E-Book and Printed Book Reading in Different Contexts as Emergent Literacy Facilitator

Research Findings: We present 3 studies that focused on preschoolers’ electronic book (e-book) reading in different contexts aimed at supporting children’s early literacy. In Study 1 we researched the impact of children’s age and number of independent readings on phonological awareness and word reading. We found that all age groups benefited from e-book reading, and 5 readings benefited most skills better than 3. In Study 2 we investigated (a) parents’ behavior during joint e-book reading with their children compared to joint printed book reading and (b) parental mediation in joint reading of a considerate e-book compared to joint reading of an inconsiderate e-book. The joint printed book reading yielded more expanding talk than the joint e-book reading, and reading the considerate e-book yielded higher expanding talk than reading the inconsiderate e-book. In Study 3 we compared adult support in joint e-book reading to joint printed book reading and compared both readings to children’s independent e-book reading. Reading the e-book with adult support assisted children in progressing in phonological awareness and word reading compared to other group reading. Practice or Policy: Well-designed e-books may serve as good tools to support children’s early literacy, and when parents or educators read them with children, children’s progress is enhanced. We recommend that these findings be taken into account by e-book designers, policymakers, teachers, and parents.     

Multimodal Children’s E-Books Help Young Learners in Reading

Many children struggle with reading and are seldom engaged in this process when teachers assign them to read. Young learners may lack motivation to read an dislike this activity because they have had frequently have unpleasant experiences with reading. If educators fail to provide support for struggling readers, these pupils will likely experience academic problems in later years. One strategy that instructors can implement to provide help for students who perform poorly in reading is to teach reading with multimodal e-books. Multimodal e-books are interactive electronic resources that combine text with sound, animation, and images and often include text that is read aloud and highlighted. The purpose of this article is to discuss how teachers can use multimodal e-books to help children make academic gains in reading and to provide guidelines for selecting good interactive e-books. Also included in this article is an annotated bibliography of CD-ROMs and e-book apps for children.     

Learning vocabulary through e-book reading of young children with various reading abilities

Previous studies revealed that young children learn novel word meanings by simply reading and listening to a printed book. In today’s classroom, many children’s e-books provide audio narration support so young readers can simply listen to the e-books. The focus of the present study is to examine the effect of e-book reading with audio narration support on the novel vocabulary learning of first grade students with advanced, average, and poor reading abilities. The effect of adding teacher’s word explanation on novel word learning was also examined. By employing a within-subject design, students read an e-book that contained ten explained words and another e-book containing ten unexplained words. Their performances were compared to ten unexposed control words. As a whole group, results indicated that teacher’s word explanation resulted in greater word learning compared to when word explanation was not provided. However, e-book reading conditions without teacher’s word explanation did not lead to incidental word learning from the e-book context compared to the unexposed control words. When the students were divided into subgroups based on their reading abilities, readers with higher reading abilities learned more word meanings from e-book with teacher’s word explanation. However, three subgroups of readers showed different patterns of word learning across the e-book with and without word explanation and the control conditions. Educational implications of using e-books for students with different reading abilities and limitations are discussed.     

Liking to be liked: imitation,familiarity and pedagogy in the first years of life

This paper offers a review of the literature on the role of imitation in the earliest stages of social interaction between babies and familiar partners. The review focuses on the ways in which reciprocal imitation marks familiar relationships that provide special contexts for babies to engage actively and exuberantly in the construction of a shared culture. Because adults' perception of a baby's actions and intentions are filtered by the adult's experience of living within a particular culture, babies can obtain valuable information about this culture from the differences between what they do and how familiar adults respond to them. As they become increasingly interested in the social meaning of people's behaviour, infants also become more sensitive about how their own actions may be interpreted, showing pride and delight when their intentions are realised and embarrassed withdrawal when their efforts fail. When very young children are observed in unfamiliar contexts and when they are cared for and educated in professional settings, they may have relatively few opportunities for lively, joyful exchanges with reassuringly familiar partners and this can distort adults' perceptions of ‘normal’ infant behaviour. It is argued that adults' attentive interest in mutually enjoyable exchanges with young children is an important difference between humans and other apes and provides an essential foundation for pedagogy and for children's active participation in a shared culture.     

A comparative study of children's concentration performance on picture books: age,gender, and media forms

The reading development of children depends on various sensory stimuli, which help them construct reading contexts and facilitate active learning and exploration. This study uses sensory stimuli provided by picture books using various forms of media to improve children's concentration performance. We employ picture books using four forms of media: conventional picture books, pop-up books, talking books, and e-books. Children in young (Grade 3) and senior elementary school students (Grade 6) are recruited as participants. The NeuroSky MindBand (electroencephalogram) is used as a tool to measure children's concentration. The results indicate that children in Grade 3 express higher concentration and interest than children in Grade 6 in picture books, and the effect of gender is greater than that of grade on the level of concentration invested in the picture book media form and exhibits a significant interaction and effects on children's concentration performance. As a result, we suggest that talking books or e-books, which provide multisensory stimuli, should be selected for elementary school boys. In addition, talking books should be selected for girls in young elementary school students, while conventional books should be used for girls in senior elementary school students to avoid distraction caused by excessive media stimuli.     

Creative methods developed to facilitate the voices of children and young people with complex needs about their education: A systematic review and conceptual analysis of voice

A range of methods has been applied in research to enable children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities to share their views about educational experiences. However, methods tend to be targeted at older children and those who can communicate verbally and so there remains an important gap in knowledge about the methods used to support children with complex needs to share their views. This systematic literature review addresses this gap by exploring the creative methods that have been developed and used to facilitate the voices of children and young people with complex needs about their educational experiences and preferences. Additionally, methods were analysed conceptually in relation to Lundy's (2007)framework of Space, Voice, Audience and Influence to examine where, how and whose voices are heard, and what happens as a result. Fourteen qualitative papers published between 2003 and 2021 were included and synthesised according to PRISMA guidelines. Findings emphasize how it is possible to access the views of children and young people with complex needs using multi-modal, flexible approaches that require spending time with children, families, and practitioners to co-construct knowledge. The importance of a toolbox approach to enabling voice and participation challenges more orthodox and standardised methods of data collection. However, more needs to be done to ensure that children's views are acted upon, given due weight, and influence change.     

The pleasure of recognition: intertextuality in the talk of preschoolers during shared reading with mothers and teachers

Mature readers draw on a complex web of previous experiences when interpreting written and visual texts. Yet very little is known about how preschool children, who cannot yet read, make connections between texts. This study explores how 13 4‐year‐old children made intertextual connections during shared reading with their mothers (seven children) and their preschool teachers (six children). The findings indicate that very young children actively draw on their knowledge of other texts, and their personal lived experiences, to reflect on the meanings they encounter in unfamiliar picture books. The functions served by the children's intertexts ranged from the simple pleasure of recognition to more sophisticated comparisons between texts in terms of theme and plot. The extent to which the adults were able to integrate the children's intertexts into the discussions varied. An awareness of the important role played by intertextuality in children's interpretations of texts may provide early childhood professionals with a framework within which to plan systematically for the language and literacy development of young children in their care.     

Architects, captains, and dreamers: Creating advisor roles that foster youth-adult partnerships

While research has documented the many ways in which student voice can enable educational change, the process of how adults can help to enable student voice is less clear. This article examines how adults new to working as advisors of student voice initiatives begin to develop partnerships with young people. Using a Youth-Adult Partnership continuum as a framework, three cases represent a range of beliefs of student leadership. Using the archetypes of Captain, Dreamer, and Architect, the cases indicate how the adults began their work with youth with adult-centered, a student-centered, and an equilibrium approach, respectively. While the article highlights that adults must learn how to scaffold youth participation to help them to develop the leadership skills necessary to share in the work of the partnership, little training and materials exist for adults to learn how to scaffold learning. Part of this training includes the willingness for adults to recognize that they themselves need to change as well in order to facilitate youth leadership.     

“Can I say ‘Once Upon a Time’?”: Kindergarten children developing knowledge of information book language

In recent years, many scholars have called for greater inclusion of expository texts in early schooling. A first step in assessing the wisdom of these calls is to examine what young children actually know, and can learn, about the language of these reputedly-difficult texts. This study provides information about 20 preliterate kindergartners' knowledge of one genre of expository text, information books, at two points in time—in September, when the children first entered kindergarten, and in December, after children had spent 3 months in a classroom in which information books were read aloud on a near-daily basis. Children's pretend readings of an unfamiliar wordless information book in September contained key features of information book language: their December readings contained far greater use of these features, and among more children. These young children's fast-developing knowledge of information book language provides one indication that inclusion of such texts in early schooling may be well-advised.     

Educational Electronic Books for Supporting Emergent Literacy of Kindergarteners At-Risk for Reading Difficulties—What Do We Know So Far?

This article reviews the authors' findings regarding the electronic book's (e-book's) support of emergent reading among kindergarten-aged children at-risk for reading difficulties. All the studies involved use of educational e-books specially designed by the authors to promote literacy among young children in the 5–6 age group. The review focuses on the e-book's contribution to vocabulary acquisition, phonological awareness, concept about print, as well as story comprehension among two groups of kindergartners exhibiting difficulties in language development and emergent literacy: (a) children at-risk for learning disabilities and (b) children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Overall, both groups of children were found to improve vocabulary and phonological awareness following e-book activity in different contexts. These results indicate the e-book's efficacy as an educational tool in heterogeneous classrooms.     

Engaging City Hall: Children as Citizens

In this article, the authors suggest that current notions of advocacy in early childhood education should be expanded to include a view of young children as citizens. The authors ground their discussion in a how-to book project in Providence, Rhode Island, consider different concepts of children and citizenship, share commentary from City Hall and propose four key features of their perspective: (a) highlighting the civic nature of schools as central to the teaching and learning process; (b) focusing on young children's distinctive perspectives and competencies, not just their needs; (c) providing professional development around shared projects that promote literacy and higher order thinking skills; and (d) documenting children's learning in order to challenge assumptions about their capabilities and put forth an alternative image of teaching and learning.     

Scaffolding or Distracting: CD-ROM Storybooks and Young Readers

CD-ROM storybooks, often referred to as electronic texts, e-books, and interactive stories, are learning tools with supplemental features such as automatic reading of text, sound effects, word pronunciations, and graphic animations which support the development of reading skills and comprehension in beginning readers. Some CD-ROM storybooks also provide a definition of the word to aid in vocabulary acquisition. However, over-reliance on these features may hinder development of a young reader’s decoding skills and use of context cues. Many CD-ROM storybooks contain incidental hotspots, such as dancing flowers and hidden characters, which distract from the storyline and take reader’s attention away from comprehension. These incidental features may prolong the reading event causing fatigue and loss of focus. In sum, the features provided by CD-ROM storybooks offer valuable support for the acquisition of reading skills when coupled with supervision to monitor overuse and direct instruction in comprehension strategies.     

Friendships for wellbeing?: parents’ and practitioners’ positioning of young children’s friendships in the evaluation of wellbeing factors

ABSTRACT

Friendship matters for young children’s development, learning and experience of wellbeing. This paper emphasises the significance of young children’s friendships for their wellbeing, especially in the context of early years settings. Findings are presented from two online questionnaires developed for the project, in which 155 parents/carers and 285 practitioners in England expressed their perceptions of what matters for young children’s wellbeing. Data shows some ambivalence in the views of both parents/carers and practitioners about the importance of friendship in this context. Both groups gave low prioritisation to ‘the company of friends’ for children’s wellbeing. As friendships are of central importance to young children themselves, this could suggests that adults and children may have different priorities, which raises questions about the extent to which young children’s friendships are seen as important by adults. The paper concludes by proposing the need for practitioners in particular, but also parents, to consider their roles and priorities for children’s lives within schools and nurseries, including how they might sensitively support and facilitate children’s friendships in play, activities, transition and everyday life.     

Early childhood professionals and children’s rights: tensions and possibilities around the United Nations General Comment No. 7 on Children’s Rights

Young children’s views are heard rarely in public debates and are often subordinated to adults’ views. This article examines how early childhood staff could support and enhance young children’s participation in public decision making. We argue that when early childhood staff use their expertise in young children’s physical, social and cognitive development to facilitate consultations with young children, they are likely to reinforce the view that young children are unable to form and express their own views. Whatever their intentions, this weakens the notion of children’s rights and undermines young children’s participation in public decision making. In contrast, when staff use their expertise in child development to collaborate with young children, new social structures can emerge in which everyone’s voice is heard. This approach reaffirms staff’s status as experts, but redefines their expertise. Instead of being experts acting on behalf of children, staff become equitable collaborators with children, advancing citizenship for all.     

5×5×5 = Creativity in the Early Years

5×5×5 ? Creativity in the Early Years has involved five early years' settings, five artists and five cultural centres working in partnership to support young children (3–6 years) in their exploration, communication and expression of creative ideas. This year‐long research project has been inspired by the approach to education and the creative arts in early years' settings in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy. The three aims have been evaluated; they were: to demonstrate ways in which creativity and innovation can be fostered in and with young children; to influence early years' educational practice by establishing creativity as an essential foundation of early learning; and to share findings as widely as possible, creating a legacy for the future. This article examines the collaborative processes between artists, educators and cultural centres as they worked with young children using a creative and reflective cycle. The underpinning principles and the role of professional development have been essential to the success of the project. Findings show that careful observations and documentation of children's words will provide insight into their ideas and understandings. As adults it is our role to facilitate and support children's depth of learning. By respecting children and taking time to make observations and connections with the children's thinking, we can refine our own efforts in supporting their learning more effectively.     

Friendship and Fandom: Ethnicity,power and gendering readings of the popular

This paper explores the relationships between knowledge of popular culture and power negotiations among young children's friendship groups and derives from a research project on the identity formations of 'mixed race' children. The paper begins with a consideration of existing work on music, ethnicity and cultural identities and how this is implicated in formations of 'imagined communities' (Anderson, 1991, Imagined Communities , Verso). Next, I look at the ways in which this work has been gendered with particular reference to the female music 'fan'. Throughout I use data from my research to show how the children engaged in friendship/power relationships that challenge much of this material. The paper centralises the way readings are used by friends in processes that are implicated in en/gendering identities and identifications - how likes and dislikes are mobilised differently among children who are becoming 'boys' and 'girls' who are friends, through use of the love/loathe discourses. The allegiance work is saturated with and constitutive of relations of power/knowledge which are both painful and pleasurable for children who are differently positioned within networks of learning and cultural expertise.     

Responding to children’s answers: questions embedded in the social context of early childhood education

This article presents analysis of question–answer sequences during problem inquiry between a teacher and two children in an early childhood crèche in New Zealand. Conversation analysis is used to reveal which questions the teacher asks, how children answer the questions, and the teacher’s responses to the child’s answers. Although adults’ ‘effective’ questions were identified and promoted in the REPEY study much less attention has been given to how adults respond to children’s answers. It is imperative to investigate the sequences of talk which follow a question in order to establish how teaching and learning is co-constructed in context, one utterance at a time and as a joint project between teacher and child. The findings suggest that task problems and emotional problems are treated in a similar way during problem inquiry, highlighting the complexity of interactions when teachers are providing both emotional care and educational support for young children.     

The impact of e-book interactivity design on children's Chinese character acquisition

This study examined the impact of e-book interactivity design on the learning of Chinese characters by fourth graders (10-year-old children). This study was guided by two main questions: (1) Are there any differences in achievements (Chinese character writing, lexical comprehension, and lexical usage) between groups of young learners who read e-books with different interactivity levels? and (2) Are there any differences in motivation (attention, confidence, relevance, and satisfaction) between groups of young learners who read e-books with different interactivity levels? This study was an experimental design where the independent variable was the interactivity design of digital books. A sample of 99 fourth graders participated in the study and participants were randomly assigned into these two groups, with one group reading an e-book with a low level of interactivity (pace-control only) and the other reading an e-book with a high level of interactivity (sequence- and media-control). Participants were asked to complete a pre-test first, and then they read their assigned e-books for 30 minutes. After they finished reading, they were given a post-test. The results showed a reverse interactivity effect, that is, the group reading the e-book with the low level of interactivity (pace-control only) performed significantly better in Chinese character writing, attention, and satisfaction. This might be due to young learners' limited cognitive capacity and processing ability for learning with hypermedia. This study aims to expand on existing theories on interactive learning for young learners and serves as a reference for elementary school teachers and e-book publishers.     

Starting School: Welcoming Young Children and Families into Early School Experiences

Throughout the world, young children and their families anticipate the start of school with expectations and hopes, as well as concerns. Although the approaches and customs differ from one nation, region, or culture to another, one constant is the recognition that a collaborative effort is needed to welcome young children and their families into formal schooling experiences. The transition process should be proactive and responsive to the children’s needs. This article addresses four key components of appropriate support for young children who are starting school: (1) a consideration of the developmental characteristics of young children, (2) a recognition of factors that affect adjustment to new situations, (3) the establishment of relationships with families, and (4) the implementation of strategies that assist young children in making this important transition. Strategies for assisting children who are beginning their school careers are shared.     

Mealtimes in Swedish preschools: pedagogical opportunities for toddlers learning a new language

This paper reports on a study which explores how routine activities in preschool can support young multilingual children’s participation, communication and development of languages. The paper takes as its starting point the idea that young children’s development takes place through interaction and participation, including in routine activities. Empirical data of mealtimes was gathered in eight toddler groups in a Swedish city, and analysed as a context for learning. The mealtimes were video recorded and interpreted by using an interaction analytic approach which allowed multiple layers of mealtime interactions, all of which impact on the level of participation available to children, to be explored. A detailed analysis of activities and opportunities for communication provides an additional perspective for understanding participation and language learning in institutional practices. The findings show how language learning is situated as a communicative and participatory experience, and that common and shared topics are crucial for participation. Further, a shift in children’s participation status during interaction at mealtime is possible. An extended way of incorporating language teaching into multilingual preschool contexts is discussed.