Literacy and Technology Khalia Booth EDUC 7201T T6B: Seminar Appl/Thry and Research I Fall 2010 Professor O’Connor-Petruso December 4, 2010

Table of Contents Introduction….. 3 Statement of the Problem….. 4 Literature Review….. 5 Statement of the Hypothesis….. 10 Method….. 11 Results….. 12 References….. 13 Appendix(ces)….. 16

Introduction As a student teacher and a citizen of the 21 st Century, I am witnessing the transformation of literacy as it moves from print to digital media. I firmly believe that the students of today need to become acquainted, and taught how to use, manage, and learn effectively from the technology that will be their future. I think that the educational theorist that can be applied best to the changing modes of technology that will be the core of my future career as an educator is Jerome Bruner with his belief that learning is an active, ever-changing construct that can be acquired by the environment in which one lives (Takaya, 2008). If today’s students are going to be able to master their technological future, they must be surrounded by computers, literacy programs that incorporate e- readers/reading software, and adults who are willing to integrate the facets of their world within the classroom.

Statement of the Problem At P.S. X, several students in Ms. Y’s class have difficulty with reading comprehension, despite various reading strategies presented within class time to aid their literacy skills. Can the presence of electronic books with their built-in dictionaries, accessible highlighting, and re-sizable text assist these students in their reading comprehension skills?

Literature Review A Theorist for Technology in the Classroom?: Children learn from the world around them, from that learning develops understanding-- Jerome Bruner (Takaya, 2008) A Cautionary Tale of Technology: While technology is promoted in the schools and by administrators of what should be seen in the classroom at this point in the 21 st Century, there are still hurdles of making our centers of education technologically current and effective for today’s students due to individual teacher reluctance to incorporate computers or new modes of lessons via SmartBoard/Internet/Computer along with the lack of money, time, and professional development into making technology a worthwhile supporter of digital literacy and modern education. (Bell, Judge, & Puckett, 2006; Lovell & Phillips, Winter 09-10)

Literature Review, Page 2 Technology as an assistant to teachers: Teachers can assess students in a variety of ways such as online access to student records such as running records which are accumulated over the school year with teacher comments and observations, therefore making it easier for teachers to see a year-to-year growth of a student’s literacy skills from previous grades/schools. (Balajthy, 2007) A teacher’s use of a laptop program for his classroom shows how he has integrated the technology with his lessons by having his students start the day with a computer-based prompt,; when reading a book, the students create a book blog for online discussions; and there are websites that the teacher has chosen to have his students practice vocabulary that is tailored for his students’ needs. (Barone & Wright, 2009) Teachers can take the creation of their lessons from simple word-processor based assignments to Power-Point presentations that push the level of learning one step further by adding a web-link that connects with the lesson. The web-link is encouraged to foster student interaction by having them interact with online pen-pals or connect with an author of a book they’re reading for class discussion. (Britten & Cassady, 2005) Adapting the technology to the current teaching practices (i.e. Reader’s Workshop model) can help enhance/expand possibilities for learning. (Handsfield, Dean, & Cielocha, 2009; Hamilton, B., 2009; Labbo, May 2005; Larson, 2008; Zawilinski, Zucker, & Invernizzi, 2008)

Literature Review, Page 3 Technology’s use in the classroom: A program that gives a classrooms a set of PDAs and examines the teacher/student reaction to the technology. Students were favorable to the HWCs, but expressed concern about the lagging wireless access. Teachers liked the HWCs for the support/enhancement of the lessons and easier reading of student assessment, but had issues of trouble shooting with the absence of a tech support. (Chen, Kermani, & Moallem, 2005) Students with disabilities with literacy struggles can have an easier time re-telling their stories via computers and creating their own electronic books that serve as the basis for a classroom library for the rest of the school year. (Milby & Rhodes, 2007) This is an examination of the various possibilities that technology can be used in the classrooms. exchanges for book discussions, online courses that give greater flexibility for the students in managing their education in difficult times, computer-based assessment of student class-work that gives the participating student feedback on their literacy development and the professional development of teachers regarding technology in the classroom are all aimed to increase student achievement with regards to literacy. (Borck, Kaplan, & Sternberg, 2007) Children can take control of the learning process by using technology to transform themselves into electronic authors, while acquiring the skills of research, presenting information to a specific audience and discovering their own individual skills. (Kervin & Mantei, March 2009)

Literature Review, Page 4: Technology’s Effect Upon the Students : Infusing multimedia content in daily lessons help make school material memorable and the concepts clear to children, while the computer-assisted tutoring show that there is more support for this type of technology integration than computer-based software for teaching children how to read. (Abrami, Chambers, Cheung, Gifford, Madden, Slavin, & Tucker, 2008) Examines 18 classrooms and observed the reactions of teachers and at-risk students towards the technology. Teachers grew comfortable with the technology, while the students remained actively engaged in computer programs that worked beyond the “workbook with a screen” mode of education. The technology enabled differentiated instruction for the students’ which opened the eyes of the teachers who acknowledged that with the technology present, she would never have given the students the individualized instruction he/she needed. The at-risk students saw their own growth and concrete examples of their learning to the point that they felt that they were actively achieving something of value in their presence in the classroom. (Blachowicz, Bates, Berne, Bridgman, Chaney & Perney, 2009) Various studies examined by this author focus on the social aspects of children as they explore the world of technology on their own terms and have found that too many researchers focus on the operational (what children do with technology) than with the how they are able to understand and interact with various forms of digital literacy. (Burnett, 2009) The use of talking books with boys who have low phonological awareness helped to significantly improve their phonological proficiency. There was a deeper engagement with the talking book that was appropriate to their age level and being encouraged to chime in with the book as it is reading to them helped give the boys confidence in their word reading skills. The boys who had higher phonological awareness were able to engage with the talking books on a more advanced level by being able to decode the text independently, but turned to the speech portions of the book to help them when needed. (Chera, Littleton, & Wood, 2006)

Literature Review, Page 5 Technology’s Effects Upon the Students (continued): It was found that students from lower socio-economic status scored higher using electronic readers than students with higher socio-economic status. The threshold for achievement for the students from high socio-economic status was higher than those from lower SES, therefore making their achievement of high scores much more difficult to obtain and harder to discern over whether the presence of electronic books for them was as effective as electronic books for those of lower SES. (Korat & Shamir, 2006) An overview of various studies that have examined the effects of e-books from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. It was found that in some studies in the lower grades (Pre-K to 3), students scored better after having an electronic book read to them with an adult present rather than reading the e-book on their own. The Pre-K to 3 students were also found to be easily distracted by electronic books that had an overabundance of interactive features and thus gained low scores on reading comprehension and re- telling. The students who worked with electronic books that simply had text, text-to-speech features and in-book explanations of what certain words meant scored higher. (Zucker, Moody, & McKenna, 2009) Technology’s effects upon the students can change the nature of when, how, and why they read. It can also transform how students with disabilities are able to access, acquire, and process information with generally favorable results. (Lee & Vail, 2005; Pearman, 2008; Sternberg, Kaplan, & Borck, 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 2010 )

Statement of the Hypothesis Over a period of two-three weeks, six students from P.S. X’s fifth grade classes who struggle with reading comprehension will be given a set of books. Using the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan as my primary text, three students will read a book from the series in its electronic form and the other three will read a book from the series in its print form. Their motivation is to use the books they have chosen as the basis for a short book report and a brief reading comprehension quiz.

Method Participants: Six fifth grade students from Ms. Y’s class in P.S. X who have scored a Level 2 or below on their 4 th Grade ELA exams. Instrument(s): A web-based electronic reader such as the Kindle for PC and three traditional print books. Experimental Design: Three students will read a book from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series in the form of electronic text, while the other three will use a book from the same series in the form of traditional print media. Procedure: Two-to-three weeks of reading the book of their choice followed by a brief report and a reading comprehension quiz.

Results Discussion Implications

References Abrami, P.C., Chambers, B., Cheung, A., Gifford, R., Madden, N.A., Slavin, R.E., and Tucker, B.J. Technology Infusion in Success for All: Reading Outcomes for First Graders (September 2008) The Elementary School Journal, 109(1) Balajthy, E. (November 2007) Technology and Current Reading/Literacy Assessment Strategies The Reading Teacher, 61(3), pp DOI: /RT Barone, D. and Wright, T. E. (December 2008/January 2009) Literacy Instruction with Digital and Media Technologies Bell, S.M., Judge, S., and Puckett, K. Closing the Digital Divide: Update From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (September/October 2006) The Journal of Educational Research Vol. 100(No. 1) pp Blachowicz, C. L.; Bates, A.; Berne, J., Bridgman, T.; Chaney, J., and Perney, J. (2009) Technology and At-Risk Young Readers and Their Classrooms Reading Psychology, 30, pgs doi: / Britten, J.S. and Cassady, J.C. The Technology Integration Assessment Instrument: Understanding Planned Use of Technology by Classroom Teachers (2005) Computers in the Schools Vol. 22, No. 3/4, pp doi: /J025v22n03_05 Burnett, C. Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies (2009) Journal of Research in Reading, Vol. 32, 1, pp 22–37 DOI: /j x Chera, P.; Littleton, K.; Wood, C. (May 4, 2006) Interactions with Talking Books: phonological awareness affects boys’ use of talking books Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 22, pp Hamilton, B. Making the Most of a Teaching Partner (2009) The Reading Teacher, 63(3), pp. 245–248 DOI: /RT Handsfield, L. J., Dean, T. R., and Cielocha, K. M. Becoming Critical Consumers and Producers of Text: Teaching Literacy with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 (September 2009) The Reading Teacher, 63(1), pp. 40–50 DOI: /RT

References, Page 2 Kervin, L. and Mantei, J. Using computers to support children as authors: An Examination of Three Cases (March 2009) Korat, O. and Shamir, A. (October 25, 2006) Electronic Books versus adult readers: Effects on children’s emergent literacy as a function of social class Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2007), 23, pp doi: /j x Labbo, L. From Morning Message to Digital Morning Message: Moving from the tried and true to the new (May 2005) The Reading Teacher Vol. 58, No. 8 DOI: /RT Larson, L.C. Electronic Reading Workshop: Beyond Books with New Literacies and Instructional Technologies (October 2008) Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52(2), pp DOI: /JAAL Lee, Y. and Vail, C.O. Computer-Based Reading Instruction for Young Children with Disabilities (Winter 2005) Lovell, M. and Phillips, L. Commercial Software Programs Approved for Teaching Reading and Writing in the Primary Grades: Another Sobering Reality (Winter 09-10) Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), pp Moallem, M., Kermani, H. and Chen, S. Handheld, Wireless Computers: Can they improve learning and instruction? (2005) Computers in the Schools Vol. 22, No. ¾, 2005, pp DOI: /J025v22n03_08 Oakley, G. and Jay, J. “Making Time” for Reading: Factors That Influence the Success of Multimedia Reading in the Home (November 2008) The Reading Teacher, 62(3), pp DOI: /RT Pearman, C.J. Independent Reading of CD-ROM Storybooks: Measuring Comprehension With Oral Retellings (May 2008) The Reading Teacher, 61(8), pp. 594–602 DOI: /RT Rhodes, J. A. and Milby, T. M. (November 2007) Teacher-Created Electronic Books: Integrating Technology to Support Readers with Disabilities The Reading Teacher, 61 (3), pp DOI: /RT

References, Page 3 Sternberg, B.J., Kaplan, K. A., and Borck, J.E. Enhancing Adolescent Literacy Achievement Through Integration of Technology in the Classroom (July/August/September 2007) Reading Research Quarterly 42/3 pp doi: /RRQ Takaya, Keiichi Jerome Bruner’s Theory of Education: From Early Bruner to Later Bruner (2008) Interchange, Vol. 39/1, pp. 1–19 DOI: /s U.S. Department of Education What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report (September 2010) Institute of Education Sciences Zawilinski, L. HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking The Reading Teacher, 62(8), pp. 650–661 DOI: /RT Zucker, T.A. and Invernizzi, M. My eSorts and Digital Extensions of Word Study (May 2008) The Reading Teacher Vol. 61 (8), pp. 654– 658 DOI: /RT Zucker, T.A., Moody, A.K., McKenna, M.C. (2009) The Effects of Electronic Books on Pre-Kindergarten-to-Grade 5 Students’ Literacy and Language Outcomes: A Research Synthesis J. Educational Computing Research, Vol. 40(1) 47-87

Appendix(ces) Parental Consent: Dear Sir/Madam: I will allow/not allow my child________________________ to participate in a two-to-three week study where he/she will be able to read an electronic book in order to improve reading skills. Parent Signature_______________________________ Date________________________

Appendix B School Consent: Dear Sir/Madam: I, Principal_____________________ of P.S.___________________, will allow/not allow the presence of a two- three week study in which the children of Ms. Y’s class will be exposed to electronic media to improve literacy skills. Principal Signature______________________ Assistant Principal Signature________________________ Date________________________

Appendix C Student Consent: Dear Sir/Madam: I,___________________________ of Class 5- ____________, will allow/not allow myself to participate in a two-three week study to use electronic (computer) programs to assist in improving literacy skills. Student Signature________________________ Date_________________