Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Trees of Tales: A Playful Reading Application
for Arabic Children
Fatma Alaamri, Stefan Greuter, and Steffen P. Walz
GEElab, RMIT University
Melbourne, Australia
{fatma.alaamri,Stefan.greuter,steffen.walz}@rmit.edu.au
Abstract.
In this study, we have developed a playful interactive reading and
storytellng application called 'Trees of Tales'. The tablet application was
designed to motivate Arabic children to read more for pleasure. 'Trees of Tales'
was evaluated with 18 primary school children in Oman to investigate its
effectiveness as an enjoyable reading tool. To assess the impact on usability and
the children's experience of fun and reading preference, we conducted three
reading sessions in which all participants read stories from 'Trees of Tales',
non-interactive e-books and conventional printed topics. This paper describes
the design of the 'Trees of Tales' application as well as the results obtained
with the 'fun toolkit'.
Keywords:
Interactive Reading Application, Trees of Tales, Children e-books,
Arabic children, Reading for pleasure.
1
Introduction
Islamic cultures, by the way of the Quran, emphasise that reading is quintessential to
humankind. The first word of Quran sent to the Prophet Mohamed was the word
'Read', and it was repeated three times emphasising its importance (Quran, 96.1).
Reading at home contributes to children's concentration abilities, social collaboration,
and language development [2]. However, the huge decline in reading and publishing
in the Arab world has been reported. The Arab Thought Foundation
Fikr
released in
its fourth annual cultural development report in January 2012 that Arabic children
read on average six minutes a year compared to the approximately 12,000 minutes
western children are engaged in reading per year [1]. Arabic children often only read
their textbooks and the Holy Quran as part of their educational and religious needs.
However, they do not read for pleasure as much as wester people read despite the
importance of reading that the Quran itself underlines.
Some Arabic countries such as the Gulf countries are often classified as high-
income countries and often have a high literacy rates. Oman is listed within the best
performing 35 countries in the world [21]. According to UNICEF statistics, literacy
rates of children aged 15 years and older reached 97.4% for males and 98.2% for
females in 2012 [22]. Literacy is therefore not the problem that is leading to the
decline in reading.
