The teaching of listening and reading, including abilities to take on spatial perspectives and critical reflection in relation to one's own world, are central goals of primary school education (KMK, 2022). As studies showed, listening (Stanat et al., 2022) and reading literacy (McElvany et al., 2023) of many primary students in Germany do not meet minimum standards. However, few findings are available to date on skills in the other areas, in particular for spatial perspective-taking. Against this background, the pilot study presented addresses students need for support as well as unanswered questions about the status of skills that have so far been little investigated. Hence, one objective of the project is to provide children with a digital offer for taking part in virtual literary walks to promote their listening and reading literacy. In this app, a story is presented auditorily and the locations of the story are visualized – via illustrations or a guided walk to the authentic locations – which is accompanied by cognitively activating questions. In addition, the study examines previously little-researched competences of children, e.g., their spatial perspective-taking in illustrated vs. visited places of action.

Concerning spatial imagination, from the age of 7, children are able to form flexible mental representations if they are given the opportunity to walk around places and view them from different perspectives (Liben & Downs, 1993). This corresponds to earlier assumptions and results about the concrete-operational thinking of children of primary school age (Piaget, 1978) as well as to results on embodied cognition (Glenberg & Galese, 2012). According to current knowledge, it can be assumed that children find it easier to understand texts if they relate to directly perceptible objects. With respect to literary text comprehension, children's spatial perspective-taking has rarely been studied. Current assumptions on text and image comprehension suggest that illustrations support children in developing situation models (Mayer, 2021). Referring to findings and assumptions above, it can be assumed that children are supported by visible places of action, which they see in the sense of "backdrops" of the story.

Moreover, viewing of a storys locations is also expected to enhance children's involvement in a story which is described in the concept of transportation (Gerrig 1993). Accordingly, people immerse themselves in stories with their feelings, their attention and, through vivid mental images, with their imagination (Appel et al. 2015; Gerrig 1993). According to previous assumptions, transportation is strongly related for developing reading motivation, and hence, for further improvement of reading literacy.

Against this background, the project developed an app for primary students that takes into account the aforementioned aspects of (promoting) comprehension processes. Specifically, the app makes it possible to listen to a walk-through story whose spatial constellations are illustrated by means of illustrations vs. directly accessible authentic locations. In addition, the children are asked various cognitively activating questions between the scenes, e.g., to critically reflect on the story as well as to take on spatial perspectives of the characters portrayed. This visualization of the spatial scenery is expected to support children to understand the entire plot of the story and to reflect (critically) on it in relation to their own environment. Moreover, it is expected that the visualization of the spatial constellations can also promote the occurrence of transportation as well as processes of spatial perspective-taking with regard to the characters shown, which are ultimately experienced as positive and motivating.

The study focuses on questions about children's different abilities in text comprehension when the spatial setting of the story is illustrated by illustrations vs. directly accessible places. The children's abilities examined are transportation, abilities to take on spatial perspectives with regard to the characters portrayed, as well as reading motivation, for which differences are assumed in the various conditions: In particular, it is expected that children listening to walk-in stories at the respective play locations – compared to reception with illustrations – will show stronger performances in investigated abilities. In addition, the study examines how adult app users rate the usability of the app.

To implement the project, an app was developed for participation in virtual literary walks to a walk-in story, which can be used on PCs or cell phones. The screen successively shows a) maps of the respective locations, b) bars for playing the audio files, accompanied by illustrations or maps for finding the authentic locations, and c) cognitively activating questions for processing the text. In this way, the story is presented in six scenes at a total of six locations. To be able to use the app, the children receive an access code after prior registration by their parents.

When the app is started, users can chose of whether they want to use the app a) on site in Bamberg, or b) online with illustrations. Therafter, the following screens either show only the site plans (version a) or illustrations of the locations (version b). In the course of using the app, users' log data and answers to the questions presented are recorded. These questions relate to the children's entry requirements, the conditions of their use of the app, and their answers to the various cognitively activating questions, including on spatial perspective-taking.

The sample of the study includes children in learning groups in support facilities and schools who use the app as part of the respective support program. In addition, adult users and people accompanying children who use the app are asked about the usability of the app by means of a questionnaire.

It is expected that the results of the study reveal which abilities children show in text comprehension when the spatial scenery of the story is visualized by illustrations vs. directly accessible places using the app. Particularly, they show the extent to which children – under both conditions – show abilities for spatial perspective-taking with regard to the characters depicted, transportation and reading motivation. Finally, results are discussed with regard to the expectations and possibilities for future implementations, including the use of geospatial technologies.