Reading Comprehension: A Computerized Intervention with Primary‐age Poor Readers

Abstract

The current study investigates the effectiveness of a computerized reading comprehension programme on the reading accuracy, reading comprehension and reading rate of primary-age poor readers. There is little published literature relating to computerized reading interventions in UK primary schools, and no previous studies have investigated the Comprehension Booster programme. Thirty-eight children (26 boys and 12 girls; aged 6:7 to 11:0) from two schools in East Yorkshire, UK, took part. Half of the participants (the intervention group) undertook the Comprehension Booster programme for a 6-week period, whilst the other half (the control group) continued with their usual teaching. Significant effects of the intervention were found, with increases in reading accuracy and reading comprehension for the intervention group. It is concluded that computerized reading programmes can be effective in improving reading skills, and these are particularly useful for pupils with reading difficulties in disadvantaged areas, where resources are limited and family support in reading is lower. However, such programmes are not a replacement for good teaching, and regular monitoring of children with reading difficulties is required. Further research is necessary to compare the programme used here to other conventional and computerized intervention programmes, using a larger sample. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Promoting Foundation Reading Skills With At-Risk Students

“…The impact of the intervention was validated by three main results: (i) the intervention group started the school year with worse results than the comparative group and finished the school year with results significantly above of the comparative group, which has also been verified and reported by other authors (e.g., Nagler et al, 2015 ; Horne, 2017 ; Messer and Nash, 2017 ; Rosas et al, 2017 ), (ii) at the end of the first grade the intervention group performed above the critical values, in contrast to the comparative group whose results were below the critical values, and (iii) the magnitude of the effect is higher for the intervention group than for the comparative group. These results are consistent with those obtained with other programs that adopt a similar strategy and which have been applied in different schools in Portugal (e.g., Verdasca et al, 2019 ), as well as internationally (e.g., Ardoin et al, 2016 ; Hollands et al, 2016 ; Messer and Nash, 2017 ; Solheim et al, 2018 ; Jamshidifarsani et al, 2019 ; Martens et al, 2019 ; Volkmer et al, 2019 ).…”

“…The opportunities usually given to students with learning disabilities are not enough for them to consolidate letter-sound knowledge, to develop effective spelling, decoding and reading fluency ( Schaars et al, 2017 ; Duke and Mesmer, 2019 ). In this sense, international research has invested in the development and assessment of the impact of intervention projects that inform the educational practice, promoting the educational success of first graders ( Niedo et al, 2014 ; López-escribano et al, 2014 ; Nagler et al, 2015 ; Shannon et al, 2015 ; Snellings et al, 2015 ; Alber-Morgan et al, 2016 ; Ardoin et al, 2016 ; Hollands et al, 2016 ; Schneider et al, 2016 ; Horne, 2017 ; Madden and Slavin, 2017 ; Messer and Nash, 2017 ; Moser et al, 2017 ; Rosas et al, 2017 ; van de Ven et al, 2017 ; Solheim et al, 2018 ; Jamshidifarsani et al, 2019 ; Martens et al, 2019 ; Volkmer et al, 2019 ).…”

“…These studies show that successful reading interventions focus primarily on four major topics: phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Studies that used a comparative group revealed differences between the intervention and non-intervention groups, with more marked improvements in reading skills for the intervention group (e.g., Nagler et al, 2015 ; Horne, 2017 ; Messer and Nash, 2017 ; Rosas et al, 2017 ). Similar initiatives have been developed in Portugal.…”

Avaliação de um programa informatizado para promoção do repertório de ler com compreensão

“…A fluência se caracteriza como a habilidade de ler com acurácia e rapidez as palavras contidas em um texto, processo geralmente desenvolvido nos primeiros anos de alfabetização e que está relacionado com a correspondência entre a letra e o seu som (Cardoso-Martins & Navas, 2016). Embora não haja consenso teórico para essa definição, estudos apontam a fluência de leitura como o resultado da qualidade da leitura oral de palavras isoladas e de textos, a qual pode ser medida por meio da (a) taxa de leitura (velocidade, número de palavras lidas por minuto -automaticidade no processamento da associação fonema-grafema), (b) precisão (palavras lidas corretamente) e (c) prosódia (ler corretamente a pontuação, utilizando a entonação) (Ehri, 2005;Horne, 2017;Navas, Pinto, & Dellisa, 2009). Tendo em vista a importância e a abrangência da leitura com compreensão é possível que ela seja desenvolvida ou maximizada a partir de arranjos de contingências ambientais, podendo suprir dificuldades de aquisição desse repertório.…”

A cluster‐randomized trial measuring the effects of a digital learning tool supporting decoding and reading for meaning in grade 2

“…Previous intervention studies of relevance to the present study include Horne's (2017) intervention. In this study, students used a digital programme, where they read texts and answered multiple‐choice questions to check comprehension.…”