implications for early childhood education policy and practice are considered.
The rapid proliferation of story and game apps aimed at the early years has contributed to the iPad’s visibility as a device for family entertainment and informal education. It is often claimed that iPads and other touch screen devices place sophisticated media in the hands of users. Moreover some have argued that the iPad is particularly appealing for young children because of its weight, portability and intuitive touch-screen interface. This paper critically appraises these claims by a close analysis of young children (14-22 months) in two story-app sharing interactions with an adult. The data is drawn from a wider study based in early years settings in the North of England. An analytical focus based on the material affordances of the iPad and apps is developed and it is suggested that this is a fruitful approach to adopt. Not only does this approach highlight important issues for practitioners, but it also suggests that the interface, and the story-apps used, may not be quite as intuitive as has been suggested. The data also suggest that broader socio-cultural issues may emerge from this sort of data.
ABSTRACTS
Literacy development among a group of preschool and kindergarten children was examined through changes in the form, function, and perception of their written names. Sixty‐seven 3‐, 4‐, and 5‐year‐olds, their teachers, instructional aides, and six case‐study parents participated in a yearlong qualitative and quantitative study. Literacy skills were assessed in the fall and spring; instructional methods, classroom interactions, and student writing efforts were observed. Preschool and kindergarten teachers and instructional aides as well as the parents of six case‐study children responded to interviews and participated in informal discussions of children's early literacy growth. Analysis of assessments and writing samples indicates a substantial role for name in early literacy. Name recognition correlates with age (.86) for 3‐year‐olds, while name production correlates with alphabet knowledge (.55 to .77), word recognition (.49 to .62), and concept of word (.39 to .66) for 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds. Name letters represent approximately 40 percent of children's random‐letter written characters. Reciprocal relationships among the children's literacy skills were evident. Automaticity in name writing paralleled control of the alphabet, recognition of several sight words, and emerging tracking ability. Name has the instructional potential to help children connect literacy strands in a meaningful way.
EL DESARROLLO de la lectoescritura en un grupo de niños de nivel inicial y jardín fue examinado a través de los cambios en la forma, función y percepción de sus nombres escritos. Sesenta y siete niños de 3, 4 y 5 años, sus docentes, asistentes y 6 padres (estudio de casos) participaron en un estudio cualitativo y cuantitativo de un año de duración. Las habilidades de lectoescritura se evaluaron en otoño y primavera; se observaron los métodos de enseñanza, las interacciones en el aula y los esfuerzos de los niños por escribir. Los docentes de nivel inicial y jardín y los asistentes, así como los padres de seis niños respondieron a entrevistas y participaron en discusiones informales acerca de la alfabetización temprana de los niños.
Los análisis de las evaluaciones y las muestras de escritura indican el rol sustancial del nombre en la alfabetización temprana. El reconocimiento del nombre correlaciona con la edad (.86) en los niños de 3 años, mientras que la producción del nombre correlaciona con el conocimiento alfabético (.55 a .77), el reconocimiento de palabras (.49 a .62) y el concepto de palabra (.39 a .66) en los niños de 4 y 5 años. Los nombres de las letras representan aproximadamente un 40% de los caracteres escritos por los niños en escritura de letras al azar. Se hallaron relaciones recíprocas evidentes entre las habilidades de lectoescritura de los niños. La automaticidad en la escritura del nombre fue paralela al control del alfabeto, al reconocimiento de varias palabras visuales y a la habilidad emergente de detectar marcas. El nombre tiene el potencial didáctico para ayudar a los niños a conectar los componentes de la alfabetización de una forma significativa.
DIE ENTWICKLUNG des Schreibens und Lesens innerhalb einer Gruppe von Vorschülern und Kindern im Kindergarten wurde mittels Veränderungen in der Form, Funktion, und Auffassung ihrer geschriebenen Namen untersucht. Siebenundsechzig 3‐, 4‐ und 5‐jährige Kinder, ihre Lehrer, Lehrhilfskräfte und sechs in der Fallstudie einbezogenen Eltern nahmen an der einjährigen qualitativen und quantitativen Studie teil. Schreib‐ und Lesefertigkeiten wurden im Herbst und Frühjahr ausgewertet; Unterrichtsmethodik, Klassenraumbeteiligungen und schriftliche Bemühungen der Schüler wurden beobachtet. Vorschul‐ und Kindergartenlehrer und Lehrhilfskräfte sowie die Eltern von 6 in der Fallstudie einbezogenen Kindern gingen auf Interviews ein und nahmen an ungezwungenen Diskussionen der frühen Verbesserung von Lese‐ und Schreibfertigkeiten teil.
Die Analyse von Begutachtungen und Schriftproben weist dem Namen eine erhebliche Rolle bei den frühen Schreib‐ und Lesefertig‐keiten zu. Erkennen des Namens steht in einer Wechselbeziehung zum Alter (.86) bei 3‐jährigen, während bei 4‐ und 5‐jährigen Kindern das Produzieren des Namens von der Kenntnis des Alphabets (.55 bis .77), der Worterkennung (.49 bis .62) und dem Wortkonzept (.39 bis .66) abhängt. Die Buchstaben des Namens umfassen ungefähr 40 Prozent aller wahllos niedergeschriebenen Buchstaben der Kinder. Die auf Wechselwirkung beruhenden Beziehungen zwischen den Schreib‐/Lesefertigkeiten der Kinder waren offensichtlich. Das Automatisieren beim Niederschreiben des Namens verlief parallel mit der Kontrolle über das Alphabet, dem Erkennen verschiedener auffallender Worte und dem Entstehen der Fähigkeit zum Verfolgen solcher Worte. Der Name hat das unterrichtende Potential, den Kindern bei den Verbindungen von Schreib‐ und Lesebrücken in sinnvoller Weise zu helfen.
ON A examiné le développement de la littéracie dans un groupe d'enfants d'âge préscolaire et de jardin d'enfants à travers les changements de forme, de fonction, et de perception de leur nom écrit. Soixante sept enfants âgés de 3, 4, et 5 ans, leurs enseignants, aideséducateurs, et six parents pour études de cas ont participé pendant un an à une étude qualitative et quantitative. On a évalué les compétences en littéracie à l'automne et au printemps; on a observé les méthodes pédagogiques, les interactions en classe, et les efforts pour écrire. Les enseignants préscolaires et de jardin d'enfants et les aideséducateurs aussi bien que les parents des six études de cas ont répondu à des entretiens et participé à des discussions informelles relatives au développement de l'entrée dans l'écrit des enfants.
L'analyse des évaluations et des échantillons d'écriture indiquent un rôle substantiel du nom pour l'entrée dans l'écrit. La reconnaissance du nom est corrélée avec l'âge (.86) chez les enfants de 3 ans, tandis que la production du nom corrèle avec la connaissance de l'alphabet (.55 à .77), la reconnaissance de mot (.49 à .62), et le concept de mot (.39 à .66) pour les 4 et 5 ans. Les lettres du nom représentent approximativement 40% des caractères écrits pris au hasard. Des relations réciproques sont évidentes entre les compétences en littéracie des enfants. L'automatisation de l'écriture du nom va de pair avec le contrôle de l'alphabet, la reconnaissance visuelle de plusieurs mots, et les premières traces écrites. Le nom a le pouvoir éducatif d'aider les enfants à lier les fils de la littéracie de manière significative.
Little is known about how specific iPad applications affect parent–child story-sharing interactions. This study utilises a case-study approach to provide an insight into the patterns of interaction, which emerge when a mother and her 33-month-old daughter share a self-created, audio-visual ‘iPad story’. Multimodal analysis allowed us to gain insights into the complex interaction patterns orchestrated in this new, personalised story-sharing medium. We found that the app-mediated story-sharing context produced a harmonious and smooth interaction, achieving a coherence that is typical of ‘happy’ oral stories. We suggest that the observed interaction resembles that of experiencing a piece of art, and we highlight the need for a holistic approach to understanding the implications for research and practice of children's interactions during multimedia story sharing.
Given the ubiquitous and salient nature of environmental print, it has the potential to scaffold emergent literacy in young children. This randomised control study evaluated the effects of using environmental print compared to standard print (the same labels in manuscript form) in an 8-week intervention (30 min per week) to foster 3- to 4-year-old’s (N = 73) emergent literacy skills and print motivation. At the end of the intervention, the environmental print group outperformed a no intervention control group on letter sound knowledge, letter writing, environmental print and standard print reading, print concepts, and print motivation, even after controlling for receptive language abilities. Most of these gains were sustained 2 months later. The environmental print group also outperformed the standard print group on print motivation and environmental print reading at post-test, and on print motivation, environmental print and standard print reading, and letter writing at 2-month follow-up. Environmental print may be more effective than standard print in enhancing print motivation and aspects of emergent literacy in young children due to its contextual nature.
This article discusses digital media and its potential effects on emergent literacy skills development for young children. While the impact of digital media exposure on children's emergent literacy development is largely unknown, it is becoming a significant issue, as more and more young children throughout the world observe and use various forms of digital media in their preschools, homes, and communities.
This study explored the extent to which preschool children's name writing representations reflected their more general emergent literacy knowledge in print and phonological awareness. As part of a preschool literacy screening program, 3,546 4-year-old children were administered a name writing task and additional indices of emergent literacy. Children were placed into four groups based on the level of their name-writing representations. The four groups were compared for performance on alphabet knowledge, concept of word, print knowledge, rhyme awareness, and beginning sound awareness tasks. The four name-writing groups significantly differed from one another on each of these dependent measures. Additionally, a regression analysis showed the linear combination of the five emergent literacy indices to significantly predict level of name writing representation, accounting for 36% of the variance in outcome. Print-related skills (alphabet knowledge, print concepts), in addition to age, accounted for 34% of this variance. While findings suggest that name writing representations can differentiate children in both phonological and print awareness, name writing representations appear to predominantly reflect print-related knowledge.
Even before they are able to read, young children possess many skills that can help pave the way for literacy. For example, preschoolers have sizable spoken vocabularies and often know that English words are read from left to right. The focus of this article is on another type of knowledge that many preschoolers possess—knowledge of the names of alphabet letters. The authors discuss theories and research pertaining to the acquisition of reading skills with an emphasis on recent research evaluating how children use their knowledge of the alphabet in their initial attempts to read and spell. An understanding of the research can help teachers base their instruction on the skills that children already possess and build from there. Educational implications and suggestions for translating theory into practice are discussed.
Even a quick review of U.S. households, daycare centers, and preschools reveals widespread use of digital programs and products with young children. Research indicates that regardless of the hard technology that delivers these digital applications, their content most significantly affects the experience and outcomes. A primary question thus becomes how should parents, teachers, and caregivers select digital literacy content for young children? In this article, a schema has been devised for evaluating digital content using six domains: interactivity, digital literacy, global citizenry, appropriateness, results, and participative nature. The article defines the domains and discusses research-based guiding questions to pose when selecting technology-based emergent literacy materials for young children.
Emergent literacy consists of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to reading and writing. This article offers a preliminary typology of children's emergent literacy skills, a review of the evidence that relates emergent literacy to reading, and a review of the evidence for linkage between children's emergent literacy environments and the development of emergent literacy skills. We propose that emergent literacy consists of at least two distinct domains: inside-out skills (e.g., phonological awareness, letter knowledge) and outside-in skills (e.g., language, conceptual knowledge). These different domains are not the product of the same experiences and appear to be influential at different points in time during reading acquisition. Whereas outside-in skills are associated with those aspects of children's literacy environments typically measured, little is known about the origins of inside-out skills. Evidence from interventions to enhance emergent literacy suggests that relatively intensive and multifaceted interventions are needed to improve reading achievement maximally. A number of successful preschool interventions for outside-in skills exist, and computer-based tasks designed to teach children inside-out skills seem promising. Future research directions include more sophisticated multidimensional examination of emergent literacy skills and environments, better integration with reading research, and longer-term evaluation of preschool interventions. Policy implications for emergent literacy intervention and reading education are discussed.
The knowledge of letter names measured just before children enter school has been known for a long time as one of the best longitudinal predictors of learning to read in an alphabetic writing system. After a period during which the comprehensive investigation of this relationship was largely disregarded, there is now a growing interest in attempts to understand the role(s) letter names play in literacy acquisition. This paper reviews these recent studies and emphasizes their main findings regarding the influence of letter-name knowledge in early and formal literacy for three main components of literacy acquisition: first, the emergence of the phonological processing of print; then, the learning of letter-sound correspondences; finally, the development of phonemic sensitivity skills. The final section discusses the status of letter-name knowledge (LNK) in literacy acquisition and suggests possible directions for further research.
This paper addresses the use of scaVolding in learning contexts that incorporate technologically based novel problems. We suggest that in computer contexts extended conceptualisations of scaVolding are needed in order to gain greater insights into teaching and learning processes. Our work has revealed that traditional forms of scaVolding, based on the "expert's" view of how the problem should be solved, need to be modiWed in order to accommodate the child's perspective and that three diVerent types of scaVolding which we refer to as cognitive, technical and aVective can be conceptualized. This paper discusses the ways in which the per- formance of pairs of children is enhanced in such scaVolding contexts, to include more examples of meta- strategic processes and strategies for problem-solving, than when the pairs are left to spontaneously solve the problems. This study provides additional support that cognitive, aVective and technical scaVolding are beneWcial for learning and that children are able to support each others learning via sharing strategies and articulating the reasons behind them to each other. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Two studies were performed to determine whether children's experiences with their own names boost their knowledge about the components of the name, the letters. The children in Study One showed a significant superiority for the initial letter of their own first name in tests of letter-name, but not letter-sound, knowledge. This pattern was found for Australian first graders (mean age 5 years, 5 months), U.S. kindergartners (mean age 5 years, 8 months), and U.S. preschoolers (mean age 4 years, 10 months). Study Two, with U.S. preschoolers (mean age 4 years, 11 months), again revealed an advantage for the initial letter of a child's first name in knowledge of letter names but not knowledge of letter sounds. Moreover, the children were better at printing the initial letter of their own first name than other letters. The results show that different factors are involved in the learning of letter names and letter sounds. They further suggest that children use letter-based strategies with their own names at a time when they are often considered to be "logographic" readers.
This study examined code-related and oral language precursors to reading in a longitudinal study of 626 children from preschool through 4th grade. Code-related precursors, including print concepts and phonological awareness, and oral language were assessed in preschool and kindergarten. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension skills were examined in 1st through 4th grades. Results demonstrated that (a) the relationship between code-related precursors and oral language is strong during preschool; (b) there is a high degree of continuity over time of both code-related and oral language abilities; (c) during early elementary school, reading ability is predominantly determined by the level of print knowledge and phonological awareness a child brings from kindergarten; and (d) in later elementary school, reading accuracy and reading comprehension appear to be 2 separate abilities that are influenced by different sets of skills.
This study investigated knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, their learning, and their contributions to word recognition. Of 123 preschoolers examined on letter knowledge, 65 underwent training on both letter names and letter sounds in a counterbalanced order. Prior to training, children were more advanced in associating letters with their names than with their sounds and could provide the sound of a letter only if they could name it. However, children learned more easily to associate letters with sounds than with names. Training just on names improved performance on sounds, but the sounds produced were extended (CV) rather than phonemic. Learning sounds facilitated later learning of the same letters' names, but not vice versa. Training either on names or on sounds improved word recognition and explanation of printed words. Results are discussed with reference to cognitive and societal factors affecting letter knowledge acquisition, features of the Hebrew alphabet and orthography, and educational implications.
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