INTEGRATING ONLINE READING PLATFORMS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION TO FOSTER EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE EXTENSIVE READING

Early childhood education (ECE) is widely recognised as the foundation of children's academic success and overall development. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in integrating up-to-date technological resources and innovative pedagogical approaches to improve the quality of ECE, such as implementing online reading platforms in education, which can result in expanding young learners’ extensive reading (ER) on the Internet. This narrative review aims to explore the integration of innovative online reading platforms into ECE to promote emotional engagement in ER on the Internet among elementary school children. Conducting a thorough review of the literature from 45 high-impact indexed articles, this study sheds light on key concepts related to ECE, emotional engagement, online reading platforms, and online extensive reading (OER). Furthermore, it highlights the benefits and potential contributions to early childhood literacy development. The present review concludes that integrating online reading platforms in teaching ER offers educators an opportunity to create engaging environments for emotional engagement with online reading materials. However, teacher guidance and parental oversight are essential for children's interactions or exposure to those platforms, ensuring positive impacts on early literacy growth.