Running Head: E-Books Effect On Comprehension 1
Running Head: E-Books Effect On Comprehension 1
Running Head: E-Books Effect On Comprehension 1
Ariel Morales
A. Introduction
In recent years, reading has evolved from paper-based text to electronic based texts or e-
books which has led to an increase in the use of tablets and e-readers. In 2014, a nationally
representative survey of over 1500 U.S. parents found that 62% of 2- to 10-year-olds had access
to either a tablet or an e-reader for electronic reading at home, and parents reported that about
half of those children were regularly engaged in electronic reading (Rideout, 2014).
In conducting this action research, it is my hope to explore the impact, if any, that
electronic books have on reading comprehension. E-texts are defined as any written text
available to read on a tablet, phone or similar device. Technology has changed the way in which
we read and perceive text. With emerging technology and electronic texts gaining popularity it
can be difficult to distinguish what determines a high-quality, effective e-book. Zipke (2014)
offers guidance, examples, and makes references to reviews and studies throughout her article.
The research evaluation is organized into four parts, the interaction, sounds, navigation, and skill
instruction associated with the app. Using students and her own personal judgment she is able to
review and evaluate several e-texts. In addition to knowing students learning styles, Zipke states
texts and the fast-paced evolution of technology that students are and will be experiencing.
Technology is an integral part of life in the 21st century which is why it is important that
educators prepare their students for the world they will be encountering in the work force.
B. Purpose
With the rise of technology and the use of tablet devices in the classroom this action
research has relevance to 21st Century learning. Technology must have purpose and should
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enhance the learning experience, which is the purpose of this study. This study will investigate
the use of e-books in classrooms and determine their effectiveness specifically answering the
question: what effect does reading electronic texts (e-texts) have on comprehension in an
The methodology used will be a Primary Research Data Collection on students’ reading
comprehension in the form of recorded anecdotal notes taken during the sessions and a
comprehension scoring rubric. In conducting the research, I hope to present an electronic copy of
a book as well as a physical copy of the same book to elementary aged students. After presenting
the book, the students will answer pre-determined comprehension questions in the form of a dice
game. These students will be chosen based on their current reading level and their age.
It is anticipated that the results of this research will show that e-books will have little to
no effect on comprehension. Given the low number of participants it will be difficult to conclude
and generalize the results of the study. It is further proposed that students may get distracted with
the e-book features which may make it difficult for students to focus and comprehend the text.
There is still much research to be done on e-books and their impact on education.
C. Review of Literature
Research conducted regarding e-books and their effect of comprehension involves many
components including: reading across grade levels, parent involvement, global use of
technology, and using technology as an instructional strategy. The studies reviewed below touch
upon the use of e-book in the classroom and the various components mentioned above.
Dore et al. (2018) write about the importance of parent involvement in reading and study
the affect that parent involvement has on children who read e-books. The study compares
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 4
read the e-book to their children, independent with audio, in which children read the e-book
independently with audio narration, and independent without audio, in which children read the e-
book independently but do not have audio narration. After reading the book, children were asked
to freely recall the story, retell the story page by page, and answer story comprehension
questions. A total of 135 four- and five-year-old children, 67 of which were girls, participated in
the study. Participants were recruited by telephone and email from databases of families willing
predominately white, middle-class, and monolingual. Parents provided written informed consent,
and children provided verbal assent before entering the testing room. All children received a
certificate of appreciation and a sticker after completing the study. The results suggested that
children comprehend some content from e-books using audio narration, indicating that using e-
books independently may be a worthwhile activity for preliterate children while caregivers are
otherwise occupied. However, results also show that children recall the most information about
This article was very easy to read and did a good job of explaining the research in a
straightforward and clear manner. I also really liked the use of pre-readers in this study and think
that the researchers did an excellent job of recognizing the children by giving them a sticker and
a certificate after the study. One thing that I questioned was the use of only one demographic. It
might have been interesting to see the difference that ethnicity could have made on the study. It
also would have been interesting to see this study performed with first or second grade students,
as they are still developing early literacy skills. This article is very relevant to my research as I
will be conducting a survey focused on the use of e-books in the classroom and at home. The
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 5
idea that parents are a vital part of the reading process and play an important role in a child’s
learning to read is not newfound information but the use of e-books has truly shaped the course
of the upcoming generation and their concept of print. It is important that teachers and parents
realize that the use of e-books is not to be passive but that actively reading aloud with an e-book
Recently, electronic books (e-books) have become prevalent amongst the general
population and are beginning to make their way into schools all over the world. In South Africa,
a number of schools have integrated tablets into the classroom with the promise of replacing
traditional books (Sackstein, Spark, and Jenkins, 2015). In order to realize the potential of e-
books and their associated devices within an academic context, where reading speed and
comprehension are critical for academic performance and personal growth, the effectiveness of
reading from a tablet screen should be evaluated. This is the focus of the study conducted by
Sackstein et al. (2015). In conducting the study, the researchers asked the questions “are students
able to comprehend information read from the screen of an iPad as effectively as they are able to
from paper?” and “are students able to read as quickly from an iPad screen as they are able to
from paper?”. They conducted “quasi-experimental research using a within subjects design”
(Sackstein et al., 2015) in order to compare the reading speed and comprehension performance of
68 African students. The results of this study indicated that the majority of participants read
faster on an iPad. It was also found that comprehension scores did not differ significantly
between the two media. For students, these results provide evidence that tablets and e-books are
suitable tools for reading and learning, and therefore, can be used for academic work. For
educators, the research suggests that e-books can be introduced without concern that reading
This article was very interesting as it gave a global perspective to reading e-books and
comprehension. The researchers did an excellent job of supporting their research with other
research and broke down the concepts of comprehension, reading speed, and fluency in a clear
and concise manner. I really enjoyed reading this article and found it to be straightforward and
easy to follow. However, I wondered whether studying 68 students was enough to generalize e-
texts and their effect on comprehension. The authors reflected upon the small sample used in the
study and labeled it as a limitation. Another limitation to the study was attributed to the varied
prior levels of exposure to using iPads in an educational context. The authors state that it may
have influenced the results of the Reading Speed and Comprehension Scores (Sackstein et al.,
2015). The findings of this article were beneficial for my research as I plan to research the effects
of e-text on comprehension. For the future, it might be interesting to look what effect e-texts
have according to culture or even study the effectiveness of e-texts in learning a new language.
E-texts are on the rise across grade levels. Schugar, Smith, and Schugar (2013) conduct a
review of e-texts for students in grades k-6 across different content areas. Using previously
published studies and surveys from other researchers as well as personal experiences, the authors
look at various e-texts and review how teachers can effectively implement them in the
classroom. After reviewing various e-books, the authors were able to rate the book based on
vocabulary and inference support, ratio of supportive interactions to distracting interactions, time
many of the texts reviewed had unnecessary interactions and distracting components. The
authors imply that understanding student learning styles and previewing texts are key
These reviews were clear and well defined, while the tips given were research based. The
authors also did a good job of assessing books for various grade levels and across content areas.
However, there is no set study being conducted. It is simply a review built upon others research.
This article will be useful in referencing upper elementary texts as well as determining what an
effective e-book looks like in the action research study. In terms of future research, I would like
(2017) 79 first grade students from different classrooms of four different elementary schools
were considered “skilled readers”, 32 “average”, and 38 “poor”. During instruction, e-books with
audio support were used to support learning. In result, teacher word explanations led to greater
word learning compared to when word explanation was not provided. One major limitation in
this study was the lack of empirical evidence concerning the extent to which e-books can
increase vocabulary abilities of young children with varied reading abilities. However, it is
further stated by the researcher that (1) incidental word learning is not likely to occur after a
single exposure of the e-book with audio narration support, (2) word explanation is an important
addition to the e-book with audio narration support in order to increase word learning, and (3) a
differentiated in order for struggling readers to maximize their word learning from the e-book
reading activities. This study contributes an educational implication of how to effectively use e-
books with audio narration support by providing empirical research evidences of e-book reading
This article was very well written and very clear in its objective in determining whether
e-books were effective in vocabulary building. The author also does a good job of making the
research clearly defined and represented in the data charts and graphs. However, the researcher
only gave teachers 30 minutes of preparation time before sending in the students for instruction. I
wondered if the results might differ if there were more preparation time for teachers. Overall, the
article was very well written and clear to follow. The topic was interesting, captivating, and
relevant to the research project I will be conducting related to the effective use of e-texts in the
elementary classroom. This article, written in 2017, was very recent and up to date. However,
there was still mention of lack of research done regarding e-texts. It would be interesting to know
D. Methodology
conduct the research with some of my students. I grouped students based on their assessment
scores, observations, and current reading levels. I then chose two students for each group. The
first group was made up of “high” readers. The second group was made up of “middle” readers,
and the third group was made up of “low” readers. The high readers were reading above grade
level expectations and excelled in reading. The middle readers were those reading at grade level.
Finally, low readers were those reading below grade level and are considered at risk.
Student A in each group was given an e-book version of Dr. Seuss’s “The Cat in the
Hat” and was asked to answer pre-written comprehension questions in the form of a dice game.
Conversely, Student B was given the physical version of “The Cat in the Hat” and participated in
the same game. The game required the students to roll a dice and answer the correlating question.
For example, if the student rolled a 1, they were required to answer a question regarding the
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 9
setting. (See Appendix B). Students using the e-book were given direct instruction as to how to
use the iPad device and read the e-book. All the students experienced a read-aloud and were able
to follow along with their own copy of the book regardless of their reading level.
Apart from the research conducted, literature reviews were completed in order to gain
background knowledge of the topic and insight as to research previously conducted on the topic.
The findings of these literature reviews are written in the above section.
E. Findings
Comprehension Scores
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
High Level Readers Middle Readers Low Readers
Student A of the high leveled readers had read the book before and gave sufficient
Similarly, Student B of the high leveled readers reported having read the book before and gave
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 10
sufficient responses. Interestingly, they tended to go above and beyond the expectations giving
more detail than was expected and received a score of 18 out of 18.
Student A of the middle level readers or on grade level readers had read the book before
and seemed intrigued by the e-book. They enjoyed the narration and images presented in the e-
book. When asked the questions however, the student was unable to give ample detail on some
of the questions and only received an overall score of 13 out of the expected 18. When given the
physical text, Student B of the middle level readers was only somewhat familiar with the text.
However, the student was able to answer the questions in sufficient detail and received a score of
15 out of 18.
Finally, Student A of the low or at-risk readers was given the e-book and seemed to get
distracted easily. They reported knowing the story and having read it before. However, the
student was unable to give sufficient detail and only received a score of 9 out of the expected 18.
Further, Student B was able to answer in sufficient detail and earned a score of 15 out of 18. The
student had read the book before and seemed familiar with the story.
In reviewing the data, there seemed to be a slight difference in the scoring from e-book to
physical text. The students who read from the e-book earned lower scores than those who read
from the physical text. It must be noted however, that given the small number of participants
there can be no conclusion as to whether or not the e-book has an effect on readers’
comprehension.
F. Recommendations
Given the results of this research, I would like to see the effects of e-books on
comprehension on a wider scale. I only used 6 students in this study, and they were all at the
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 11
elementary level. It would be beneficial to have more participants as well as varied ages and
grade levels. These limitations make it hard to generalize and make conclusions. Further, I
realized that I had failed to survey the students previous experience with e-books. If I were to
conduct this study again, I would definitely be sure to survey the participants.
Concerning this field of research, there is still much research to be conducted. It would be
interesting to see if there are any current studies being conducted regarding the effects of e-
books. I would also be interested to see the varied responses to e-book based on generational
norms. Further it would be good to conduct research on how often e-books are used in the
classroom. Technology is consistently evolving and developing which can make researching it
difficult.
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G. References
Dore, R.A., Hassinger-das, B., Brezack, N., Valladares, T.L., Paller, A., Vu, L....Hirsh-Pasek, K.
Isaacson, Sarah. (2017). The impact of interface on ESL reading comprehension and strategy
Lee, S. (2017). Learning vocabulary through e-book reading of young children with various
Rideout, V. (2014). Learning at home: Families educational media use in America. The Joan
Sackstein, S., Spark, L., & Jenkins, A. (2015). Are e-books effective tools for learning? Reading
speed and comprehension: iPad vs. paper. South African Journal of Education, 35(4).
Schugar, H. Smith, C. Schugar, J. (2013). Teaching with interactive picture books in grades k-6.
Zipke, A. (2014). Building an e-book library: Resources for finding the best apps. The Reading
Teacher. 67(5).
E-BOOKS EFFECT ON COMPREHENSION 13
H. Appendix
0: The student gives no 1: The student gives 1-2 2: The student gives 3-5 3. The student gives more
Scoring descriptive details and descriptive details and descriptive details and than 5 descriptive details.
Guidelines: does not stay focused stays mostly focused on stays only focused on the Some details are evident
on the question the question question of inference and go
beyond the text’s literal
meaning
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Total: