Effect of Electronic Books on Preschoolers’ Development of Emergent Literacy Skills and Interest in Reading in Delta State Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of electronic books on preschoolers’ development of emergent literacy skills and interest in reading in Delta State. The study adopted quasi experimental design. The population consisted of 971 nursery 3 preschoolers from 23 pubic primary schools in the area of study. The sample for the study consisted of 150 (80 females and 70 males) preschoolers from four primary schools in Oshimili South Local Government Education Authority, Delta State. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used first to draw four primary schools and one intact class from each school and to assign schools to experimental and control groups. The study has six specific purposes. Six research questions and six null hypotheses which guided the study. Two instruments namely; Emergent Literacy Skills Performance Test (ELSPT) and Interest in Reading Scale (IRS) were developed and validated by experts. The internal consistency of the ELSPT was computed and found to be 0.94 using Kuder Richardson’s formula (K-R20), while that of IRS was 0.81 using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient method. Before the treatment commenced, the ELSPT and IRS were administered as pre-test to the two groups in each of the sampled schools. The treatment lasted for one month. After the treatment session, the same instrument, with numbers re-arranged, were administered to the subjects to obtain the post-test scores. The data obtained were used in answering the research questions and testing the hypotheses. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated that preschoolers in experimental group had higher post-test mean emergent literacy skills development and interest I reading. Female preschoolers had higher post-test mean emergent literacy skills and interest in reading than their male counterparts. The result also showed that both male and female preschoolers in the experimental group had higher mean emergent literacy skills and higher mean interest in reading. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the study provided empirical evidence of the efficacy of electronic books in enhancing preschoolers’ development of emergent literacy skills and interest in reading. By implication, if preschool teacher adopt electronic books and practice it in their various schools, preschoolers’ development of emergent literacy skills and interest in reading may improve. It was therefore recommended among others that government and other professional bodies should organise workshops, seminars and conferences to educate and sensitise in-service teachers on the use of electronic books in teaching emergent literacy skills.