Date Approved

6-23-2005

Embargo Period

4-11-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Teaching

Department

Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Robinson, Randall

Subject(s)

Children's electronic books; Reading comprehension

Disciplines

Elementary Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether electronic text storybooks, when compared to printed storybooks, affect students' comprehension skills. Reading comprehension is a process by which the reader constructs meaning with the text. With electronic texts, the computer is able to control the number of words that are displayed to allow the student to read at their own pace. Dramatization along with special text features used in electronic storybooks presents the text in a way that differs from the traditional printed storybook. These changes grasp the readers' attention both visually and verbally. Eliminating the decoding of the text also permits the student to focus on comprehension. Whether the text is printed or electronic may impact the student's reading comprehension skills. This was a quantitative study that was based solely on the results of comprehension test scores. The scores compared the printed text group with the electronic text group.

After analysis of the scores, the central tendency scores were significantly higher in electronic storybook group versus the traditional text group. The mean, median, and the mode averaged between 8 and 12 points higher on the reading comprehension tests in the electronic storybook group. However, a t test for independent samples was also analyzed, but proved to be not significant at the .05 probability level.

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