To Read or Not to Read: Predicting Student Engagement in Interactive Reading

In this study, upper-elementary-age students used an interactive reading app to read from a classic children’s novel during a summer program. Students took turns reading with an adult virtual narrator (audiobook). We use process and background data to explore factors that could predict whether a reader will read their next turn or skip it. We find that skipping quickly becomes self-perpetuating, underscoring the need to support the teacher in providing just-in-time personalized intervention to help students avoid the disengagement trap.