Junta de separación sísmica (s)

Based on

Teepe, R. C., Molenaar, I., & Verhoeven, L. (2016). Technology‐enhanced storytelling stimulating parent–child interaction and preschool children’s vocabulary knowledge.  Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 33(2), 123-136. Doi: 10.1111/jcal.12169

Abstract

Preschool children’s vocabulary mainly develops through verbalinteraction. Therefore, the technology-enhanced storytelling (TES) activity Jeffy’s Journey is developed to support parent–child interaction and vocabulary in preschool children. TES entails shared verbal storytelling supported by a story structure and real-time visual, auditory and textual prompts on a tablet computer. In this exploratory study, we investigated how TES influenced parent–child interaction and vocabulary. An experimental pretest-intervention-posttest design was followed with 44 3-year-old children and their parents in the experimental group and 27 peers in the control group. Results revealed that TES fostered active child involvement and generated parent–child interaction, yet a great variety in TES characteristics both in time spent and usage of prompts was found among participants. Dyads that spent more time on story phases showed more and higher quality parent–child interaction. The usage of prompts was associated with improved parent–child interaction quality. Finally, an effect of TES was evidenced on children’s productive vocabulary. To conclude, this study demonstrates that TES can be considered as a promising context for fostering parent–child interaction and children’s vocabulary development.

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Introduction

Vocabulary in preschool children is essential for expressing themselves and communicating with others. Before children enter formal schooling, their vocabulary develops mainly through verbal interaction with parents and other family members (Mol & Neuman, 2014; Vygotsky, 1978; Weizman & Snow, 2001). There is a wide variation in the quantity and quality of parent–child interaction which is, amongst other factors, related to sociolinguistic background. In lower socio-economic status (SES) and multilingual ethnic minority families, generally less parent–child interaction is taking place (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002), and the quality is lower as these parents leave less room for active and challenging child participation (Van Kleeck, Gillam, Hamilton, & McGrath, 1997). As a consequence, vocabularies of children growing up in these families are found to be smaller and develop at a slower rate (Hoff, 2006).

Teaching parents higher-quality interaction skills via traditional training methods used in family literacy programs (FLPs) is challenging (Van Steensel, McElvany, Kurvers, & Herppich, 2011). Therefore, we introduce technology- enhanced storytelling (TES) providing real-time support for parent–child interaction via a tablet computer. This approach was shown successful in a previous study where a digital elaboration image including textual and visual prompts fostered parent–child interaction and children’s vocabulary (Gremmen, Molenaar, & Teepe, 2016). Elaborating on this, we developed the TES activity Jeffy’s Journey. Jeffy’s Journey supports shared verbal storytelling of parent and child with real-time support through a story structure and visual, auditory and textual prompts.

We investigated how parent and child engage in TES and how it influences parent–child interaction and children’s vocabulary. An experimental pretest- intervention-posttest design was followed with 44 3-year-old children and their parents in the experimental group performing Jeffy’s Journey and 27 peers in the control group. In the following literature overview, we first outline the importance of the quantity and quality of parent–child interaction for children’s vocabulary. Subsequently, we elaborate on how technology can support parent–child interaction and consequently influences children’s vocabulary.

Vocabulary development via parent–child interaction

A rich home language environment, in which parents and children are engaged in activities such as shared book reading, storytelling and game play, is important for children’s vocabulary development (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; Korat, Klein, & Segal-Drori, 2007; Mol & Neuman, 2014). Especially, the parent–child interaction

taking place during these activities enhances children’s vocabulary (Van Kleeck et al., 1997; Vygotsky, 1978). The more time parents spent on activities with their child, the more interaction is taking place between them and the more opportunities the child experiences to learn new word meaning and to enlarge existing word knowledge (Hoff, 2006).

In addition to interaction quantity, active child participation is important as demonstrated within the dialogic reading context (Mol, Bus, De Jong, & Smeets, 2008; Zevenbergen & Whitehurst, 2003). Active child participation is especially beneficial for the development of productive vocabulary (Mol et al., 2008), as the child needs to use words in order to acquire productive vocabulary (Sénéchal, Thomas, & Monker, 1995). Parents can use evocative techniques to make their child an active story teller as opposed to a passive listener, for example, by asking open-ended questions to elicit verbal responses and providing feedback (Zevenbergen et al., 2003).

Parents can use and instigate different quality of interaction. They can talk about the here and now by labelling objects and describing characters that are perceptually present (Van Kleeck et al., 1997). This contextualized type of interaction can be extended by decontextualized language that is beyond perceptual presence. Decontextualized language includes for example summarizing story content or making predictions about what will happen in the story. The latter type of language is more challenging and demanding and hence considered to be more beneficial for vocabulary development (Hoff & Naigles, 2002; Van Kleeck et al., 1997).

In lower SES and ethnic minority families, generally, there are fewer materials such as picture books and games available at homes, resulting in less frequent parent–child activities and parent–child interaction (Neuman & Celano, 2001). Moreover, lower SES parents tend to have a more dominant role during interaction with less active child participation (Hoff, 2006). They are more likely to ask contextualized where-questions and what-questions compared to decontextualized why-questions and how-questions (Bus, Leseman, & Keultjes, 2000; Deckner, Adamson, & Bakeman, 2006). As a result, children growing up in these families have smaller vocabularies (Hoff, 2006; Hoff & Naigles, 2002). These families need support to engage in parent–child interaction with increased active child participation and high-quality interaction. One way to provide this support is via FLPs that aim to enhance parent–child interaction via parent meetings during which interaction behavior is trained (Sénéchal & Young, 2008). A review of Van Steensel et al. (2011) on the effects of FLPs demonstrated only a small mean effect of FLPs on children’s vocabulary. It was

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