The present article provides an overview of the best-selling apps for the age range of 0-8 years under various categories, including 'Kids', 'Books', 'Educational games', 'Family games' and 'Word games' in the two major application stores (Google Play and iTunes App Store) in four economically diverse European countries: Hungary, Turkey, Greece…

In many schools, independent silent reading of self-selected books is used to promote reading. However, self-selection may be insufficient to counter negative reading experiences, particularly when students choose books not attuned to their reading level and interest. Two studies experimentally tested whether personalized expert guidance when…

We compared students from schools with an enriched school library--that is, one with a larger and more up-to-date book collection--with students from schools with a typical school library. We tested effects of an enriched school library on reading motivation, reading frequency, and academic skills. Fourth- and fifth-grade students of 14 schools…

A lack of familiarity with the language of teaching is blamed for illiteracy rates beyond 40% among people who live in nations in Africa or Asia in which dozens of languages are spoken. For a critical test of the importance of familiarity with the language in which initial reading is practiced, we took the Zambian situation as a natural experiment…

This study explored longitudinal associations between early shared reading at 2 to 3 years of age and children's later academic achievement. It examined the mediating role of children's vocabulary and early academic skills, and the moderating effects of family's socioeconomic status. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian…

Background: The dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disorders. In this study, we examined whether diminished anticipatory dopamine cell firing--typical of the long variant of the DRD4 allele--is related to emergent and advanced alphabetic skills, and whether executive…

This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all…

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…