Technology has the potential to better engage new readers from key groups and have a positive impact on their literacy skills, according to new research from the Literacy Trust and Pearson.

The Early Years Literacy Survey revealed that touchscreen devices can be more effective in engaging children between the ages of three and five in reading than ordinary, paper-based books and texts.

With specific regards to the groups that struggle to achieve benchmark levels of literacy at any given stage in their early development – boys and disadvantaged children – touchscreen devices were found to be “particularly beneficial”.

The paper showed that kids from low-income families were more likely to use tablets to read – and for longer periods of time – as well as use these devices for educational activities, than they do with so-called traditional books.

Writing in the foreword, Julie McCulloch, director of UK Policy & Thought Leadership at Pearson, commented that the background of a child still makes a significant difference in how literate they are.

“Children from more advantaged backgrounds read more often, and enjoy reading more,” she continued. “Their parents are more confident in their ability to support their children’s reading.

“Between the ages of three and five, they are eight times more likely than their less advantaged peers to have an above average vocabulary. These statistics, and others in this report, make sobering reading.”

However, Ms McCulloch said that there is much to be optimistic about, as this survey has indentified the power of technology in making a radical difference to the literacy imbalance.

Earlier this year, a new report headed by Save the Children concluded that the UK faces a “literacy crisis” if things continue as they are.

In the foreword to the report, Dame Julia Cleverdon said that problems need to be nipped in the bud early on, as those who enter secondary school with a substandard level of reading and writing will experience a “crippling lack of confidence and confusion”.

"This in turn can lead to humiliation and despair at precisely the moment when raised aspirations and the enjoyment of achievement should be creating a positive future for every child," she explained at the time.

 "This is the unacceptable consequence of child poverty in the UK which is exacting both a life sentence on many of these children and a terrible toll on our society.”