This study was undertaken to design, evaluate and refine an eBook-feature that supports students' decoding of unfamiliar text. The feature supports students' independent reading of eBooks with text-to-speech, graded support in the form of syllabification and rhyme analogy, and by dividing the word material into different categories based on the frequency and regularity of the word or its constituent parts. The eBook-feature is based on connectionist models of reading and reading acquisition and the theory of scaffolding. Students are supported in mapping between spelling and sound, in identifying the relevant spelling patterns and in generalizing, in order to strengthen their decoding skills. The prototype was evaluated with Danish students in the second grade to see how and under what circumstances students can use the feature in ways that strengthen their decoding skills and support them in reading unfamiliar text. It was found that most students could interact with the eBook-material in ways that the envisioned learning trajectory in the study predicts are beneficial in strengthening their decoding skills. The study contributes with both principles for designing digital learning material with supportive features for decoding unfamiliar text and with a concrete proposal for a design. The perspectives for making reading acquisition more differentiated and meaningful for second graders in languages with irregular spelling are discussed.

In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech) and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being at their frustration level. Basing the intervention on connectionist theory of reading and Share's self-teaching hypothesis, students were instructed to try to read the words before activating the TTS-function.Only five students out of 17 used the software in ways that could promote selfteaching, but underused the support. Five other students very quickly refrained from trying to decode, instead clicking the full page TTS. Another five students did not at any point try to decode words independently. These results suggest that by using TTS and talking books in reading instruction without measures to fine tune the scaffolding, it is very doubtful whether any students benefit from the TTS at all. i n t r o d u c t i o n Digital learning materials and information and communication technology (ICT) in education is a high priority subject at all levels of education. But the results of implementing digital learning materials and ICT in practice are often quite meagre. This is also the case with the use of technology in beginning reading instruction (Slavin et al. 2010,p. 17).In beginning reading instruction, the advent of digital learning materials has led to neither modification nor redefinition (Puentedura, 2011) of instruction. Most often the digital learning materials offer phonics-based skill-and-drill instruction.

In this article, we present the first systematic study of how teachers design courses in the newly implemented digital learning platforms in Denmark. The study is based on the collection and double coding of the 102 most downloaded course designs in the learning platform Meebook. The descriptive data is analysed in the light of Meebook’s affordances, previous research and didactical theory. Our analysis focusses on the three main intentions of the introduction of learning platforms for K9-schools. This concerns firstly the use of learning objectives and their assessment, secondly the use of the platform in relation to the intention of sharing teacher-created course designs and thirdly the question of how teachers deal with the integration of multimodal learning materials in the course design. On one hand, the course builder in Meebook seems to affect teachers’ course designs strongly, and on the other hand, the course builder does not facilitate didactical reasoning and coherence. The results of the study have potential implications for platform designers, local school authorities and headmasters who deal with the implementation of platforms as well as teachers that daily use such course builders for teaching and the students’ learning.

A large‐scale, cluster‐randomized controlled field trial (Nclassrooms = 47; Nstudents = 1,013) assessed the impact of a digital text‐to‐speech reading material that supported 8‐year‐olds’ decoding and reading comprehension. An active control group used the most prevalent Danish learning material with a research‐based systematic, explicit phonics approach supporting primarily decoding. The digital tool allows children to read unfamiliar text for meaning. Students are supported in mapping between orthography and phonology by three levels of text‐to‐speech support and in identifying spelling patterns. The risk of students overusing text‐to‐speech was countered by postponing access to having words read aloud by directing students towards identifying and training relevant orthographic patterns before activating text‐to‐speech. Results showed no statistically significant difference in decoding, but treatment improved reading comprehension. The study demonstrates how digital tools can facilitate strengthening students' decoding skills as efficiently as a traditional phonics‐based programme while students are reading text of relatively high orthographic complexity for meaning.

This article presents the results of a systematic review of research on how students and teachers in primary and lower secondary school use didactic learning materials in L1. Didactic learning materials are learning resources made for purposes of teaching and learning. We include both digital and analogue learning resources and methodically diverse research published 2008-2018. The aims of the review is mapping 1) how much research there is in this field, 2) which aspects of use are investigated, 3) what the research can tell us about the use of didactic learning materials, and 4) how the research was conducted methodically. We synthesize the included studies in six themes that describe strands of research interests. Finally, we will propose a research agenda for moving the field of research in the use of didactic learning materials forward.