Litterært engasjement og innlevelse i bildebokapper: En empirisk studie av applesing i barnehagen.

The study investigates the literary experience when children read picture book apps in small groups in kindergarten. The researchers are looking at how an aesthetic way of reading can be expressed in readers' engagement and immersion. The research questions are: 1) What creates this engagement among the children? 2) How is engagement maintained in interaction with the kindergarten teacher who leads the reading?

The analysis shows that different forms of narratives have different potential for immersion: When the app has a causally driven action, the soundtrack emphasises the excitement of what is going to show up in the next picture. A more drawn-out storyline, on the other hand, leaves more room for children to tap on the screen and explore the narrative space without interfering with the course of the story. The researchers behind the study claim that digital reading adds sensory experiences in the form of multimodal meaning resources and interactivity, which at its best can interact with the distinctive nature of the story.

The reading sessions analysed in this study were filmed in connection with the innovation project Books and apps: Development of Assessment Tools for E-books for Children (VEBB). The researchers selected 24 video recordings of reading situations involving picture book apps in six different kindergartens. The kindergarten teachers put together the reading groups (four- and five-year-old boys and girls with sufficient language skills to enjoy participating in conversational reading) and designed the reading situation. The groups read four different apps, which were selected to represent variation in the degree of interactivity.

Hoel, T. & Tønnessen, E. S. (2021). "Litterært engasjement og innlevelse i bildebokapper: En empirisk studie av applesing i barnehagen". Barnelitterært forskningstidsskrift, 12(1):1-12.