The Impact of e-Books on Young Children’s Reading Habits

Abstract

This article reports on a pilot study which aimed to consider the e-book reading experiences of young children and their families, with currently available portable e-reader devices: Amazon Kindle, Nintendo DS-lite and Apple iPod Touch. Three families, each with two children in the 7-12 year age range, experienced an e-reader for a two-week period. They recorded their experiences in a diary and were interviewed at the beginning and end of the study. Key findings include the fact that, of the six children involved, four rate themselves as 'enthusiastic' readers, one 'average' and one 'reluctant'; whilst all six of the parents enjoy reading. At the end of the study, all of the participants chose the Kindle as their preferred device and found it the easiest to use. In addition, there were indications that the one reluctant young reader (a boy aged eight years) was inspired to read by the Kindle. His parents were pleased with this enthusiasm, noting that he was reading rather than watching television, excited by downloading and choosing books and it was the only time they had known him to ask to read voluntarily. When asked whether they prefer printed or electronic books, all of the adults chose printed books, whilst the children were more ambivalent, with half preferring electronic books.

Dispositivos móviles: el nuevo reto para la industria de la prensa y del libro en España

“…En el estudio de recepción de Maynard (2010), los adultos mostraban su preferencia por los libros en papel, mientras que los niños eran más ambivalentes, dividiéndose entre ambas preferencias.…”

impact of past language arts teachers on the reading motivation of twelfth grade students

“…Some teachers do not demonstrate or model true reading motivation themselves and therefore do not create the excitement within their students causing them to want to read (Applegate & Applegate, 2004, 2010. Sometimes teachers have difficulty identifying students who are motivated or unmotivated to read and their underlying weaknesses or strengths (Sweet et al, 1998).…”

“…Struggling readers are also often motivated by the interactive features of e-books. Students enjoy the interactive aspects and extras like puzzles, quizzes, animations, pictures, sound and games (Maynard, 2010). E-books give readers an extra level of involvement in the text through these added features.…”

“…They are somewhat more kinesthetic in that there are options to engage readers in ways print books cannot. In some cases, readers were able to break up longer, more difficult reading tasks through the use of these interactive features (Maynard, 2010) which extended the time spent reading. Features that encourage students to look up unfamiliar words or have text read out loud to them as they read are also important as they make reading clarification strategies easier to employ (Anderson & Balajthy, 2009;Ciampa, 2012).…”

“…Prior research concerning e-readers and digital text, such as that of Maynard (2010) and Enriquez (2013), has concluded that technology, specifically e-readers, help motivate students to read. Data collected from this research site leads one to conclude that technology is not as motivating as it may appear.…”