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

A comparison of the comprehension of procedural information using computer and hard-copy media

Users of technical procedures must be able to understand the documents to use them to perform their work. As more companies contemplate putting their procedures on-line, it is important to know whether computer systems will be as effective as traditional hard-copy presentation in communicating procedures to the employees who must use them; To determine whether there is a relationship between computer usage and the comprehension of technical procedures, an experiment was conducted among employees of a scientific and technical company in Las Vegas, Nevada. A control group read and demonstrated its comprehension of hard-copy procedures only, while an experimental group read and demonstrated its comprehension of a hard-copy and then an on-line procedure; The experimental group selected fewer correct answers on a comprehension test for the on-line than for the hard-copy procedure. This suggests that when readers accustomed to the hard-copy medium switch to the computer medium, comprehension decreases

The Reading Strategies/Skills within the North Carolina RtA Summer Reading Camp

This dissertation was designed to examine the reading strategies within the North Carolina Read to Achieve (RtA) Program summer reading camp and the achievement low socioeconomic elementary students made in reading during summer camp. The study was from a K-12 school and measured by the RtA Program. The study looked at third-grade students located in the urban piedmont area of North Carolina. It looked at reading strategies used during the North Carolina RtA Program summer reading camp and sought to determine if there are reading gains or losses of students who attended the North Carolina RtA summer reading camp. The three research questions that guided the evaluation and findings were (a) is there a difference in reading achievement scores for all students prior to attending the summer reading camp and after attending the summer reading camp as measured by RtA; (b) what strategies/skills within RtA impacted achievement scores for students who attended the summer reading camp; and (c) is there a difference in reading attitude after attending the summer reading camp? This mixed-methods study conducted in an urban area of North Carolina involved four data collection instruments. RtA assessment data answered Research Question 1. For Research Question 2, the researcher interviewed summer reading teachers and examined student portfolios for the strategies that were used during the RtA Program and summer camp. Last, the researcher used the Adolescent Motivation to Read Survey. An analysis of the data revealed that the school participating in this research study is not providing enough support to students who are not proficient in reading. The teachers utilized a number of different whole and small group reading programs and materials often in a combination during classroom literacy instruction. The RtA camp lacked consistency and continuity in providing effective reading practices and materials to students. There was no significant relationship between motivation of the third-grade students who were surveyed and their reading achievement on the RtA assessment. Students who scored poorly on the RtA assessment did not have lower scores on the reading motivation questionnaire which looks at their value of reading and their attitude toward reading

Adolescent Literacy and the Achievement Gap: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here?

Reviews research and program initiatives focused on improving adolescent academic achievement by targeting literacy. Provides ideas for collaboration and coordination of funding efforts to improve the literacy achievement of under-performing adolescents

Machine Scoring of Student Essays: Truth and Consequences

The current trend toward machine-scoring of student work, Ericsson and Haswell argue, has created an emerging issue with implications for higher education across the disciplines, but with particular importance for those in English departments and in administration. The academic community has been silent on the issue—some would say excluded from it—while the commercial entities who develop essay-scoring software have been very active. Machine Scoring of Student Essays is the first volume to seriously consider the educational mechanisms and consequences of this trend, and it offers important discussions from some of the leading scholars in writing assessment.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1138/thumbnail.jp