The effect of tablet usage on kindergarteners’ L2 vocabulary attainment.

Abstract

There is a growing interest in teaching English as a second language (L2) at an early age. Interactive storybook reading is a commonly used L2 input source to teach young children. Although its effectiveness has been empirically proven, it is claimed that children whose lives are technology-immersed prefer to learn with technology, such as playing a digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) application on a tablet. However, there is a lack of consensus on the effect of using tablets on young children’s development. To provide more insight in the effect of tablet use, this study compares the effectiveness of interactive storybook reading with a specific DGBLL application on the attainment of the breadth of L2 vocabulary. The breadth of vocabulary knowledge is definable as the number of words a person knows and comprises receptive- and expressive vocabulary knowledge. A quasi-experimental study, with 78 participating kindergarteners, was conducted. The control group (n = 38) learned English vocabulary through interactive storybook reading. The experimental group (n = 40) encountered the same target words by playing the DGBLL application. To examine which instructional strategy was a more effective medium for learning L2 vocabulary, quantitative data was acquired through a pre-test, a post-test and delayed post-test with a validated researcher-developed receptive- and expressive L2 vocabulary test. Despite the effectiveness of both L2 input types, results showed that interactive storybook reading was more effective in developing receptive- and especially expressive vocabulary knowledge.