Reading and language are among the most foundational skills a child develops. The ability to understand and use language shapes everything from social relationships and school performance to self-confidence and critical thinking. In a digital age, there are increasingly more apps that promise to support children's reading and language development, but not all deliver on their promises. In this article, we look at how children develop language, how apps can help, and what you as a parent should look for.
Language is a child's most important tool for understanding the world. Through language, children express needs, build relationships, develop thoughts, and acquire knowledge. Reading literacy extends this further by providing access to written information, stories, and ideas that reach far beyond the child's immediate surroundings.
Research shows that children who develop strong language and reading skills early have significant advantages throughout their entire education. They perform better in all subjects, not just language arts, and they develop stronger abilities in critical thinking and problem-solving. Early language stimulation is therefore one of the most important investments parents can make.
According to the Reading Centre at the University of Stavanger, children who are read to daily from an early age have a vocabulary up to twice as large as children who are rarely read to. This vocabulary is one of the strongest predictors of later reading comprehension and school success.
Language development is a gradual process that starts from birth and continues throughout childhood. Each child develops at their own pace, but there are some general stages that most children follow:
From birth, babies listen intensely to language sounds around them. They begin to babble around 4-6 months of age, experimenting with sounds like "ba-ba" and "da-da". Toward the end of the first year, many children begin to understand simple words and gestures.
Around age one, most children say their first recognizable words. Vocabulary grows rapidly, and by age two, many children have 50-200 words. They begin to put together two-word sentences like "More milk" or "Big car".
Language explodes during this period. Children begin using longer sentences, asking questions, and telling simple stories. Vocabulary can grow to several thousand words. They understand concepts like size, color, and numbers, and begin playing with rhymes and sounds.
Children develop phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. They learn to recognize letters, connect letters to sounds, and understand that text carries meaning. This is the foundation for formal reading instruction.
Children crack the reading code and begin to read simple texts independently. They develop increasingly better decoding skills and build a larger vocabulary through reading. Reading fluency and reading comprehension develop gradually.
Children read to learn, not just to decode. They develop advanced reading comprehension, can analyze texts, draw conclusions, and use reading as a tool for knowledge acquisition across subjects.
Good reading apps can strengthen children's language development in several ways. They can offer repeated exposure to letters and sounds, adapt difficulty levels to the child's level, and provide immediate feedback. Interactive elements can make learning engaging and motivating.
Research from publications such as the Journal of Educational Psychology shows that well-designed reading apps can have a positive effect on children's phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and early reading skills. The effect is greatest when:
A meta-analysis published in the Review of Educational Research found that technology-based reading interventions had a moderate positive effect on children's reading development, with the greatest effect on phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. The effect was stronger when technology was used as a supplement to, not a replacement for, traditional instruction.
Not all apps marketed as "reading apps" are equally good. Here are the most important features to look for:
The app should train the child's ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in words. This includes rhymes, syllables, and phoneme segmentation. Phonological awareness is the strongest predictor of reading success.
Good reading apps introduce new words in meaningful contexts, with images and examples that help the child understand the meaning. A rich vocabulary is essential for reading comprehension.
For older children, the app should support comprehension of what is being read. This can include questions about the text, opportunities to retell stories, and tasks that require the child to draw conclusions.
Apps that let children create their own stories, sequence events, or complete narratives strengthen both language comprehension and creativity. Narrative competence is closely linked to reading comprehension.
The market for reading apps is broad. Here are the most common categories:
| Type | Description | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Letter recognition | Teaches children to recognize and write letters, focusing on shape and sound | 3-6 years |
| Phonemic awareness | Trains the ability to hear and manipulate sounds, rhymes, and syllables | 4-7 years |
| Vocabulary builders | Introduces new words through images, context, and interactive exercises | 2-8 years |
| Reading comprehension | Focuses on understanding and analyzing text with questions and tasks | 6-12 years |
| Storytelling and narrative | Lets children create, sequence, and tell stories with text and images | 4-10 years |
A significant problem in the reading app market is that most apps are English-only. For children learning to read in Norwegian, this presents a considerable challenge. Norwegian and English have very different sound structures, and skills do not transfer directly.
When choosing reading apps for your child, you should prioritize apps that are available in Norwegian, or that at least have Norwegian audio support. Always check the language settings before giving the app to the child.
Many children in Norway grow up with multiple languages. For these children, reading apps can be an especially valuable tool, provided that the apps support the right languages.
Research shows that multilingualism is an advantage for children's cognitive development. Children who master multiple languages develop better executive functions, such as attention control and cognitive flexibility. To support multilingual children:
Research on digital reading tools for children is an active field. Here are some key findings:
Children at different ages have different needs when it comes to reading apps. Here is what you should prioritize for each age group:
At this age, it is about building the foundation for reading. Children are not ready for formal reading instruction, but they can develop important precursor skills.
Children are ready for more systematic work with letters and sounds. Phonemic awareness is the key.
Children crack the reading code and need practice in decoding, fluency, and comprehension.
The focus shifts from decoding to comprehension, analysis, and critical reading.
The best results for children's reading development come when digital and physical learning resources are combined. Here are some concrete tips:
Many apps are marketed as "reading apps" without containing meaningful reading instruction. Be critical of these red flags:
After the child has used a reading app for a few weeks: Does the child show more interest in letters, words, and books in everyday life? Does the child use new words? Does the child want to be read to more often? If the answer is yes, the app is working. If the child only wants to go back to the app for the animations and rewards, you should find a better alternative. See also our article on what makes an app educational.
Apps can be a useful supplement in reading instruction, but they cannot replace people. Research shows that apps focusing on phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and vocabulary can strengthen children's reading development, especially when used together with an adult. The best results come when apps are combined with read-alouds, conversations, and physical books.
Children can start with simple language apps from age 2-3, focusing on vocabulary, sounds, and images. Apps aimed at letter learning and phonemic awareness are best suited from age 4-5, while apps for independent reading are most relevant from age 6 and up. The most important thing is that app use is age-appropriate, time-limited, and takes place together with an adult.
Yes, Norwegian reading apps exist, but the selection is significantly smaller than for English-language apps. Some apps offer Norwegian as a language option, while others are developed specifically for the Norwegian market. It is important to choose apps in Norwegian for children learning to read in Norwegian, because the sound composition and grammar differ from English.
Signs that a reading app is working include: the child shows increased interest in letters and words in everyday life, uses new words in conversation, wants to read books more often, and shows progression in the app over time. If the child is just tapping randomly, becomes frustrated, or is only interested in animations and rewards without engaging with the reading content, the app is probably not effective.
Explore more articles that help you choose good apps for your child:
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