79 13.3 Discussion
Language is an essential element that influences an individual’s communication activities. Students use several areas of English language skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing, to improve their proficiency and communication. Students’ reading levels vary, and teachers must spend twice as much time in class to meet the academic needs of all pupils. English Language Learners, for example, require distinct types of support in various areas of reading to show growth. Ahmadi (2018) defined technology integration as the use of technology to improve the educational environment. The reviewed literature indicated that the use of technology plays a key role in language learning, helps in self-understanding, does not stop interaction with the teacher, and creates high motivation in learners for the effective learning of language skills. To sum up, technology provides interaction between teachers and learners, provides comprehensible input and output, helps learners to develop thinking skills, makes learning and teaching become more student-centred, promotes learners’ autonomy and helps them feel more confident, and increases learners’ motivation to effectively learn a foreign language.
E-book platforms show a significant impact on students’ reading levels for many reasons. It is user-friendly and does not require any specific skills to navigate. Even young children without new literacy development can utilize e-books independently without any adult input. The e-book implements the concept of UDL strategy in its design and use in multiple areas. The touch screen is quickly earning a position in the life of families with young children. An interactive book with audio narration that allows children to learn vocabulary and become aware of sounds, indicating that using e-books alone may be a helpful activity for encouraging kids to develop of early literacy abilities without adult assistance while teachers or parents are elsewhere busy. In addition to the instant feedback, quality of e-book design, and appropriate selection. López-Escribano et al. (2021) stated that “ e-books, on the one hand, have a more educational value for young children compared to those that were on the market a decade ago”. All of these features and more make digital e-books the recommended platform to enhance student’s literacy skills, not only for typical students but also for children living in a deprived context, at risk of learning disabilities, and English Language Learners benefited from all the reviewed e-book interventions, which highly improved their literacy skills, regarding concepts about print, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. digital learning and e-books represent a potential compensatory strategy for these children. Results of the present study show that the presence of an adult does not have an advantage for phonological awareness and vocabulary learning. We are aware that young children learn best from exchanges with caring adults, but in the case of learning with e-books, their role might shift away from direct support to a more distal role while children are using the e-book (i.e., adequate selection of the e-book, the design of strategies, and the adaptation to the context where the e-book is used (López-Escribano et al., 2021).
The quality and quantity of interactive electronic books provided on Raz Kids enhance the students’ engagement and develop their reading experience. This platform contains a wide range of books, allowing students to get diverse knowledge while also selecting books that interest them. The interactive and attractive style in which the books are designed and shown encourages children to read more. Raz-Kids had been suggested as an educational platform that could support English language teaching through technology in elementary school. Raz Kids provides opportunities for ELLs to choose the book that suits their interests and is relevant to their culture, encouraging them to read more. Davis (2018) mentioned that when students read contents that are culturally relevant, they not only like them more but also grasp them better ( p. 22). Providing audiobooks helps ELLs with their pronunciation and spelling skills. (Wang, 2022) stated that RazKids could be an effective supplement to struggling readers’ reading instruction and individual reading assistance( p.47). The quiz given at the end of each book lets the teacher determine the students’ level of reading comprehension. “Raz Kids, as an e-book platform, gives educators opportunities to assess the student’s reading levels by including different resources of fiction and non-fiction texts to support personalized reading teaching, which can be used inside the classroom” (Amelia et al., 2020).
