Print and digital media as aids to preschoolers' comprehension

Abstract

The objective of this two-phased study was to design and develop Print Media/ big books and Digital Media/ digital stories and deliver these materials with validated lesson plans and evaluation tools as aids to young learners' comprehension skills. It also looked into the acceptability of these instructional materials produced for preschoolers as assessed by jurors who are experts in the field of early childhood development, arts, language, and Bible. The Print Media/ big books and Digital Media/ digital stories were patterned after suggestions of authorities in the field of big book production, shared reading, digital technology, instructional material development, early childhood education, and mother-tongue-based multi-lingual education. The Print Media/ big books were evaluated as to their acceptability in terms of their content, text layout, illustration, and physical features aspects. The Digital Media/ digital stories were evaluated as to their images, economy, text, voice, and multimedia effects. The entire set of the big books and digital stories were rated "Excellent," thereby showing that the materials were considered to be relevant and suitable to aid the comprehension skills of young learners. Composite weighted means were employed in the evaluation of the materials. Moreover, this study looked into the development of the preschoolers' comprehension after they were exposed to Print and Digital Media. This study was conducted for four to seven weeks. Pretest and Posttest scores were gathered, analyzed, and interpreted. Means were employed to determine the mean scores and mean gain of the pretest and posttest scores of the groups exposed to print and digital media. The t-test for independent samples was employed to determine the significant difference of the mean scores and mean gain of the participants from the pretest to post-test. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to determine the significant increase of the scores from pretest to post-test in each group. The results showed that the participants improved their comprehension skills after exposure to both Print and Digital Media. However, those who were exposed to Digital Media had higher gain, proving that Digital Media seem to be more effective than Print Media.