Background: In 2018, it was found that only a quarter of Grade 3 children in India were reading at grade level. A growing demand for English education has further limited children's literacy achievement. Despite a strong evidence base in favour of using systematic phonics for building English literacy skills, many teachers in India continue to use…

This study investigates the impact of using an adaptive computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program in early childhood education. The Waterford Early Reading Program (ERP) is a CAI program that was assigned to kindergarten and first grade students in a school district in Texas for the 2015-2016 school year. The Texas Primary Reading Inventory…

The growing number of students whose primary language does not match the language of their schools and a steadily growing performance gap has prompted widespread attention to support emergent literacy gains for those students. This study randomly assigned schools in a Southwestern U.S. state with English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten…

Earobics[R] is interactive software that provides students in pre-K through third grade with individual, systematic instruction in early literacy skills as students interact with animated characters. Earobics[R] Foundations is the version for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade. Earobics[R] Connections is for second and third graders…

This study reports a randomized controlled trial evaluation of a computer-based balanced literacy intervention, ABRACADABRA (http://grover.concordia.ca/abra/version1/abracadabra.html). Children (N = 144) in Grade 1 were exposed either to computer activities for word analysis, text comprehension, and fluency, alongside shared stories (experimental…

This article evaluates 2 technology applications for teaching beginning reading. One, embedded multimedia, involves brief phonics and vocabulary videos threaded through teachers' lessons. The other, computer-assisted tutoring, helps tutors with planning, instruction, and assessment. An experiment in 2 high-poverty, high-minority Success for All…

Examines IBM's Writing to Read (WTR) program for kindergartners and first graders from four perspectives: its language learning paradigm, the computer program design, the research conducted on its effectiveness, and implementation considerations. Since costs outweigh learning benefits, educators should reconsider purchasing this program. Includes…

The investigation was concerned with the class of grapheme-phoneme correspondence called spelling patterns and was intended to broaden empirical understanding of grapheme-phoneme correspondences used in teaching initial reading. Twenty-five boys and 47 girls from three moderate-ability first grade classes were chosen as subjects. These students…

"DaisyQuest" is a software bundle that offers computer-assisted instruction in phonological awareness, targeting children aged three to seven years. The instructional activities, framed in a fairy tale involving a search for a friendly dragon named Daisy, teach children how to recognize words that rhyme; words that have the same…

Two classes of randomly assigned first graders were given an experimental form of a reading-typewriting program with one typewriter for each child. The program consisted of 25 workbook lessons, each relating to a single phoneme. The computer was used as a program design tool to determine an optimal teaching order of phonemic elements. The children…

Describes the successes of Writing to Read (WTR) program used with students in kindergarten and grade one as well as with two key subgroups (low-socioeconomic students and males who lag behind in reading and writing). Finds that with this program these subgroups can progress in reading and writing, and fewer students are recommended for remedial…