Motion and Sound in Animated Storybooks for Preschoolers’ Visual Attention and Mandarin Language Learning: An Eye-Tracking Study With Bilingual Children

Abstract

This study examined the role of the “animated eBook advantage” in child bilingual’s Mandarin learning, which has tended to be examined in the acquisition of Germanic languages. With this aim, 102 4-to 5-year-old preschoolers in Singapore were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) animated eBooks (+sound+motion), (b) static eBooks with sound, (c) static eBooks only, and (d) a control condition where children played a math game on an iPad. Three stories were displayed to children each for four times over 2 weeks, while visual attention was traced with an eye tracker. Children’s target words and story comprehension were assessed for the effects of the intervention conditions. The results revealed that children in the animated condition outperform their counterparts in total fixation duration, target word production, and storytelling of one of the stories (Cycling With Grandpa). There were no consistent differences between the two static conditions. Our results indicate the importance of motion in animated eBook design, in line with previous findings.