Assessing the Content and Quality of Commercially Available Reading Software Programs: Do They Have the Fundamental Structures to Promote the Development of Early Reading Skills in Children?
- 1 October 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in NHSA Dialog
- Vol. 15 (4), 319-342
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15240754.2012.725487
Abstract
The current study developed a taxonomy of reading skills and compared this taxonomy with skills being trained in 30 commercially available software programs designed to teach emergent literacy or literacy-specific skills for children in preschool, kindergarten, and Grade 1. Outcomes suggest that, although some skills are being trained in a developmentally appropriate manner (e.g., Alphabetic Knowledge), others are absent or have incomplete presentations. Additionally, the quality of instruction for skills being trained was generally quite low due to limited examples for training each skill and few opportunities to practice the skills. Finally, scaffolding by providing access to easier and more challenging items and automaticity in moving children among levels of difficulty were inconsistent across software packages and within the software. Recommendations on best practices for choosing emergent literacy software packages and for designing pedagogically appropriate software for young children were provided.Keywords
This publication has 41 references indexed in Scilit:
- Technology and young children: How 4–7 year olds perceive their own use of computersComputers in Human Behavior, 2010
- Mobile game‐based learning in secondary education: engagement, motivation and learning in a mobile city gameJournal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2009
- Predicting children's media use in the USA: Differences in cross‐sectional and longitudinal analysisBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2009
- Learning by viewing versus learning by doing: Evidence-based guidelines for principled learning environmentsPerformance Improvement Journal, 2008
- Technology Infusion in Success for All: Reading Outcomes for First GradersThe Elementary School Journal, 2008
- Relations Among the Frequency of Shared Reading and 4-Year-Old Children's Vocabulary, Morphological and Syntax Comprehension, and Narrative SkillsEarly Education and Development, 2008
- Testing the Home Literacy Model: Parent Involvement in Kindergarten Is Differentially Related to Grade 4 Reading Comprehension, Fluency, Spelling, and Reading for PleasureScientific Studies of Reading, 2006
- Reading Acquisition, Developmental Dyslexia, and Skilled Reading Across Languages: A Psycholinguistic Grain Size Theory.Psychological Bulletin, 2005
- Syntactic awareness and reading acquisitionBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1987
- Decoding, Reading, and Reading DisabilityRemedial and Special Education, 1986