Technology-based reading intervention programs for elementary grades: An analytical review

In modern societies, the role of reading is becoming increasingly crucial. Hence, any impairment to the reading ability can seriously limit a person's aspirations. The enormous importance of reading as an essential skill in modern life has encouraged many researchers to try and find more effective intervention approaches. Technology has been used extensively to assist and enhance literacy learning. This analytical review aims at presenting a comprehensive overview of the existing research on technology-based or technology-assisted reading interventions for elementary grades, between 2000 and 2017, along with analyzing various aspects of these studies. After extensive research, 42 articles have met the inclusion criteria, which have evaluated a total of 32 reading programs. The studies are classified into six categories of phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and multi-component. Each reading category begins with a brief introduction. Then, the content and instructional mechanisms of each program in the category is explained, alongside the outcome of its interventions. It is found that vocabulary interventions, as well as using mobile, tablet and other non-computer technologies are massively overlooked. Furthermore, a very limited number of programs focused on fluency, none of them addressed all its components. In addition, despite the required long-term practice for fostering fluency, the reviewed studies have an average intervention time shorter than other intervention categories. This paper provides researchers and solution developers with an extensive and informative review of the current state of the art in reading interventions. Additionally, it identifies the current knowledge gaps and defines future research directions to develop effective reading programs

Dyslexia: A struggling reader\u27s journey towards literacy

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how dyslexia is currently being defined and debated by both the academic and scientific communities. Additionally, this thesis analyzes how dyslexia is presently being dealt with in the classroom and how this disability is represented in children\u27s literature

A randomised proof-of-concept trial on the effectiveness of a game-based training of phoneme-grapheme correspondences in pre-readers

Background: Learning which letters correspond to which speech sounds is fundamental for learning to read. Based on previous experimental studies, we developed a serious game aiming to boost letter-speech sound (L-SS) correspondences in a motivational game environment. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of this game in training L-SS correspondences in pre-readers. Additionally, an extended version of the game was developed given the importance of handwriting in audio-visual integration. We established whether including a motoric component in the game boosted the letter-speech sound training on top of the effect of the game without the motoric component. Methods: One-hundred forty-five kindergartners were randomly allocated to play either the standard audio-visual version of the game, the motoric version or a control math game. All children were pre- and post-tested on L-SS knowledge and reading accuracy. Results and conclusions: We found that playing the game enhanced pre-readers' L-SS knowledge, but not reading accuracy, after a short, intensive intervention period of 3 weeks. However, children who played the motoric version of the game did not differ significantly from either the standard or the control condition. Implications: This game was efficient in training L-SS correspondences in pre-readers. These results suggest that this game might be useful as a preventive evidence-based intervention for at-risk children in kindergarten who might benefit from a head start before learning how to read. Future studies are needed to examine whether a longer intervention period results in L-SS knowledge being translated into reading skills.</p

\u3ci\u3eThe Nebraska Educator,\u3c/i\u3e Volume 3: 2016 (complete issue)

There are not many student-run academic journals, so The Nebraska Educator is excited to provide a forum for researchers, scholars, policymakers, practitioners, teachers, students, and informed observers in education and related fields in educational settings in the United States and abroad. Now in our third year, it is exciting to see the work that continues to be accomplished when those interested in educational research have a venue to share their contributions. To date, articles published in the previous two volumes of our journal have been downloaded more than 7,000 times by readers all across the globe. The Nebraska Educator has four main goals with its published research: (1) to familiarize students with the publication process, (2) to faciliate dialogue between emerging scholars, educators, and the larger community, (3) to promote collegiality and interdisciplinary awareness, and (4) to establish a mechanism for networking and collaboration. This publication would not have been possible without the guidance and assistance from faculty, staff, and graduate students across the College of Education and Human Sciences. We are also grateful for the work of Paul Royster at Love Library, who assisted us with the final formatting and online publication of our journal. In addition, we would like to thank the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education’s Graduate Student Assocation, whose financial contributions helped to launch our journal. The Nebraska Educator is an open-access peer-reviewed academic education journal at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This journal is produced by UNL graduate students and publishes articles on a broad range of education topics that are timely and have relevance at all levels of education. We seek original research that covers topics which include by are not limited to: (a) curriculum, teaching, and professional development; (b) education policy, practice, and analysis; (c) literacy, language, and culture; (d) school, society, and reform; and (e) teaching and learning with technologies. If you are interested in submitting your work to The Nebraska Educator, please submit online using: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebeducator/ Contents of Volume 3 Examining doctoral attrition: A self-determination theory approach, by Mark Beck Korea and the Dominican Republic: A transnational case study-analysis, by Aprille Phillips Transitional Adjustment Intervention for International Students in U.S. Colleges, by Zhuo Chen Language, Literacy, and Dewey: “Experience” in the Language Arts Context, by Jessica Masterson Fostering Metacognition in K-12 Classrooms: Recommendations for Practice, by Markeya S. Peteranetz A Technology-Supported Learning Experience to Facilitate Chinese Character Acquisition, by Xianquan Liu and Justin Olmanso

Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English

Since 2003, RTE has published the annual “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English,” a list of curated and annotated works reviewed and selected by a large group of dedicated educator-scholars in our field. The goal of the annual bibliography is to offer a synthesis of the research published in the area of English language arts within the past year for RTE readers’ consideration. Abstracted citations and those featured in the “Other Related Research” sections were published, either in print or online, between June 2020 and June 2021. The bibliography is divided into nine sections, with some changes to the categories this year in response to the ever-evolving nature of research in the field. Small teams of scholars with diverse research interests and background experiences in preK–16 educational settings reviewed and selected the manuscripts for each section using library databases and leading scholarly journals. Each team abstracted significant contributions to the body of peer-reviewed studies that addressed the current research questions and concerns in their topic area

Special education teachers’ perceptions of and practices in individualizing instruction for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in China

In recent years, the concept of individualized instruction has gained increasing attention among special educators, researchers, and policy makers in China. At the same time, many are concerned that as a concept borrowed from Western countries, individualized instruction may not be successfully implemented in China’s social and cultural context. The literature, however, has revealed little empirical information about what Chinese teachers actually do and think about individualized instruction. This study therefore aimed to investigate Chinese special education teachers’ perceptions and practices related to individualizing or adapting instruction for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Specifically, the investigation focused on teachers who taught elementary Chinese language arts and math in public special education schools for students with IDD in Shanghai and were considered as effective teachers by school administrators. A generic qualitative research design was utilized. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 31 teachers from six schools. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the interview data. Analysis revealed that the participants shared many similarities in their practices and perceptions. In general, they recognized the wide range of student differences existing in their classrooms and the necessity of adapting instruction to accommodate student differences. However, in reality, practices and beliefs associated with one-size-fits-all approaches of teaching were prevalent. Although all participants described making efforts to address individual differences, these efforts seemed to be inadequate, as indicated by significant limitations in both assessment and adaptation practices reported in the study. The participants perceived fully addressing the needs of individual students as difficult and described challenges in four areas. The study revealed that teachers seemed to hold the conflicting perceptions that instruction should be adapted to accommodate individual needs and that the structure of standardized approaches of teaching should be maintained. In this context, a fenceng instruction method was used to address individual differences, which involved minor changes to traditional standardized approaches of teaching; instruction tailored to each individual’s need was not found

The Effect of Constant Time Delay and Sentence Frames on Correct Word Selection for Sentences Constructed Using Technology-Aided Instruction During a Story-Based Lesson

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an intervention package that included constant time delay (CTD) and sentence frames on correct word selection for sentences constructed using technology-aided instruction (TAI) during and following a story-based lesson (SBL) for participants ages 6-8 who have intellectual disability, developmental delays, and autism (IDD). A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention. Probes were conducted during baseline, intervention, generalization, and maintenance phases to determine the effectiveness of the intervention on correct word selection for sentence construction. Results indicate a functional relation between the intervention package on correct word selection for sentence construction during a shared story. Additionally, the Percent of Nonoverlapping Data (PND) indicate overall strong effects. Finally, students were able to demonstrate both generalization and maintenance of skills

Ensuring Quality Education and Good Learning Environments for Students

Today, new technologies bring with them an everchanging panorama, forcing us to constantly update our knowledge. For this reason, quality education is necessary in all areas of knowledge and at all educational levels. The quality of our educational systems and the questions raised by reviewing whether our educational institutions offer quality education or not are some of the main reasons why quality education is a topic that, in recent years, has captured the interest of governments, researchers and lecturers, among others. This issue brings together different socioeducational actors with their concerns for and commitments to higher education, in order to achieve the aim of providing people with the competencies necessary to adapt to a changing and competitive world, in which the individual needs to engage in lifelong learning and where education must align with sustainable development goals, such as democracy, justice and equality. All of this provides us with a scenario for reflecting on and researching fundamental questions, such as how to prevent school absenteeism, how to deal with students leaving school early, how to prevent or alleviate the phenomenon of dropping out in higher education, etc. In other words, can we assume that student failure is partly due to the failure of our educational systems? Are we educating self-regulated, critical, learning-motivated and competent students? These and other questions lead us to search for measures with which we can improve the quality of our educational systems by proposing strategies and developing tools to enhance the lecturing–learning processes in our classrooms