How to Make Reading a Habit with Interactive Books. Introduction of BOOKR’s Methodology

Reading aloud to children at an early age is the most effective way to boost their imagination, expand their vocabulary, and teach them to recognize written words. Later on, children who have developed strong reading skills perform better in school and have a healthier self-image.
reading habit

They are more likely to become lifelong learners and sought-after employees. Reading also expands children’s understanding of the world and how they can cope with difficulties, challenges, as well as differences between people, ideas, and cultures. It’s both possible and important to include reading in our everyday lives in all stages of childhood: when children focus on literacy activities they enjoy, reading will be seen as a treat, not a chore. 

Simultaneously, the impact of new technological mediums on the young population is indisputable, as well as the growing popularity of digital devices. Available sources of media content have multiplied and the range of mass media “storytellers” has expanded, which affect young children’s reading habits, and the way they listen to stories.

Kids read less than ever before. Therefore, studies have shown that they are likely to have more text interpretation and reading comprehension problems. It is the creators’, publishers’, developers’, researchers’, and education experts’ responsibility to identify and develop new potential 21st century educational strategies that support better reading education. BOOKR Kids‘ reading apps help achieve this goal by communicating classic storybooks in new, more engaging ways while also building on contemporary children’s literature and illustration trends. 

bookrclass admin

As BOOKR Kids’ digital e-books can be used in both a traditional and alternative learning environment, they are perfect for preserving and building reading and storytelling traditions, which are essential for the reader to connect and have a deeper, more profound experience of the story. Displaying stories with still and moving images, BOOKR apps aim to teach reading and inspire even the youngest users to learn different types and levels of both verbal and visual language.

BOOKR is designed for teachers by teachers. To help children reach their full potential, BOOKR follows a methodology proven effective through research. We’ve designed the texts and activities to be used for individual and classroom learning. The illustrations and animations support the understanding of the texts, but don’t distract from reading. And the educational games allow for practise of the linguistic elements in a focused, fun and entertaining way.

Empirical research conducted in 2019 by the Ministry of Education in Hungary in partnership with Eötvös Loránd University, University of Szeged, and Corvinus University has shown that BOOKR Kids’ interactive books that offer new language, visual, communication and performative qualities, among others, can sustain the attention of the recipient in the long run and can be successfully incorporated into the process of child-rearing, education, and self-improvement. The studies were done on kindergarten-aged children with normal abilities and hard of hearing children and their educators who mediated the tales.

bookrclass results

Results

  • Students working with BOOKR interactive books were, on average, 15-20% more successful in various aspects of reading and comprehension than those reading from print books only.
  • Multimedia elements that appear automatically improve children’s reading comprehension and word learning (especially for at-risk children).

+ Nonverbal information clarifies the abstract language of the story.

  • Disadvantaged groups of children might be even more sensitive to these benefits;
  • Better recall with the help of animated vs. static illustrations (children recalled more content words and more story points);
  • More focus on the parts in motion in the animated vs. in the static illustrations.

-> Elements in motion attract children’s attention.

-> If elements that are central to the story are highlighted with the help of motion, animation can contribute to children’s comprehension.

BOOKR Class platform concept

Storytelling for kids in English is more important than ever, which is why we at BOOKR Kids have created the new generation of graded readers. BOOKR Class is the ultimate tool to teach and improve English language learning: an easy-to-use gamified library application for students, coupled with a teacher’s dashboard displaying real-time statistics. The following paragraphs will present the most important features of the BOOKR solution.

Screen from the Teachers’ Dashboard

2-in-1 solution

  • Easy-to-use e-book library application with interactive storybooks and games for mobile, tablet and Desktop
  • Teachers Dashboard to follow learners’ reading performance and assign books for them
  • Fully offline and semi-offline solution if the learners have no internet access

Multimedia features of the interactive books

bookrclass feature
  • Illustration

A good illustration not only establishes the atmosphere of a story and depicts the topic but also makes the characters come alive, thus laying the foundations for contextual, organic learning.

  • Animation and zooming

The movement of some of the images in our interactive books catches the eye of the reader and develops comprehension skills without drawing too much attention away from the linguistic features of the story.

  • Text highlighting

Text highlighting draws the reader’s attention to the words being read and helps the reader follow along at the same pace as the narrator.

  • Narration

Narration by professional voice-over artists facilitates the improvement of oral language comprehension skills and pronunciation.

  • Educational games

Age-relevant and fun-to-do games are created by teachers with a playful layout and encouraging feedback to motivate learners. Besides global comprehension checks, many activities are included to practice reading for specific information and games to make sure students understand stylistically different linguistic items and structures. 

  • Interactive Features
    • Hotspots
    • Games (Gamification)
    • Dictionary

Supporting materials for teachers:

  • Classroom materials to facilitate teacher success;
  • Reporting tools to help teachers and administrators monitor and assess student performance;
  • Supplemental educational resources including teacher guides, recommended classroom or project activities, visual support materials and worksheets (Project-Based Learning).

The curriculum of the supplementary, complementary library (BOOKR Class):

  • World-famous stories in English, adapted to the linguistic needs of language learners, from beginner to intermediate levels (recommended age group: 3-12);
  • Contemporary nonfiction and fiction stories written for language learning and reading comprehension development purposes;
  • Educational games and exercises (spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening and reading, grammar and chunks, reading comprehension, useful expressions, mazes, coloring, puzzles, “find the difference,” etc.);
  • BOOKR is in partnership with Oxford University Press to provide classic world literature for young learners (The Jungle Book, Around the World in Eighty Days, Romeo and Juliet, The Wizard of Oz, etc.).

Additional pedagogical-methodological elements:

  • Differentiation:
    • The app allows several ways of organizing teaching and learning techniques (paired work, small group work, cooperative learning organizing procedures).
  • Enhancing opportunities:
    • Interactive books allow the educator to incorporate the differences in learning abilities in the classroom and mitigate socioeconomic and socio-cultural disadvantages. Simultaneously, the still images and motion pictures inspire them to implement visual reading as a part of their literature lessons.
  • Unity of concretes and abstractions:
    • BOOKR Kids’ app allows for making even abstract parts of the classes entertaining and activity-oriented for children, determining learning outcomes based on psychological development.
  • Competency-based learning 
    • We use assessment tools (like Lexile Leveling in BOOKR Class) in order to make learners move from one learning level to the next higher level based on their demonstration of knowledge rather than based on time spent on a specific level.