Do e-books mediate the construction of children as meaning-makers? Early childhood teachers’ views

Purpose Although e-books have been widely studied, empirical evidence on their role as mediating tools that support children’s meaning-making remains limited. This study explores early childhood teachers’ perceptions of e-books as mediators of meaning-making among children aged 5–6 years. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews with ten early childhood teachers who provided informed consent for the use and publication of their responses. Data were thematically analyzed through four stages: preparing analytic templates, managing data, handling transcriptions, and ensuring ethical treatment of data. Findings The findings indicate that well-designed e-books can stimulate children’s meaning-making abilities. Teachers emphasized that e-books function not merely as content delivery tools but as effective mediators that foster meaning through interaction, personal experience, and feedback. Originality/value This study contributes to early childhood literacy research by highlighting teachers’ perspectives on e-books as mediational tools in children’s meaning-making processes, offering pedagogical insights for integrating digital texts into early learning contexts.