Early literacy and family engagement: A cross-country analysis of caregivers’ perceptions of the public library's role in the digital age in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Vietnam

This study aims to explore caregivers’ perceptions of the public library's role in supporting early literacy and family engagement in the digital age in Asia. Family engagement is important from birth through young adulthood, and public libraries matter for family engagement. However, this topic has been little explored in Asian countries. Structured interviews were conducted with librarians, followed by a survey approach to understand what caregivers of five- to 12-year-old children think about the scope of family engagement practices in public libraries in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In total, 454 valid questionnaires were collected. Findings show that caregivers value the importance of public libraries’ role in promoting family engagement in the digital age in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In order to reap the rewards of family engagement practices, public libraries are suggested to build relationships with families through proactively understanding families’ interests and needs, involving families in the library decision-making process, and engaging families in both print-based and digital literacy programmes.

“The screen shows movement – movement is interesting!” exploring effects of multimedia stories on preschool children’s story comprehension and enjoyment

Purpose

Using multimedia and print storybooks, the purpose of this paper is to compare preschool children’s reading engagement with and without adult support.

Design/methodology/approach

A within-subject design is used to explore the effects of multimedia stories in supporting preschool children’s story comprehension and reading enjoyment. A total of 24 children aged five to six years old from a local preschool in Taiwan participated in the experiments.

Findings

A statistical analysis revealed the (non)differences in story comprehension between multimedia and print storybooks, with and without adult support. A content analysis revealed several important themes affecting children’s reading enjoyment. These included multimedia elements (particularly motion and sound effects), haptic perception and the pause function.

Research limitations/implications

Native Chinese speaking children participated in one-to-one sessions in Taiwan. To ascertain the generalizability of the findings presented in this study, further research is encouraged in other cultural contexts and settings.

Practical implications

The paper provides insights into how multimedia and interactive features affect and enhance children’s enjoyment. Recommendations are made to assist library professionals to incorporate digital media into children’s programs.

Originality/value

Children’s reading motivation and engagement are often linked with improved reading attainments. This study elicited a range of perspectives and themes relating to what the children themselves felt influenced their enjoyment when reading print or multimedia storybooks. Findings were analyzed in a theoretical framework of facets of engagement.