Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of narrative texts (printed or digital and interactive) on comprehension and opinions of the students about digital and intaractive books. In the research, two different study groups were formed. The first study group consists of 53 fourth-grade students in Nedim Turan Primary School in Afyonkarahisar, Evciler. The second study group consists of 20 students chosen by randomly sampling among the first group. Firstly, the texts used were chosen. All of the 6 similar texts were narrative texts. The texts were determined by Turkish teachers, Class teachers and a field expert. For printed texts 9 narrative texts from Turkish book that was decided to be used in 2014-2015 education year by Ministry of National Education. 3 similar texts out of 9 were chosen. Digital and interactive texts were searched in the publishing houses on the market. 3 similar texts having the same multimedia features were decided. 6 open-ended comprehension questions-based on simple and deep understanding about the storybooks were formed with Turkish teachers, class teachers and a field expert. The students were asked to read 3 digital and interactive texts by tablet PC and 3 texts on printed material two times. After reading books, the students were given comprehension questions about the books and they were asked to answer these questions in written form. Finally, 20 students were interviewed. We tried to get their opinions about the digital and interactive books by 6 questions. There is no statistically meaningful difference between the reading comprehension scores of the students on the digital-interactive texts and the printed texts in paired samples t-test (, p>.05). the reading comprehension scores of the students on the digital-interactive texts were 1,2 points higher than the scores of the printed texts. However, we can not name it as a significant difference statistically. The reason whythe reading comprehension scores of the students on the digital-interactive texts were higher than the scores of the printed texts can stem from students’ first interaction with tablets and reading a multimedia storybook on the tablets. It is thought that the reason why there is no significant difference between reading in print and digital environment is carrying out this research with the study group for the first time and students’ higher motivation. According to the research the students developed a positive attitude towards tablet pc. So the students were enthusiastic about the digital and interactive books. It is assumed that as students get accustomed to tablets, the difference will be lower and by the time tablets will be ordinary like printed books.

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