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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

IGEL Society for the Empirical Study of Literature biennial conference at The Reading Centre, Univ. of Stavanger, July 2018

Alternative title: Books and apps: evaluating e-books for use in dialogue-based reading in kindergarten

Awarded: NOK 0.14 mill.

Digital technologies are becoming more widely used in Norwegian kindergartens. Touch screen tablets, like iPads, are considered particularly user-friendly for use with young children due to the touch-based interface. As interactive multimedia devices, tablets provide different possibilities for storytelling than print picture books. There is a great variety of interactive storybook apps (also called e-books), and they differ significantly with respect to technological and modal affordances: some add animations and soundtrack to its print counterpart and keep the story intact, whereas others depart from the narrative in the print book to create a more game-like experience. In a kindergarten context, an interesting question is whether different kinds of storybook apps provide the same support in language focused reading activities as traditional print picture books. In what ways does the materiality of the medium matter in dialogue-based reading? The VEBB innovation will result in a research-based online evaluation tool of storybook apps which takes into consideration key parameters in children's and adults' use of picture books and apps during dialogue-based group activities in kindergarten (primarily, 4-5 year olds). These parameters will include audiovisual and ergonomic (haptic and tactile) affordances of the medium as well as motor, attentional-perceptual, socioemotional and cognitive dimensions of children and adults in shared reading settings, and will be established based on an observational study (fall 2017). Based on the findings of the study, as well as on analyses and evaluation of the quality and significant features of the books and apps (e.g., form and structure, multimodality, aesthetics, narrative style, interactivity), the online tool will aim to capture dimensions of the medium which are key to successful adult-led dialogue-based reading activities with children in kindergarten.

IGEL (The International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature // Internationale Gesellschaft für Empirische Litteraturwissenschaft) is an association of researchers sharing an interest in empirical research on the nature, effects and implications of literary reading. The Society is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together scholars and scientists from the humanities, social sciences and the natural sciences, all involved in empirical research on, e.g., associations between literary reading and empathy, the effects of digitization on emotional aspects of literary reading, and the potential of poetry reading for promoting mental health. The Society has biennial conferences alternating between Europe and USA/Canada. The conference typically attracts 100-130 researchers from the US, Canada, Japan, China, in addition to European scholars. Keynotes (all confirmed): - Prof. Lydia Kokkola (Chair of English and Education, Luleå Univ. of Technology, SE) - Prof. Phil Davis (Director of the Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society, Univ. of Liverpool, UK) and Dr. Jane Davis (Director, The Reader Organization, UK) - Prof. Karina van Dalen Oskam (Head of Dept of Literary Studies, Univ of Amsterdam, NL) - Dr. Frank Hakemulder (media studies researcher, Utrecht Univ. NL and former president of IGEL) Keynotes are selected on the basis of their innovative contributions to empirical research on literary reading in the following topical areas: - relevance for education (Kokkola) - relevance for mental health (Davis; Hakemulder) - bridging empirical research on literary reading with digital humanities (van Dalen Oskam) This is the first time the international IGEL conference is hosted in a Nordic country. Hence, it will continue to foster and solidify joint scholarly work on empirical research on literary reading in this region. An important step in this work was the NOS-HS exploratory workshop grant awarded Dr. Mangen in 2013.

Funding scheme:

FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam