A symbolic annotation of vowel sounds for emerging readers

Research on educational technologies for reading instruction is disproportionate to the myriad applications in the marketplace. Here we assess a web-based reading tool, Sound it Out, that assists struggling readers in decoding by annotating vowels with small icons indicating the associate phoneme. Created as a collaboration between researchers and technology developers, the phonemic-image cue was designed to scaffold letter-sound correspondence. Study 1 examined whether Sound it Out provides an immediate benefit to reading performance in thirty struggling readers (ages 8-10) randomly assigned to counterbalanced groups in a single-session. Results showed that, without a period of practice, children were not able to capitalize on the cues for improved text reading. Study 2 utilized a repeated measures randomized controlled trial design to determine if an extended practice period (1 month) produced gains and whether a caregiver supervised practice (“dyadic reading”) enhanced benefits. Seventy-six struggling readers (ages 7-13) were randomly assigned to two intervention groups (independent and dyadic reading) and one control group. Results showed significant, dose-response benefits to decoding accuracy and passage reading accuracy for the combined intervention groups in comparison to controls. Moreover, supervised dyadic reading enhanced the effect of practice. These results highlight the potential for an evidenced-based supplemental learning technology to support both independent and shared reading for struggling readers.

Beyond the Book: Encouraging Emerging Readers

Emerging reader books (call them early or easy, that’s a discussion for another article) have come into their own since the Geisel Award was first presented in 2006 and the success of series like Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie.But learning to read independently is a daunting challenge—quality books are just one of the tools librarians across the country are employing to help children master this critical milestone and develop a lifelong love of reading. What are libraries doing, beyond the book, to help?

Fostering Readers: Addressing the Knowledge Gap for Serving Beginning Readers

"How do we support children who have aged out of our 0–5 storytimes?"With the introduction of great resources like Every Child Ready to Read and Babies Need Words Every Day, this question popped up more and more in electronic mailing lists, social-media groups, and in-person chats. The truth is, library staff all over the map are doing some really great things for emerging readers in kindergarten and beyond. This question says more about youth library staff’s desire for the confidence that research-based activities can equip us with than our actual ability to work with this age group.

Children and Technology: Ten Ways to Help Parents Navigate Technology with Children

As children’s librarians, we spend a great deal of time working with and advising not only children but also their parents. We provide tips on early literacy, advice about emerging readers, book recommendations for reluctant readers, and more. As technology becomes more prevalent in the lives of children, we must also serve as a resource for parents in this area. Here are ten ways children’s librarians can ensure that they can adequately help parents become confident about the role that technology plays in the lives of their children.

The Learning Toolkit

In this chapter the authors summarize the design, development, testing, and dissemination of the Learning Toolkit—currently a suite of three highly interactive, multimedia tools for learning. ABRACADABRA is early literacy software designed to encourage the development of reading and writing skills of emerging readers, especially students at-risk of school failure. The authors highlight the important modular design considerations underlying ABRACADABRA; how it scaffolds and supports both teachers and students; the evidence on which it is based; the results of field experiments done to date; and directions for future research, development, and applications. They also present ePEARL and explain how it can be used with ABRACADABRA to promote self-regulation, comprehension and writing. They briefly discuss ISIS-21 the prototype of a tool designed to enhance student inquiry skills and promote information literacy. As an evidence-based toolkit available without charge to educators, the authors believe the suite of tools comprising the Learning Toolkit breaks new ground in bringing research evidence to practice in ways that promote wide scale and sustainable changes in teaching and learning using technology.