Parent–child interactions during traditional and computer storybook reading for children’s comprehension: Implications for electronic storybook design

The purpose of this study was to examine how parents and children interact during traditional and computer storybook reading in their home. Thirty-nine, 4-year old children read both a traditional and a computer storybook with a parent. Parent responsiveness and child verbalizations were coded during each type of book reading experience (traditional vs. computer). Parents’ interactions during traditional and computer storybooks were similar for many variables but differed on overall parent engagement in favor of computer storybooks. Children’s story comprehension scores were not significantly different between the two types of storybooks. For both types of storybooks, child attention, child language, and parent engagement were significant predictors of story comprehension. Our results suggest that a storybook is a storybook, whether the story is presented on paper or electronically, although the ways in which parents and children engage with the storybooks may differ as a function of the platform.