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ERIC Number: EJ953035
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0885-6257
EISSN: N/A
Open Access to Living Books on the Internet: A New Chance to Bridge the Linguistic Gap for At-Risk Preschoolers?
van Dijken, Marianne J.; Bus, Adriana G.; de Jong, Maria T.
European Journal of Special Needs Education, v26 n3 p299-310 2011
The Dutch website Bereslim (http:// www.bereslim.nl) provides digital picture storybooks for three- to seven-year-olds for daily use. The present study investigates whether this new opportunity to enhance linguistic development actively assists preschool children from low- and high-educated families in an equal manner. We looked closely at the characteristics of the 1781 persons who visited the Bereslim website between March and October 2006, when the digital books were available free of charge. To get access, visitors had to complete a brief questionnaire about characteristics of the child (date of birth, gender, school and grade) and parents (educational level, membership library, number of storybooks bought in the last six months, and how they found the website), how the child spent his or her leisure time, whether he or she used (new) media (i.e. amount of time and content of shows/ games/books and favourite websites, programs and books), whether the parents participated in different activities from their children and if their children already are familiar with the five books on the site. We found that the bulk of low-educated families who most need this additional opportunity of literacy enhancement were absent. Attempts to create new chances for at-risk children from low-educated families have often failed, as it did this time in another natural experiment. (Contains 2 tables.)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A