The Impact of a Proposed Interactive E-Book on Developing English language Skills of Kindergarten Children

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the impact of designing and using an interactive electronic book (e-book) on developing the English as a foreign language (EFL) skills necessary for kindergarten children at the Egyptian language schools. Kg children are required to master some early language skills (namely, word meaning, listening, print awareness and phonological awareness) which were targeted in the current study. Multiple multimedia features were employed in the proposed interactive e-book such as animations, videos, interactive games, interactive worksheets, audio files and songs. Children also were able to video call their teacher through using FaceTime App. Participants were (30) Kg 2 children (aged 5-6 year) at Al-Wady language school. The quasi-experimental design was adopted in which the participants were equally assigned into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. Children in the experimental group were selected based on a written consent from their parents to participate in the treatment.Instruments used in the study were a checklist for identifying the target EFL skills, a standards checklist for the instructional design of the e-book and an English language test with an analytic rubric for scoring the oral and written parts of the test. Results proved that the experimental group children outperformed their control counterparts especially in the skills of listening, print and phonological awareness. However, no significant difference was found between children of the experimental and control groups in word meaning. The findings indicated that if e-books will be generalized in schools

Studies on pre-primary learners of foreign languages, their teachers, and parents: A critical overview of publications between 2000 and 2022

“…They found encouraging results in favor of the experimental group. In another experimental study, an interactive e-book (Gohar, 2017) was used to improve kindergarteners’ print and phonological awareness, listening, and meaning making abilities in Egypt. Results supported uses of songs, interactive games, and audio files in the treatment group.…”

Macroeconomics E-book development: The role of literacies in blended learning

“…Using the appropriate media selection, e-books become an effective source of information media in digital learning to deal with learning challenges (Lestari & Adi, 2016). The primary rationale is that it can provide interactive learning while the use of e-books for literacy that is still very rare (Asrowi et al, 2019;López-Escribano et al, 2021;Gohar, 2017), and increasing literacy has an impact on the formation of the cognitive structure and intelligence of learners (Afnita et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2021). A prior study on the use of e-books as a learning medium has been provided in increasing the literacy of students in higher education institutions (Suparno, 2018).…”

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“…Different scholars reported similar findings on developing English materials for English Young Learners (EYL), especially kindergarten students. Gohar (2017) argues with quasiexperimental design while examining young learners aged 5-6 years that developing English as foreign language (EFL) skills is necessary to be conducted for Kindergarten students. The study showed that young learners learn oral skills in foreign language (FL) to be their foundation of kindergarten learning programs to increase students" interest in learning English.…”