The Effect of Shared Book Reading and Video Viewing on Preschool Children's Vocabulary and Knowledge Acquisition in Informational Text

An experimental study was conducted to examine the effects of shared book reading and video viewing on preschoolers' vocabulary and knowledge acquisition in informational text. The study included 60 preschool children who were randomly assigned to three experimental groups --shared book reading group, video viewing group, and shared book reading plus video viewing group. The content in the book and the video clip was equivalent, since the book was an exact transcript of the video, meaning children received the same information content and similar visual images in both media. What was varied was that the images in the print version were static while in the video were animated with music, which represented the distinct differences between the two media. Baseline vocabulary and knowledge measures about the content of the book/video were administered to all children prior to the experiment. After the pretests, children in the shared book reading group were read aloud the book twice, children in the video viewing group watched the video clip twice, and children in the shared book reading plus video viewing group were read aloud the book once and then watched the video once. Thereafter, children's vocabulary and knowledge acquisition were assessed. The Simple Slopes Analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the groups on the dependent variables of vocabulary and knowledge, controlling for the pretest scores, TOPEL, age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status (SES). In terms of vocabulary acquisition, the results demonstrated that there were significant differences between the shared book reading and two-media groups, and between the shared book reading group and the video viewing group when children's scores were one standard deviation below the mean, with better outcomes for children in the two-media and video viewing groups. Also, there was a significant difference between the shared book reading group and video viewing group when children's pretest scores were at the mean, with better outcomes for children in the video viewing group. As for knowledge acquisition, there were significant differences between the shared book reading group and video viewing group, as well as between the two-media group and the video viewing group when children's pretest scores were one standard deviation above the mean, with better outcomes for children in the video viewing group. Cross-classified generalized random-effects (CCGRE) models were used to explore the extent to which the repetition frequencies and difficulty levels of the words influenced vocabulary acquisition. After controlling the pretest scores, both word repetition frequency and difficulty level explained the variance on vocabulary acquisition, with difficulty level explaining more variance than repetition frequency. The discussion of the findings and null findings is followed by limitations and suggestions for future research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]