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What Can Better Support Low SES Children’s Emergent Reading? Reading e-Books and Printed Books with and Without Adult Mediation

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Technology as a Support for Literacy Achievements for Children at Risk

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Abstract

The effects of e-book reading on children’s emergent reading with and without adult mediation were investigated. One hundred and twenty-eight 5–6-year-old kindergarten children from low SES families were randomly assigned to one of four groups (32 children each): (1) independently reading the e-book, (2) reading the e-book with adult mediation, (3) reading the printed book with adult mediation, and (4) receiving the regular kindergarten program (control). The three intervention groups included four book-reading sessions each. Pre- and post-intervention emergent reading measures included recognition of letter names, phonological awareness, emergent word reading, and concept about print (CAP). The results showed that the activity of reading the e-book with adult mediation achieved greater progress in recognition of letter names, emergent word reading, CAP, and the general emergent reading level than all other groups. Our discussion will focus on the type of support that young children need in order to show progress in different emergent reading skills when using e-books.

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Correspondence to Ora Segal-Drori .

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Appendix: Examples of the Unique Features of the E-Book

Appendix: Examples of the Unique Features of the E-Book

An Example of Promoting Phonological Awareness in The Tractor in the Sandbox

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An Example of Promoting Phonological Awareness in Confused Yuval

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Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Klein, P.S. (2012). What Can Better Support Low SES Children’s Emergent Reading? Reading e-Books and Printed Books with and Without Adult Mediation. In: Shamir, A., Korat, O. (eds) Technology as a Support for Literacy Achievements for Children at Risk. Literacy Studies, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5119-4_6

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