The use of digital technology has rapidly expanded. Given the increasing influence of technology, researchers have begun to examine how media affects the early childhood development of cognitive abilities, including reading. Current research shows there are benefits of developmentally appropriate, educationally-intended technology. 2 For example, the monitored use of computers provides engaging, interactive activities that positively correlate with an increase in achievement.5 Therefore, the use of appropriate educational computer programs should improve the three critical components of emergent literacy: alphabet knowledge, print awareness, and phonological awareness.
Children participate in Piaget’s second stage of development, the preoperational stage, during early childhood ages two to seven. The preoperational stage is marked by the expansion of symbolic thought illustrated through language. 5 Reading involves decoding symbols to derive meaning, with the purpose of language acquisition, communication, and sharing of information. 4 Children begin with emergent literacy, which is the development of fundamental skills leading to the ability to read. 5 Emergent literacy involves three critical components: alphabet knowledge, print awareness, and phonological awareness.1 Alphabet knowledge is the understanding of letters.1 Print awareness is the understanding of the structure of written language. Lastly, phonological awareness is the awareness and understanding of sound structure. 1 A child’s ability to read depends on the successful expansion and integration of these three skills. In this technological age, computers may aid the development of emergent literacy.
Technology has been pervasive in the lives of adults, and more recently, has been spilling over into the lives of children and into the pillars of education. Due to this expansion, research should examine the effects of technology use in the critical cognitive periods of early childhood. Current research suggests that the influence media exposure has on children is content-and-time dependent.5 Television programs, including educational ones, have shown no significant improvement in emergent literacy, and excessive television viewing has shown to impede attentional development. 5 However, possible explanations for this could be the passive reception of television as well as the displacement of positive learning activities for countless hours of television. Therefore, a more engaging, interactive technology, such as computers, may improve early reading skills if appropriately monitored. This idea begs the question can technology, more specifically computers, be beneficial to the development of reading skills?
A randomized controlled trial would be one way to examine whether computer use during early childhood is beneficial or harmful to the development of reading. There should be a sample size of 100 children ages three to five, which are considered the ages of critical reading growth. 5 All 100 children will take an initial reading test in order to attain a baseline reading skill level by measuring all three components of emergent literacy through letter recognition, word sounds, vocabulary tasks, and print awareness tasks, including capital letter identification as well as identification of print and pictures. After the baseline reading test, 50 children will receive intervention consisting of five 30-minute sessions per week for 8 weeks of monitored computer tablet use during which the children will use interactive language apps. The control group, consisting of the remaining 50 children, will use a workbook during the 30-minute sessions. After 8 weeks each group will take a second test to assess any change in reading skills. This test will have the same components as the first test, but will have different content in order to prevent any retest bias. The hypothesis for this study is that if computer use is monitored and educationally-targeted, children should show an increase in emergent literacy. The results should show an increase in test scores in the intervention group.
I think the results will show that monitored, educationally appropriate computer use will improve early childhood reading skills such as alphabet knowledge, print awareness, and phonological awareness. Reading requires continuous practice and engagement. Computers provide an interactive activity that can make learning fun for children and thus, keep them engaged. The more engaged a child is, the more apt they will be to practice, and therefore; the child may acquire reading skills faster and more efficiently. Computer keyboards provide a hands-on interaction with letters that should promote alphabet knowledge. Computers, such as tablets, allow children to be more interactive with the print by writing messages and tracing letters, theoretically improving print awareness. 2 This software should also promote phonological awareness by providing target specific activities such as phoneme-segmentation. 2 Computer programs are unique in providing immediate, corrective feedback as well as progress tracking to provide more practice on areas that need improvement. 4 Computers can be used to tailor the learning experience to each child in the classroom. Additionally, computers weave together the multiple components of emergent literacy into one context. Reading is an integration of different literacy skills, so learning some of these skills together should improve a child’s ability to perform these skills simultaneously. I think the intervention group in this experiment will show a significant improvement in test scores in all three of these areas (phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge) compared to the control group. Lastly, I think the use of computers provide an opportunity for social learning which has been shown as an important factor in the development of literacy. 5 I think the intervention group with show increased social interaction during computer learning. Children may offer suggestions and ideas to work together to solve problems and improve learning. 2 Given the computer use is limited, and target specific, I do not think there will be any harmful results. The results of this study should be congruent to the hypothesis that if computer use is monitored and educationally-targeted, children should show an increase in emergent literacy.
Assuming the results in this study show the positive impact computer use can have on the development of reading skills during early childhood, I would recommend that families incorporate computer use into children’s education. With the persistent use of technology in everyday life, children would benefit from becoming literate through technology as well as print. Program content has been shown to be an important mediator in the effects of media exposure in children. 5 Therefore limiting screen time and selecting well-designed, age appropriate programs should maximize the benefits of media and prevent harm. 5 I would recommend incorporating the computer use into the current educational activities and not simply replace current methods. Doing so will allow children to still learn necessary skills such as turning pages of a book right to left, how to hold a book correctly, and learning to write by hand. 3 Overall, responsible media use should increase academic achievement in children with limited harmful effects when used in conjunction with non-technological methods, making use during early childhood beneficial to the development of reading skills.