Is an intervention using computer software effective in literacy learning? A randomised controlled trial

Background: computer software is widely used to support literacy learning. There are few randomised trials to support its effectiveness. Therefore, there is an urgent need to rigorously evaluate computer software that supports literacy learning.

Methods: we undertook a pragmatic randomised controlled trial among pupils aged 11–12 within a single state comprehensive school in the North of England. The pupils were randomised to receive 10 hours of literacy learning delivered via laptop computers or to act as controls. Both groups received normal literacy learning. A pre‐test and two post‐tests were given in spelling and literacy. The main pre‐defined outcome was improvements in spelling scores.

Results: 155 pupils were randomly allocated, 77 to the ICT group and 78 to control. Four pupils left the school before post‐testing and 25 pupils did not have both pre‐ and post‐test data. Therefore, 63 and 67 pupils were included in the main analysis for the ICT and control groups respectively. After adjusting for pre‐test scores there was a slight increase in spelling scores, associated with the ICT intervention, but this was not statistically significant (0.954, 95% confidence interval (CI) – 1.83 to 3.74, p = 0.50). For reading scores there was a statistically significant decrease associated with the ICT intervention (?2.33, 95% CI ?0.96 to ?3.71, p = 0.001).

Conclusions: we found no evidence of a statistically significant benefit on spelling outcomes using a computer program for literacy learning. For reading there seemed to be a reduction in reading scores associated with the use of the program. All new literacy software needs to be tested in a rigorous trial before it is used routinely in schools.     

Do Volunteers in Schools Help Children Learn to Read? A Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials

The aim of unpaid volunteer classroom assistants is to give extra support to children learning to read. The impact of using volunteers to improve children's acquisition of reading skills is unknown. To assess whether volunteers are effective in improving children's reading, we undertook a systematic review of all relevant randomised controlled trials (RCTs). An exhaustive search of all the main electronic databases was carried out (i.e. BEI, PsycInfo, ASSIA, PAIS, SSCI, ERIC, SPECTR, SIGLE). We identified eight experimental studies, of which seven were RCTs. One of the RCTs was excluded because it did not meet the inclusion criteria. One RCT randomised intact classes and the other six studies randomised individual children and could therefore be included in a meta-analysis. All of the trials were fairly small, with the largest including 99 pupils. Four of the trials showed a positive outcome, while three showed a negative effect and the remaining study was equivocal. We pooled the four most homogeneous trials. The pooled data indicated an effect size of 0.19, which was not statistically significant ( p = 0.54, 95% confidence interval = -0.31 to 0.68). Overall, volunteering appeared to have a small effect on reading outcomes. However, the confidence intervals were wide, which could conceal a potentially large benefit or a harmful effect. Thus, more good quality RCTs are required in order to provide more conclusive evidence.     

A systematic review of controlled trials evaluating interventions in adult literacy and numeracy

This paper reports a systematic review of the quasi‐experimental literature in the field of adult literacy and numeracy, published between 1980 and 2002. We included 27 controlled trials (CTs) that evaluated strategies and pedagogies designed to increase adult literacy and numeracy: 18 CTs with no effect sizes (incomplete data) and 9 CTs with full data. These nine trials are examined in detail for this paper. Of these nine trials, six evaluated interventions in literacy and three evaluated interventions in literacy and numeracy. Three of the nine trials showed a positive effect for the interventions, five trials showed no difference and one trial showed a positive effect for the control treatment. The quality of the trials was variable, but many of them had some methodological problems. There was no evidence of publication bias in the review. There have been few attempts to expose common adult literacy or numeracy programmes to rigorous evaluation and therefore in terms of policy and practice it is difficult to make any recommendations as to the type of adult education that should be supported. In contrast, however, the review does provide a strong steer for the direction to be taken by educational researchers: because of the present inadequate evidence base rigorously designed randomised controlled trials and quasi‐experiments are required as a matter of urgency.     

Rapid recovery in sub‐optimal readers in Wales through a self‐paced computer‐based reading programme

Basic literacy skills underlie much future adult functioning, and are targeted in children through a variety of means. Children with identified special needs in reading were exposed to a self‐paced computer‐based reading programme that focused on improving phonetic ability. Exposure was limited to three, 40‐minute sessions a week, for 10 weeks. The children were assessed in terms of their reading, spelling and mathematics abilities before the programme commenced, and immediately after the programme terminated. The programme improved reading and spelling by about eight months, but had no impact on mathematics. The results suggest that brief exposure to a self‐paced phonetic computer‐based teaching programme had some benefits for the sample.     

Experimental trials and ‘what works?’ in education: The case of grammar for writing

The place of evidence to inform educational effectiveness has received increasing attention internationally in the last two decades. An important contribution to evidence‐informed policy has been greater attention to experimental trials including randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The aim of this paper is to examine the use of evidence, particularly the use of evidence from experimental trials, to inform national curriculum policy. To do this the teaching of grammar to help pupils’ writing was selected as a case. Two well‐regarded and influential experimental trials that had a significant effect on policy, and that focused on the effectiveness of grammar teaching to support pupils’ writing, are examined in detail. In addition to the analysis of their methodology, the nature of the two trials is also considered in relation to other key studies in the field of grammar teaching for writing and a recently published robust RCT. The paper shows a significant and persistent mismatch between national curriculum policy in England and the robust evidence that is available with regard to the teaching of writing. It is concluded that there is a need for better evidence‐informed decisions by policy makers to ensure a national curriculum specification for writing that is more likely to have positive impact on pupils.     

An Experimental Study to Measure the Contribution of Motion Pictures and Slide-Films to Learning Certain Units in the Course Introduction to Nursing Arts

This teaching study tested whether guiding invented spelling through a Vygotskian approach to feedback would facilitate kindergarten children's entry into literacy more so than phonological awareness instruction. Participants included 40 kindergarteners whose early literacy skills were typical of literacy-rich classrooms, and who were receiving a structured balanced literacy curriculum. The children were randomly assigned to one of two teaching conditions (phonological awareness; invented spelling) and participated in 16 teaching sessions over an 8-week period in kindergarten. Before these teaching sessions, the groups were equivalent in early literacy and language skills including alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness and oral vocabulary. Children in both conditions saw growth in alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness (marked by large effect sizes), but the invented-spelling group showed more growth in invented spelling sophistication and learned to read more words on posttest. These advantages were reflected in medium to large effect sizes. Follow-up assessment in Grade 1 revealed potential lasting advantages for the invented spelling group. These findings support the view that with guidance and developmentally appropriate feedback, invented spelling promotes early literacy by providing a milieu for children to explore the relations between oral and written language.     

Promotion of literacy skills in early childhood: a follow-up study from kindergarten to Grade 1 / Fomento de habilidades de lecto-escritura en la primera infancia: estudio de seguimiento desde la educación infantil al primer curso de educación primaria

Several researchers have shown that invented spelling activities in kindergarten foster preschool children’s early literacy skills. However, few studies have assessed its impact on learning to read and write in the first year of primary school. Our goal was to analyse the impact of an invented spelling programme with kindergarteners on their literacy skills until the end of Grade 1. A follow-up study was conducted with 45 five-year-old Portuguese children attending two classes of two schools in Lisbon. The teaching effect was controlled as children from each class were randomly assigned into two groups (experimental/control) — equivalent on letter knowledge, cognitive abilities and phonological awareness. The participants were assessed in kindergarten with a pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test (spelling; reading; phonemic awareness) and at the end of Grade 1 (spelling; reading). The experimental group participated in invented spelling sessions, while control children participated in storytelling activities. Data analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups. The experimental group scored higher, not only in kindergarten but also in the follow-up year for all literacy measures.     

Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes

Background: Incentives have been proposed as a method to improve attendance in adult literacy classes. In the UK, several areas have piloted the use of incentives to promote attendance at adult literacy classes. To date no rigorous evaluation of this policy has been undertaken. This paper describes (as far as we are aware) the only UK‐based randomised controlled trial to evaluate the use of financial incentives in order to promote attendance in classes for adult learners.

Methods: We used a cluster‐randomised design. Twenty‐nine adult literacy classes were randomised in two groups using minimisation. Intervention group learners received £5 (US$10) for each class attended. The main outcome was class attendance; the secondary outcome was literacy scores.

Results: After allocation, one class was found to be ineligible for the study. In the 28 remaining classes there was a statistically significant reduction of about 1.5 sessions (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28, 2.79; p = 0.019) attended by the intervention group compared with control, after adjusting for cluster size and baseline scores. The difference in reading scores between the intervention and control group, conditioned on baseline scores, was ?2.38 (with controls scoring higher than the intervention group), but this difference was not statistically significant (95% CI ?7.40 to 2.57, p = 0.33).

Conclusion: Payments to attend adult literacy classes had an adverse effect on attendance. This trial needs urgent replication, ideally with a larger incentive, before this approach is widely used by policy makers.     

Does spelling instruction make students better spellers,readers, and writers? A meta-analytic review

Despite the importance of spelling for both writing and reading, there is considerable disagreement regarding how spelling skills are best acquired. During this and virtually all of the last century, some scholars have argued that spelling should not be directly or formally taught as such instruction is not effective or efficient. We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies to address these claims. The corpus of 53 studies in this review included 6,037 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and yielded 58 effect sizes (ESs) that were used to answer eight research questions concerning the impact of formally teaching spelling on spelling, phonological awareness, reading, and writing performance. An average weighted ES was calculated for each question and the quality of included studies was systematically evaluated. Results provided strong and consistent support for teaching spelling, as it improved spelling performance when compared to no/unrelated instruction (ES = 0.54) or informal/incidental approaches to improving spelling performance (ES = 0.43). Increasing the amount of formal spelling instruction also proved beneficial (ES = 0.70). Gains in spelling were maintained over time (ES = 0.53) and generalized to spelling when writing (ES = 0.94). Improvements in phonological awareness (ES = 0.51) and reading skills (ES = 0.44) were also found. The positive outcomes associated with formal spelling instruction were generally consistent, regardless of students’ grade level or literacy skills.     

Walking the talk: Western Australian teachers’ beliefs about early reading and spelling instruction and their knowledge of metalinguistics

Abstract

In the context of a national inquiry into the teaching of literacy in Australia, an investigation of beliefs about early reading and spelling instruction and knowledge of metalinguistics of primary pre‐service teachers in Western Australia was undertaken. We also sought to discover how confident this group felt about teaching reading and spelling and how their teacher training could better prepare them for these complex and challenging tasks. Results indicated that pre‐service teachers in this particular sample were strongly in favour of code‐based instruction and believed that it was important to know how to assess and teach phonological awareness and phonics. Despite these beliefs, it was found that knowledge of spoken and written language structure and linguistics terminology was not well developed and only 7 per cent of participants stated that they felt well prepared to teach reading and spelling. These findings highlight a disparity between what educators know and believe and what convergent research purports as effective early reading and spelling instruction.     

Information and Communication Technologies in Pre-school Settings: a review of the literature

This article reviews the research evidence that relates to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in pre-school settings. While there is widespread agreement that children should be helped to become confident users of ICTs, the literature presents a more qualified picture of potential benefits and barriers. The review considers the polarised debate about whether computer use is desirable for young children; the position of ICTs as one element in the multimedia mix experienced by children; evidence available about current ICT provision and practice in pre-school settings in the UK and perspectives on the contribution that ICTs make to learning. The need for adults and children to acquire ICT literacy skills is identified, along with a requirement that practitioners should be equipped to make appropriate resource choices. The way in which ICTs can play a compensatory and engaging role or further entrench disadvantage (‘the digital divide’) is discussed. The review concludes that the pedagogical imperative must remain with practitioners.     

Learning to spell: raising standards in spelling and independent writing

This paper considers evidence from an intervention designed to raise standards in spelling and independent writing. The Complete Spelling Programme (McMurray and Fleming, 1998) is designed to ensure that all processes involved in learning to spell are activated and that the interaction between them is facilitated. In addition, a number of innovative features within the programme's design allow sources of spelling knowledge to be presented in a developmental sequence, allowing all children to learn together, regardless of their ability. The programme provides day‐to‐day spellings and an extensive range of follow‐up activities, clearly differentiated, linking spelling to wider literacy teaching, e.g. grammar, language understanding, punctuation. The impact of the programme on progress, not only in spelling tests but also in spelling accuracy and quality in independent writing, was assessed by means of a longitudinal study with a 2 × 2 quasi‐experimental design. The two independent variables were (i) experimental school (intervention) or control school (no intervention) and (ii) high or low social disadvantage. A sample of 81 children aged 5–6 years across the four schools was followed for three years from Year 2 to Year 4 (Northern Ireland). A range of quantitative measures was used for baseline assessment and to establish the quantifiable outcomes for children in both the experimental (N=43) and the control schools (N=38). Qualitative measures were used to illuminate the processes involved in the programme in the experimental schools (McMurray, 2004). At the end of the study pupils who had been taught using the programme had made significant improvement in spelling and independent writing. On the basis of the findings it is argued that spelling needs to be seen as an integral tool in raising standards in literacy and that it should not be taught in isolation from other literacy skills.     

Is there a gender gap? A meta-analysis of the gender differences in students' ICT literacy

The study of gender differences in academic achievement has been one of the core topics in education, especially because it may uncover possible gaps and inequalities in certain domains. Whereas these differences have largely been examined in traditional domains, such as mathematics, reading, and science, the existing body of empirical studies in the domain of ICT literacy is considerably smaller, yet abounds in diverse findings. One of the persistent findings however is that boys consider their ICT literacy to be higher than that of girls. This meta-analysis tests whether the same pattern holds for students’ actual performance on ICT literacy tasks, as measured by performance-based assessments. In total, 46 effect sizes were extracted from 23 empirical studies using a random-effects model. Overall, the gender differences in ICT literacy were significant, positive, and favored girls (g = + 0.12, 95 % CI = [0.08, 0.16]). This effect varied between studies, and moderation analyses indicated that the grade level students were taught at moderated its magnitude—effect sizes were larger in primary school as compared to secondary school. In conclusion, our findings contrast those obtained from previous meta-analyses that were based on self-reported ICT literacy and suggest that the ICT gender gap may not be as severe as it had been claimed to be.     

Computer‐assisted learning to read and spell: results from two pilot studies

Because multimedia computer programs may provide promising opportunities for the training of initial reading and spelling skills, two small‐scale pilot studies have been conducted with a recently‐developed program to examine its efficacy and impact on the motivation of the users. The first study is concerned with the use of the program in kindergarten children (K2). As there is no curriculum for these children, a computer program that is fully adaptive may well boost their independence in learning to read and spell. The main finding in this study was that kindergarten readers learned in up to 16 hours of computer practice as much as is normally attained in the first 3 months of formal reading instruction in the classroom. In the second study, reading‐disabled students with low levels of motivation engaged in computer‐based spelling practice. The most important finding in this study was that the amount of non‐task directed behaviour of those who had practised with the computer significantly decreased during both computer sessions and classroom sessions. In the discussion the way in which computers can be used most efficiently for the instruction of reading and spelling is analysed and suggestions for further research and development are presented.     

A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of interventions designed to decrease child abuse in high-risk families

Child abuse is a global problem, and parents with histories of childhood abuse are at increased risk of abusing their offspring. The objective of this systematic review is to provide a clear overview of the existing literature of randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to prevent child abuse. PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, and CINAHL were systematically searched and expanded by hand search. This review includes all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions designed to prevent abuse among mothers identified as high-risk. Of the eight studies identified, only three found statistically significant reductions in abuse by any measure, and only two found reductions in incidents reported to child protective services. While much has been written about child abuse in high-risk families, few RCTs have been performed. Only home visitation has a significant evidence base for reducing child abuse, and the findings vary considerably. Also, data from low- and middle-income countries are limited.