| The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to examine the influence of CD-ROM storybooks in the 'Read to me' mode on five-year-olds' letter identification, concepts about print, word recognition, retellings, and comprehension questions individually and in pairs.;The study took place in an early childhood center in a university setting during a ten-week period. Data sources included: (a) pre-assessment and post-assessment tasks using a Letter Identification Test, Concepts About Print (CAP), and a Word Recognition Test involving key vocabulary; (b) digital voice recordings of oral retellings and responses to open-ended comprehension questions; (c) transcripts of the digital voice recordings; and (d) observational notes and video recordings of individual and student pairs listening to eight CD-ROM storybooks.;Thirteen participants' pretest scores on the letter identification task, concepts about print task, and the word recognition task were compared to their posttest scores on the same tasks. Participants' comprehension of the storybooks was measured by their oral retelling and their responses to open-ended questions. The oral retellings were analyzed using Morrow's (2001) Qualitative Analysis of Story Retelling. Participants' responses to the open-ended comprehension questions were analyzed using a three point system. Fifteen points were the maximum score possible for each set of comprehension questions per story.;The results of this study indicate that CD-ROM storybooks in the 'Read to me' mode influenced five-year-olds to some extent as was shown in the three assessment tasks of letter identification, concepts about print, and word recognition. The participants in this study tended to demonstrate greater comprehension by their responses to questions, more than through their oral retellings. However, opportunities to respond to stories via questions and answers, as well as, oral retellings appear to be promising means for emergent readers to demonstrate their understanding of stories heard and viewed through the CD-ROM genre. |
