Audience:
I work for an association called APDE that manages seven private schools in Guatemala City. I want to share my investigation with the board of directors and principals of all seven schools. At the end of each year all the schools have a two week period of professional development, I would like to take advantage of this occasion to present my research results to all the elementary school teachers as well.
Sources:
I first got inspired to do this project by learning about PBS Kids’ raising readers campaign that focuses on building reading skills using media across all platforms to close the literacy achievement gap.
ISTE’s Journal of Research on Technology Education (JRTE) has a few interesting articles about this:
- · Commercial Software Programs Approved for Teaching Reading and Writing in the Primary Grades: Another Sobering Reality. JRTE, 2009; 42(2): 197-216
- · Digital Games in Education: The Designs of Games-Based Learning Environments. JRTE, 2007; 40(1): 23-38
- · Interactive CD-ROM Storybooks and Young Readers’ Reading Comprehension. JRTE, 2001; 33(4): 374-384
I’ve also found a book on Multimedia and Literacy Development by Adriana G. Bus and Susan B. Neuman. One of the chapters is online: “Cognitive processes during reading: implications for the use of multimedia to foster reading comprehension”. Unfortunately, I don’t live in the US and ordering the book would take too long and be most expensive.
The Reading Online Journal from the International Reading Association has all sorts of articles about using technology to enhance reading instruction.
Description:
Does the integration of interactive multimedia technologies in lower elementary grades increase students’ motivation and skills to read?
Each day of the week all of the students at the all-girls K-12 school where I work, have a one hour reading or studying period, it consists mostly of reading silently by themselves. For my lower elementary kids, it can be difficult and boring at times. I often hear teachers say that they have a hard time keeping the students motivated to read and that they end up doing something else instead, like coloring or drawing on their notebooks. I believe that acquiring good reading skills is very important for a countries development. Guatemala has a low literacy rate and unlike other societies very few people are known to be “book lovers”. Some of it has to do with our socioeconomic problems, buying books can be expensive! But with all the online resources accessible at present, not having money will no longer be an excuse. Since I started working in education this has been a concern of mine. With the help of my sister, we design a children’s poetry page: www.mundoemilia.com, knowing little about all the research available on how to enhance reading instruction.
I would like to work on a theoretical/empirical research study on how integrating multimedia technologies can motivate and develop young children’s reading skills like fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It would be a longitudinal study with repeated measures. I’m still defining the variables and the methods to get the data I need. On a small scale, I would be very happy if I could just improve the quality and results of my school’s reading period, and find out that there’s a positive relationship between technology and reading. On a larger scale, I have found that there’s a lot of interest in research focused on the impact of applying technology in helping children learn to read, so I would like to contribute my findings with the world. There is still much to be explored by schools, technology developers and researchers.
“Technology can help make a good reading program more effective, but its value depends upon the quality of the overall reading program and the thoughtful implementation of technology to enhance reading instruction.” INDUS - Training and Research Institute.
