A Typology for Observing Children’s Engagement with eBooks at Preschool

This research reports a two-phase descriptive study of young children’s engagement with ebooks conducted in Head Start classrooms. Phase 1 focused on the development of a typology as an analytic framework for observing engagement with ebooks in different formats (shared book; independent book browsing) and across devices (stationary touch screen; handhelds). Converging extant research categories with videotaped observations of ebook reading from classroom samples (n=12 children), a typology was derived using qualitative analytic procedures. It consisted of three categories (control, multisensory behaviors, communication) and 11 salient behaviors of children’s engagement with ebooks. Phase 2 applied the typology to a comparable classroom sample (n=24 children) to obtain descriptive observations of children’s engagement with ebooks in teacher-led ebook reading at the touch screen and child-led ebook browsing/reading with handheld devices (iPad; iPod). Potential influences of behavioral regulation levels on children’s engagement with ebooks were also explored. Results supported the typology as a fairly reliable and manageable framework for analytic purposes of description and enumeration, yielding descriptive evidence of children’s engagement with ebooks in the sample. In brief, control varied with format, which in turn influenced the distribution of multisensory behaviors and types of communication. Level of behavioral regulation influenced control. Increasingly, the ebook is an appealing choice for storybook reading with young children, although its impact on early literacy development and its role in early literacy instruction remains open to question. Are ebooks with their audio and film-like qualities more appealing to young children than traditional storybooks? Are they more engaging, drawing children’s attention to story lines and words? Do they support or deter children’s capacities to comprehend stories and learn about printed words? In short, do ebooks support learning to read and reading for the rigors of school or are they merely edutainment? In pursuit of these larger questions, this study describes children’s engagement with ebooks in two formats commonly used for storybook reading/browsing in the preschool setting: Journal of Interactive Online Learning Roskos, Burstein, and You