Teacher-Mediated Versus Computer-Mediated Storybook Reading to Children in Native and Multicultural Kindergarten Classrooms

The study explored differences in story comprehension and vocabulary learning in children in native and multicultural kindergarten classrooms when listening to a story read to them by the computer or the teacher. The results showed that children (41 native and 30 immigrant) learned new words, both from listening to their teacher and from listening to the computer. However, immigrant children learned more words and had better story comprehension when the teacher read the story. The study does however show that the computer can provide learning gains for kindergartners working individually and without teacher support with a software program.