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Enhancing Literacy Through the Use of eBooks
Students love using technology. I have noticed that for some reason or another my junior high students love reading eBooks. While some in the older generation like myself prefer to feel the pages of a hardcover book, it seems that those in the younger generation have grown accustomed to eBooks. “Engaging today’s adolescents in reading for enjoyment is a challenge worth tackling” (Lee, 2011, p. 209). Reading for enjoyment is something our school is striving to instill in our junior high students, and by giving them access to eBooks of a wide range of reading and interest levels, we can help them become and stay engaged in reading.
There are many benefits to having eBooks in school libraries. First, eBooks simultaneously provide more materials to library patrons and more teaching resources to instructors. When teachers need a last minute resource, they would normally look to only web pages for support, especially if the school library is not centrally located in the school. With eBooks providing up-to-date resources, teachers could simply pick up a device and find an eBook on the topic being studied.
Interactive eBooks offer unlimited and simultaneous access to books. They are available to students from school or home on any supported device. These books provide the option for spoken-word audio, which is perfect for struggling readers and ELL students. Some think of eBooks as only accessible on a tablet; but at my school, eBooks from the library can be checked out and read on any device with internet including traditional computers, laptops, and cell phones.
According to Larson (2009), “The possibilities of e-books in schools are exhilarating and endless” (p. 255). One of the most important features eBooks offer is unlimited, simultaneous checkout availability. In our library currently, there are many books that have a long list of holds on them, some up to 30 students waiting for one book. If we had these options in eBooks, multiple students could be reading them at the same time. “Because today’s reading devices are portable, relatively affordable, and equipped with improved battery life and storage capacity, readers of e-books are no longer confined to desktop computers” (Larson, 2012, p. 280).
by Ann Barger
Ann is a graduate literacy student at Missouri Sate University. She taught middle school English Language Arts last year and is now the Library Media Aide at Ozark Junior High School.
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