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The Effects of Computer Assisted Reading versus Traditional Reading Programs Amber Duncan December 11, 2012 CAT 531 The University of Alabama

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When thinking about using technology in the classroom, we are always trying to find new ways to impact our students. Some of these ways are through technology such as iPADs, math software, apps, websites, and reading programs. In thinking about the many different technology ideas that are coming out, one of the questions that was posed by my placement teacher was: Does computer based reading interventions provide reading gains when compared to typical instructional strategies as assessed using both written and computer based assessments? After my teacher wrote this question down, I started becoming curious about the question myself. I turned the question into: Does computer based instruction and interventions provide reading gains compared to typical instructional strategies? Before answering the research question, I wanted to know what my placement teacher had to say about how she used technology in the classroom and what challenges and successes she has faced with using technology. The way she uses technology in the classroom is through computer based behavior incentives, class works assessment and intervention/instructional modules, individual educational programs, and Lexia reading intervention. With these different ways she uses technology in the classroom, there come challenges and successes. The challenges she has faced have been something that many teachers say where learning the new programs as they are introduced and adopted, maintain the student interest in the programs, and keeping up with the changes and the technologies used at home compared to at school. The success she has achieved with it has been mostly for behavior incentives, since the children love playing the games on the computer. After having these thoughts on my mind, I found two articles that answered my research question and they were very interesting to read. One of the ways my teacher uses the technology in her classroom through the Lexia Reading program. This reading program and the

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Accelerated Reader program was on my mind while reading the articles. In the study titled Reading Rate and Comprehension as a Function of Computerized Versus Traditional Presentation Mode: A Preliminary Study, they talked about how different computer assisted programs affect a students reading. When talking about the difference between computer assisted reading programs and traditional instructional programs, we need to understand exactly what that means. A computer assisted reading program is where the student opens a program and the student works within the program, either by reading a passage, having the passage or words read to them, or doing activities that involve identifying different words or sounds. The traditional instructional program is where you have the teacher present the material to the students and they work through the reading material. The traditional reading program may have examples such as the guided reading practice, having the student read to the teacher, or having the student read one on one. In this article, they talked about the Accelerated Reading program or AR and about the Qualitative Reading Inventory-Third Edition or QRI-3. The Accelerated Reading program is a program that is still used in schools today. When you look at the AR program, you are looking at how the student comprehends the book that they have read. Also, it is used as an incentive for students to read since they will earn points after finishing reading and taking a quiz on the book. The other program is where a child will read a passage out loud to the teacher and the teacher will grade how the student does reading the word list or the passage. The different results from the study stated that there were no significant differences in rate comprehension overall when looking at computer assisted reading programs and traditional reading programs (Sorrell , Bell & McCallum , 2007). After reading the information in this article, I related it to how the reading program at my current placement is used to help the students. The students use Lexia to help with word sounds and blends at the Kindergarten level

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all the way up to helping the students spell the word. This program is primarily an audio program. Even though the program might be on the screen and the student might have to read the words, the student is just listening for the sounds and what to fill in. This could also pose another problem for a student that they might now understand completely what they are reading and therefore cannot transfer the material back to the traditional way of reading. The next article that I read, relates to my field and degree was entitled Computer-Assisted Instruction to Enhance the Reading Comprehension of Struggling Readers: A Review of the Literature. The article started off by talking about how one of the greatest challenges facing classroom teachers today is how can I modify my instruction to benefit all of the students in my classroom. This means the students with learning disabilities all the way to up the students with gifted abilities. The students with learning disabilities are the ones that teachers tend to shy away from because they do not know exactly how to modify the instruction the students. In this research, it high lights one of the answers that my teacher said about how technology is constantly changing and that there might be not enough funding to provide professional training on these programs for the teachers. The different interventions that this article talked about were from computer interventions such as assistive technologies and reading the text on the computer, to computer versus the printed text and exploring how the computer and the printed text affects different age students to supported text on the skill that the student was struggling with. The results of the different studies showed that some of the interventions have had at least a somewhat positive effect on student comprehension. This means that there are interventions that are helping the students that are struggling to read, such as reading online or vocabulary definition online. When they looked at if placing the students on the computer without teacher supports, then the effect of no teacher support while the student was using the computer was not

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positive like the other results were showing. The last thing that stood out to me in this article is that reading and reading online are becoming synonymous (Stetter & Hughes, 2010). This is important because in an age of technology, we are moving away from reading the printed text, to reading online or through iPADs. And with this different technology, that means that the teachers have to update their technology and improve with the students as well. And like my placement teacher said, there is not always enough training for the constant change of technology, but that there should be more professional development for the teachers to help them stay up to date on the technology. After reading these different articles and realizing what exactly it means to have computer assisted programs and traditional instructional programs, and how important it is for teacher to have training on these different programs and what benefits their students.

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Resources Stetter , M. E., & Hughes, M. T. (2010). Computer-assisted instruction to enhance the reading comprehension of struggling readers: A review of the literature. Journal of Special Education Technology , 25(4). Sorrell , C. A., Bell , S. M., & McCallum , R. S. (2007). Reading rate and comprehension as a function of computerized versus traditional presentation mode: A preliminary study. Journal of Special Education Technology , 22 (1 ).