Shoonya Kids

Improving Early Literacy Outcomes for ELL Students Through Digital Storybooks

Students will work to develop a prototype for interactive multilingual storybooks to enhance foundational language skills for English Language Learners (ELL) ages 3-7 from diverse linguistic backgrounds. The scope this student team will work to incorporate includes: (1) Literature Review to understand developmentally appropriate storytelling techniques for early literacy, culturally responsive design, and how to create interactive digital tools appropriate for 3-7 year olds. (2) User Research with ELL students or Dual Language teachers, identifying the key elements of engaging storytelling in early literacy. (3) Ideation/Prototyping: Creating medium-fidelity digital prototypes that use multilingual stories and allow translanguaging. (4) User Testing/Refinement: Testing prototypes with target users and refining based on feedback. The final deliverable will be a digital multilingual storybook prototype. The storybook prototype this student team will work to create should meet the following design criteria: (1) Multilingual Support: The prototype must accommodate at least two languages (Hindi, Spanish, English). (2) User Engagement: Incorporate child-friendly interactive elements such as animations and touch-responsive elements that encourage exploration and reinforce letter-sound association. (3) Platform Compatibility: The prototype should be accessible via a web-based platform or iOS application. Additionally, this student team will work to incorporate Cultural Relevance: Embed themes and stories that resonate with diverse cultural backgrounds, especially those of ELL students. The student team will work to focus the performance criteria on user engagement from initial testing, relevance for teachers, and ease of use for young multilingual learners. The desired outcomes this student team will work to achieve include: (1) Medium-Fidelity Prototype: Interactive digital storybooks that align with Shoonya Kids’ standards for educational content (which will be provided). (2) User Research Insights: Insights on effective educational storytelling techniques for ELLs, which can guide future Shoonya Kids content development. (3) Usability Report: A report based on testing feedback that outlines the storybook’s strengths and areas for improvement. The final storybook prototype this student team will work to create should serve as a demonstration of how equitably designed multilingual stories can build confidence and bilingual literacy skills for ELL students.