The role of the medium for verbal engagement: shared reading in groups with books and apps in Norwegian ECEC-institutions

Figures & data

Table 1. Codes for verbal engagement.

Code label	Code category	Definition	Example^a
Dialogue	Duration	Exchange of opinions, impressions and thoughts where the expressions are interrelated, including responses over several turns	Extract of turn taking (cf. 101appJA4): Teacher: Do you remember, what happened here? Child: He says ‘No’. Teacher: Why did they make a wall? Child: Because, because they made a room so they couldn't argue. Teacher: Yes, why? Child: Because Jacob got all the things he wanted.
Utterance about the narrative	Frequency	Teacher and child comment on the narrative (the verbal content, illustrations, animations, and audio expressions). Also utterances going beyond here-and-now, e.g. imaginations and associations	The verbal engagement about the narrative may be about the topic, for example ‘What has happened [with Yesper & Noper] here?’ (cf. 612bokJA2) or ‘Where is Moomin?’ (cf. 101appMU1). It may also include imaginations and associations, such as ‘Once when I was three years old, Mom and Dad told me that they had sold my stroller, and it made me very sad’ (association to the seller in Yesper & Noper) (cf. 612bokJA2) or ‘If we go to the desert then we have to travel to Africa; to Egypt’ (talking about travel in Yesper & Noper, going on a trip) (cf. 612bokJA2).
Utterances about the medium	Frequency	Teacher or child comments on obstructed view or access; to get a better view; questions about where, when and whom can click/swipe/tap; negotiations on turn-taking	Utterances about the medium may include ‘It’s my turn to click!’ (cf. 101appMU1) or ‘We have to do like this to turn the page’ (cf. 101appMU1). Even though these utterances are expected to be strongly linked to the app-readings, it is likely they also occur in book-readings, for example ‘Do you remember when we clicked on this, on the iPad?’ (cf. 101bokMU3) or ‘And then we did like this with our finger, on the iPad’ (cf. 101bokMU3).

Notes: ¹ The film IDs follow a system by their kindergarten (1–6), teacher (1–12), medium (book or app), title (LU = A fish for Luna; FR = The Seed; MU = How did it go?; JA = Yesper & Noper) and number of reading session (1–4). The film ID 612bokJA2, e.g. refers to kindergarten number six (6), the twelfth teacher (12), medium (book), the title Yesper & Noper (JA) and the teacher’s second reading. The film IDs are used as references for qualitative data material.

Table 2. Overall utterances on the narrative and medium in app- versus book-readings.

	App-readings		Book-readings
	frequency	Percentage	frequency	Percentage
Utterances on narrative	4.874	79.2%	5.394	94.4%
Utterances on medium	1.281	20.8%	320	5.6%
Total	6.155	100.0%	5.714	100.0%

Table 3. Participants of utterances on the narrative and medium in app- versus book-readings.

		App-readings		Book-readings
		frequency	Percentage	frequency	Percentage
Children	Utterances on narrative	2.611	22.0%	3.019	25.4%
	Utterances on medium	710	6.0%	165	1.4%
Teachers	Utterances on narrative	2.263	19.1%	2.375	20.0%
	Utterances on medium	571	4.8%	155	1.3%

Table 4. Utterances on the narrative and medium by participants in low- versus high-interactivity apps.

		App-readings
		Low-interactivity apps		High-interactivity apps
		frequency	Percentage	frequency	Percentage
Children	Utterances on narrative	1.397	11.8%	1.214	10.2%
	Utterances on medium	182	1.5%	528	4.4%
Teachers	Utterances on narrative	977	8.2%	1.286	10.8%
	Utterances on medium	114	1.0%	457	3.9%