Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
3-30-2021
Abstract
The study adopted an ex post facto research design to determine the influence of digital resources on the development of basic literacy skills among preschoolers in Enugu state. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was all the registered preschool children in Enugu State. The sample for the study was 195 preschoolers selected through multi stage sampling procedure. Data for the study was collected using four researcher designed instruments titled: test of acquisition of alphabet recognition skills (TAARS); test of acquisition of print motivation skill (TAPMS); test of acquisition of phonemic awareness skill (TAPAS); and test of acquisition of vocabulary skills (TAVS). The fifth instrument titled: Extent of Preschoolers’ Exposure to Digital Resources (EPEDR) was also designed and utilized by the researcher as preliminary study for the purpose of grouping the preschoolers into high, moderate and low exposure to digital resources. The instruments were validated by specialists in Childhood Education, Measurement and Evaluation and Language Education all from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The internal consistency reliability index of 0.84, 0.79, 0.89 and 0.80 were obtained for TAARS, TAPMS, TAPAS, and TAVS respectively using KR 20 formular. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Variance Statistics (ANOVA) to test the null hypotheses. Post hoc tests were further carried out to determine the direction of the significant differences. The findings of the study revealed among others that moderate exposure of preschoolers to digital resources engendered their performance in all the four aspects of basic literacy skills tested. It was concluded that moderate exposure to digital resources improves basic literacy skills development of preschoolers. On the basis of that, the researchers recommended that developmentally appropriate digital resources should be provided for preschoolers with parents and other significant adults being available to moderate what preschoolers do with digital resources.