The Differences in Children`s Story Comprehension According to the Types of Reading Media:Paperback Books vs. Electronic Books
Tae Yeon Kim , Soon Hyung Yi
Abstract
This study investigated differences in children`s story comprehension as they related to the types ofreading media. The participants comprised 62 four-years-olds from two child-care centers located in a middle-income region of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. In order to control the experience effect, newly developed stories published into two formats of reading media (paperback books and electronic books) were provided to the participants. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in children`s story comprehension depending on the types of reading media. Paperback book readers and electronic book readers did not show any significant difference in story comprehension, which consists of recall, recognition and reasoning tasks. As literature pertaining to children`s usage of electronic books is limited, the present study offers guidelines for the development of children`s reading media and may serve as a useful resource for future studies.