iPad‐assistedreading fluency instruction for fourth graders with reading difficulties: A single case experimental design

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of iPad‐assisted reading instruction for fourth‐grade students' oral reading fluency and their attitudes towards reading. Three fourth‐grade students at‐risk for reading disabilities participated in an iPad‐assisted repeated reading programme that integrated repeated reading, vocabulary instruction, error correction and feedback procedures. During each intervention session, the participants practiced reading a fourth grade‐level text, engaged in repeated reading with the intervention agent and repeatedly read the text three or four times with error correction. The oral reading rate for the fourth‐grade text that they practiced and a transfer text (i.e., new text that students have not practiced before) served as the primary dependent variables. Their attitudes towards reading were measured before and after the intervention. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, we showed that the iPad‐assisted repeated reading programme improved all participants' oral reading rates on both the grade‐level text and the transfer text. Implications of the study and future directions were discussed.