ERIC Number: EJ1142183
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0279-6015
EISSN: N/A
A Randomized Trial of a Computer-Assisted Tutoring Program Targeting Letter-Sound Expression
DuBois, Matthew R.; Volpe, Robert J.; Hemphill, Elizabeth M.
School Psychology Review, v43 n2 p210-221 2014
Given that many schools have limited resources and a high proportion of students who present with deficits in early literacy skills, supports aimed at preventing reading failure must be simple and efficient and generate meaningful changes in student learning. We used a randomized group design with a wait-list control to extend the work of Volpe, Burns, DuBois, and Zaslofsky (2011), who found a computer-assisted tutoring program designed to teach young children letter sounds using incremental rehearsal to be an efficient and acceptable intervention for students who were slow to respond to class-wide early literacy intervention. In our study, a total of 30 kindergarten and first-grade students were randomly assigned to either 2 weeks of computer-aided tutoring or a wait-list control group. The effects of the intervention were investigated using multiple-level modeling over four assessment periods (pre-treatment, 1 week of intervention, 2 weeks of intervention, and 1-week follow-up). Results were consistent across dependent measures, with rates of growth and follow-up scores significantly higher for the intervention group as compared with the control group. Given that these skills were enhanced in an efficient manner and maintained for at least 1 week, the computer-assisted tutoring intervention appears to be an appropriate support for rapidly improving early skill deficits related to letter-sound knowledge and decoding.
Descriptors: Randomized Controlled Trials, Control Groups, Experimental Groups, Tutoring, Tutorial Programs, Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence, Computer Assisted Instruction, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Emergent Literacy, Intervention, Early Reading, Reading Achievement, Reading Instruction, Elementary School Students, Reading Fluency, Reading Tests, Statistical Analysis
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://naspjournals.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten; Primary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 1; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A