The use of multimedia story applications on touch-interactive mobile devices
has become prevalent in early education settings. However, despite the promise of multimedia
story applications for early learning outcomes, there has been a dearth of research
on the educational benefits of such tools, and whether their effects can be strengthened
with the integration of questioning strategies. This study investigated the effects of multimedia
story reading and questioning on children’s literacy skills, including vocabulary
learning, story comprehension and reading engagement. Using a 2 (multimedia vs.
paper) 9 2 (question vs. no question) design, a total of 72 participants were randomly
assigned to one of four conditions: multimedia story reading, multimedia story reading
with questioning, paper story reading, and paper story with questioning. To identify the
effects of Media and Questioning on children’s vocabulary learning, story comprehension,
and reading engagement, we conducted a series of two-way ANCOVAs, controlling for
different covariates as appropriate. The results showed significant interaction of media and
questioning on target vocabulary and significant main effect of media for engagement, but
the results showed no significant main effects of either media or questioning for comprehension.
This study demonstrated research tools to examine children’s learning and
engagement with interactive mobile devices, and suggested potential benefits of multimedia
story reading and questioning for learning. We discuss implications of these findings
for the design and use of multimedia storybooks.

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• Effects of multimedia story reading and questioning on preschoolers’ vocabulary learning, story comprehension and reading engagement