Digital guidance for susceptible readers: effects on fifth graders' reading motivation and incidental vocabulary learning

Nielen, T.M.J.; Smith, G.G.; Sikkema-de Jong, M.T.; Drobisz, J.; Horne, B. van; Bus, A.G. (2017)

Article / Letter to editor

In this digital era, a fundamental challenge is to design digital reading materials in such a way that they improve children’s reading skills. Since reading books is challenging for many fifth graders—particularly for those genetically susceptible to attention problems—the researchers hypothesized that guidance from a digital Pedagogical Agent (PA) could improve students’ reading motivation and incidental vocabulary learning. Using a sample of 147 fifth-grade students, the researchers carried out a randomized control trial with three groups of students reading: (a) hardcopy (print) books, (b) digital books, and (c) digital books with a PA. For students with a genetic predisposition to attention problems, carriers of the DRD4 seven-repeat allele, the PA supported their incidental vocabulary learning. For noncarriers, there were no effects of the digital reading materials or the PA.

• All authors: Nielen, T.M.J.; Smith, G.G.; Sikkema-de Jong, M.T.; Drobisz, J.; Horne, B. van; Bus, A.G.
• Date: 2017-05-18
• Journal: Journal of Educational Computing Research
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 48 - 73
• DOI: doi:10.1177/0735633117708283