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Literacy and Technology. Khalia Booth EDUC 7201T T6B: Seminar Appl/Thry and Research I Fall 2010 Professor O’Connor-Petruso October 19, 2010. Table of Contents. Introduction….. 3 Statement of the Problem….. 4
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Literacy and Technology Khalia Booth EDUC 7201T T6B: Seminar Appl/Thry and Research I Fall 2010 Professor O’Connor-Petruso October 19, 2010
Table of Contents • Introduction….. 3 • Statement of the Problem….. 4 • Literature Review….. 5 • Statement of the Hypothesis….. 10 • Method….. 11 • Results….. 12 • References….. 13
Introduction As a student teacher and a citizen of the 21st Century, I am witnessing the transformation of literacy as it moves from print to digital media. I firmly believe that the students of today need to become acquainted, and taught how to use, manage, and learn effectively from the technology that will be their future. I think that the educational theorist that can be applied best to the changing modes of technology that will be the core of my future career as an educator is Jerome Bruner with his belief that learning is an active, ever-changing construct that can be acquired by the environment in which one lives. If today’s students are going to be able to master their technological future, they must be surrounded by computers, literacy programs that incorporate e-readers/reading software, and adults who are willing to integrate the facets of their world within the classroom.
Statement of the Problem • At P.S. X, several students in Ms. Y’s class have difficulty with reading comprehension, despite various reading strategies presented within class time to aid their literacy skills. Can the presence of electronic books with their built-in dictionaries, accessible highlighting, and re-sizable text assist these students in their reading comprehension skills?
Literature Review Technology as an assistant to teachers: Teachers can assess students in a variety of ways such as online access to student records such as running records which are accumulated over the school year with teacher comments and observations, therefore making it easier for teachers to see a year-to-year growth of a student’s literacy skills from previous grades/schools. (Balajthy, E; November 2007) A teacher’s use of a laptop program for his classroom shows how he has integrated the technology with his lessons by having his students start the day with a computer-based prompt,; when reading a book, the students create a book blog for online discussions; and there are websites that the teacher has chosen to have his students practice vocabulary that is tailored for his students’ needs. (Barone, D. and Wright, T. E.;December 2008/January 2009) Teachers can take the creation of their lessons from simple word-processor based assignments to Power-Point presentations that push the level of learning one step further by adding a web-link that connects with the lesson. The web-link is encouraged to foster student interaction by having them interact with online pen-pals or connect with an author of a book they’re reading for class discussion. (Britten, J.S. and Cassady, J.C., 2005) Adapting the technology to the current teaching practices (i.e. Reader’s Workshop model) can help enhance/expand possibilities for learning. (Handsfield, L. J., Dean, T. R., and Cielocha, K. M., September 2009; Hamilton, B., Labbo, L., May 2005; Larson, L.C., October 2008; Zawilinski, L.; Zucker, T.A. and Invernizzi, M., May 2008)
Literature Review, Page 2 Technology’s use in the classroom: A program that gives a classrooms a set of PDAs and examines the teacher/student reaction to the technology. Students were favorable to the HWCs, but expressed concern about the lagging wireless access. Teachers liked the HWCs for the support/enhancement of the lessons and easier reading of student assessment, but had issues of trouble shooting with the absence of a tech support. (Moallem, M., Kermani, H. and Chen, S., 2005) Students with disabilities with literacy struggles can have an easier time re-telling their stories via computers and creating their own electronic books that serve as the basis for a classroom library for the rest of the school year. (Rhodes, J. A. and Milby, T. M.;November 2007) This is an examination of the various possibilities that technology can be used in the classrooms. E-mail exchanges for book discussions, online courses that give greater flexibility for the students in managing their education in difficult times, computer-based assessment of student class-work that gives the participating student feedback on their literacy development and the professional development of teachers regarding technology in the classroom are all aimed to increase student achievement with regards to literacy. (Sternberg, B.J., Kaplan, K. A., and Borck, J.E.;July/August/September 2007) Children can take control of the learning process by using technology to transform themselves into electronic authors, while acquiring the skills of research, presenting information to a specific audience and discovering their own individual skills. (Kervin, L. and Mantei, J., March 2009)
Literature Review, Page 3: Technology’s Effect Upon the Students: Infusing multimedia content in daily lessons help make school material memorable and the concepts clear to children, while the computer-assisted tutoring show that there is more support for this type of technology integration than computer-based software for teaching children how to read. (Abrami, P.C., Chambers, B., Cheung, A., Gifford, R., Madden, N.A., Slavin, R.E., and Tucker, B.J. ; September 2008) Examines 18 classrooms and observed the reactions of teachers and at-risk students towards the technology. Teachers grew comfortable with the technology, while the students remained actively engaged in computer programs that worked beyond the “workbook with a screen” mode of education. The technology enabled differentiated instruction for the students’ which opened the eyes of the teachers who acknowledged that with the technology present, she would never have given the students the individualized instruction he/she needed. The at-risk students saw their own growth and concrete examples of their learning to the point that they felt that they were actively achieving something of value in their presence in the classroom. (Blachowicz, C. L.; Bates, A.; Berne, J., Bridgman, T.; Chaney, J., and Perney, J.; 2009) Various studies examined by this author focus on the social aspects of children as they explore the world of technology on their own terms and have found that too many researchers focus on the operational (what children do with technology) than with the how they are able to understand and interact with various forms of digital literacy. (Burnett, C., 2009) The use of talking books with boys who have low phonological awareness helped to significantly improve their phonological proficiency. There was a deeper engagement with the talking book that was appropriate to their age level and being encouraged to chime in with the book as it is reading to them helped give the boys confidence in their word reading skills. The boys who had higher phonological awareness were able to engage with the talking books on a more advanced level by being able to decode the text independently, but turned to the speech portions of the book to help them when needed. (Chera, P.; Littleton, K.; Wood, C., May 4, 2006)
Literature Review, Page 4 Technology’s Effects Upon the Students (continued): It was found that students from lower socio-economic status scored higher using electronic readers than students with higher socio-economic status. The threshold for achievement for the students from high socio-economic status was higher than those from lower SES, therefore making their achievement of high scores much more difficult to obtain and harder to discern over whether the presence of electronic books for them was as effective as electronic books for those of lower SES. (Korat, O. and Shamir, A.; October 25, 2006) An overview of various studies that have examined the effects of e-books from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. It was found that in some studies in the lower grades (Pre-K to 3), students scored better after having an electronic book read to them with an adult present rather than reading the e-book on their own. The Pre-K to 3 students were also found to be easily distracted by electronic books that had an overabundance of interactive features and thus gained low scores on reading comprehension and re-telling. The students who worked with electronic books that simply had text, text-to-speech features and in-book explanations of what certain words meant scored higher. (Zucker, T.A., Moody, A.K., McKenna, M.C.; 2009) Technology’s effects upon the students can change the nature of when, how, and why they read. It can also transform how students with disabilities are able to access, acquire, and process information with generally favorable results. (Lee, Y. and Vail, C.O., Winter 2005; Pearman, C.J., May 2008; Sternberg, B.J., Kaplan, K. A., and Borck, J.E., July/August/September 2007; U.S. Department of Education, September 2010 )
Literature Review, Page 5 A Cautionary Tale of Technology: While technology is promoted in the schools and by administrators of what should be seen in the classroom at this point in the 21st Century, there are still hurdles of making our centers of education technologically current and effective for today’s students due to individual teacher reluctance to incorporate computers or new modes of lessons via SmartBoard/Internet/Computer along with the lack of money, time, and investment into making technology a worthwhile supporter of digital literacy and modern education. (Bell, S.M., Judge, S., and Puckett, K., September/October 2006; Lovell, M. and Phillips, L., Winter 09-10)
Statement of the Hypothesis Over a period of two-three weeks, six students from P.S. X’s fifth grade classes who struggle with reading comprehension will be given a set of books. Three will choose books from an electronic book library and the other three will read books from the print library. Their motivation is to use the books they have chosen as the basis for a short book report and a brief reading comprehension quiz.
Method • Participants: • Instrument(s): • Experimental Design: • Procedure:
Results • Discussion • Implications
References • Balajthy, E. (November 2007) Technology and Current Reading/Literacy Assessment Strategies The Reading Teacher, 61(3), pp. 240-247 DOI: 10.1598/RT.61.3.4 • Barone, D. and Wright, T. E. (December 2008/January 2009) Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies • Bell, S.M., Judge, S., and Puckett, K. Closing the Digital Divide: Update From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (September/October 2006) The Journal of Educational Research Vol. 100(No. 1) pp. 52-60 • Blachowicz, C. L.; Bates, A.; Berne, J., Bridgman, T.; Chaney, J., and Perney, J. (2009) Technology and At-Risk Young Readers and Their Classrooms Reading Psychology, 30, pgs. 387-411 doi: 10.1080/02702710902733576 • Britten, J.S. and Cassady, J.C. The Technology Integration Assessment Instrument: Understanding Planned Use of Technology by Classroom Teachers (2005) Computers in the Schools Vol. 22, No. 3/4, pp. 49-61 doi: 10.1300/J025v22n03_05 • Burnett, C. Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies (2009) Journal of Research in Reading, Vol. 32, 1, pp 22–37 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.01379.x • Abrami, P.C., Chambers, B., Cheung, A., Gifford, R., Madden, N.A., Slavin, R.E., and Tucker, B.J. Technology Infusion in Success for All: Reading Outcomes for First Graders (September 2008) The Elementary School Journal, 109(1) • Chera, P.; Littleton, K.; Wood, C. (May 4, 2006) Interactions with Talking Books: phonological awareness affects boys’ use of talking books Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 22, pp. 382-390 • Hamilton, B. Making the Most of a Teaching PartnerThe Reading Teacher, 63(3), pp. 245–248 DOI:10.1598/RT.63.3.8 • Handsfield, L. J., Dean, T. R., and Cielocha, K. M. Becoming Critical Consumers and • Producers of Text: Teaching Literacy with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 (September 2009) The Reading Teacher, 63(1), pp. 40–50 DOI:10.1598/RT.63.1.4
References, Page 2 • Kervin, L. and Mantei, J. Using computers to support children as authors: An Examination of Three Cases (March 2009) • Korat, O. and Shamir, A. (October 25, 2006) Electronic Books versus adult readers: Effects on children’s emergent literacy as a function of social class Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2007), 23, pp. 248-259 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2279.2006.00213.x • Labbo, L. From Morning Message to Digital Morning Message: Moving from the tried and true to the new (May 2005) The Reading Teacher Vol. 58, No. 8 DOI: 10.1598/RT.58.8.9 • Larson, L.C. Electronic Reading Workshop: Beyond Books with New Literacies and Instructional Technologies (October 2008) Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52(2), pp.121-131 DOI: 10.1598/JAAL.52.2.3 • Lee, Y. and Vail, C.O. Computer-Based Reading Instruction for Young Children with Disabilities (Winter 2005) • Lovell, M. and Phillips, L. Commercial Software Programs Approved for Teaching Reading and Writing in the Primary Grades: Another Sobering Reality (Winter 09-10) Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), pp.197-216 • Moallem, M., Kermani, H. and Chen, S. Handheld, Wireless Computers: Can they improve learning and instruction? (2005) Computers in the Schools Vol. 22, No. ¾ , 2005, pp. 93-106 DOI: 10.1300/J025v22n03_08 • Oakley, G. and Jay, J. “Making Time” for Reading: Factors That Influence the Success of Multimedia Reading in the Home (November 2008) The Reading Teacher, 62(3), pp. 246-255 DOI: 10.1598/RT.62.3.6 • Pearman, C.J. Independent Reading of CD-ROM Storybooks: Measuring Comprehension With Oral Retellings (May 2008) The Reading Teacher, 61(8), pp. 594–602 DOI:10.1598/RT.61.8.1 • Rhodes, J. A. and Milby, T. M. (November 2007) Teacher-Created Electronic Books: Integrating Technology to Support Readers with Disabilities The Reading Teacher, 61 (3), pp. 255-259 DOI: 10.1598/RT.61.3.6
References, Page 3 • Sternberg, B.J., Kaplan, K. A., and Borck, J.E. Enhancing Adolescent Literacy Achievement Through Integration of Technology in the Classroom (July/August/September 2007) Reading Research Quarterly 42/3 pp. 416-420 doi: 10.1598/RRQ.42.3.6 • U.S. Department of Education What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report (September 2010) Institute of Education Sciences • Zawilinski, L. HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking The Reading Teacher, 62(8), pp. 650–661 DOI:10.1598/RT.62.8.3 • Zucker, T.A. and Invernizzi, M. My eSorts and Digital Extensions of Word Study (May 2008) The Reading Teacher Vol. 61 (8), pp. 654–658 DOI:10.1598/RT.61.8.7 • Zucker, T.A., Moody, A.K., McKenna, M.C. (2009) The Effects of Electronic Books on Pre-Kindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students’ Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis J. Educational Computing Research, Vol. 40(1) 47-87