The effects of augmented reality storybooks on student's reading comprehension

The aim of this study is to compare reading comprehension levels of two groups of students—an experimental and a control group—who read the same texts in course books using either augmented reality technique or traditional reading technique. Barrett's taxonomy, which proposes a classification of reading comprehension, consisting of literal comprehension, reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation, was used to determine the reading comprehension levels of the students. The texts based on the augmented reality were produced with an augmented reality application developed by the authors using the Kotlin programming language. The participants of the study were 120 students aged 11–12 who attend a secondary school in Antalya (Turkey). In the pre‐test phase, both the experimental and control groups read the same texts from the course book and answered the comprehension questions. In the post‐test, the experimental group read the augmented reality texts using tablets while the control group read the texts in the traditional way. Then both groups answered comprehension questions. The results of the pre‐test revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their total comprehension scores and their reading comprehension levels. The post‐test results indicated that the experimental group's overall comprehension scores were much higher than those of the control group. In terms of reading comprehension levels, no difference was found between the two groups in terms of literal comprehension levels. However, the experimental group is found to be much more successful in terms of the reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation. These findings suggest that the augmented reality content may contribute to the students' reading comprehension performances. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? There is limited research that augmented reality applications can support reading comprehension in general. Little is known about the effect of augmented reality applications on reading comprehension levels. In the researches examining the effect of augmented reality applications on the reading comprehension levels of students, the existing augmented reality applications were generally preferred. What this paper adds? This study aims to develop an augmented reality application that can be integrated into the textbooks used in schools. In this study, Barrett's taxonomy was used to reveal which levels of reading comprehension the augmented reality application could support. Augmented reality supported reading activity supports students' reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation levels. Augmented reality supported reading activity does not make a difference in students' literal comprehension levels. Implications for practice and/or policy The developed augmented reality application can be used as a teaching tool in schools. The study provides an example of how augmented reality can be used in reading activity in schools. The data of this study can be used by teachers who want to support students' levels of reorganization, inferential comprehension, evaluation and appreciation comprehension.