Computer-Assisted Literacy Instruction in Phonics,
Abstract
Twenty-four volunteers from the Academic Remedial Training (ART) Program at the Naval Training Center (NTC), San Diego, were given computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in phonics in place of the program's usual classroom instruction. The volunteers, native English-speaking recruits with reading grade levels (RGLs) below 4.5, as measured on the Gates-MacGinitie reading test and poor word attack skills, as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), Level II, were removed from the classroom for the first week of the ART Program and given phonics instruction on a computerized multimedia system (MMS). The MMS, which includes a minicomputer, viewing consoles, response-entry keyboards, and a voice synthesizer, allowed the students (1) to see and hear the words they were to pronounce, (2) to request that the synthesizer repronounce words, and (3) to sound out words in isolation and in Navy-relevant text. A control group of 24 students with comparable reading scores participated in the normal NTC classroom instruction in phonics. Both CAI and classroom instruction took place each morning for 3 hours over 5 successive days. Upon completion of the phonics course, both groups continued with the remaining 3 weeks of the ART Program, which covered vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and study skills. The RGLs of both groups were remeasured immediately after phonics instruction (WRAT) and at the end of the ART Program (Gates-MacGinitie test), and their RGL gains were compared to assess the instructional efficiency of the CAI course.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA084269
Entities
People
- Robert A. Wisher