Multimedia E-Books for Developing Reading Fluency

By:
Dr. Robert Berdan
To add a paper, Login.

Struggling readers worked with online synchronized e-books to develop their reading rate and fluency. The books allow the user to control the synchrony of the audio and the corresponding highlighted text, from phrase-by-phrase highlighting timed directly to the voice over, to highlighting timed to a dynamic model of how the fluent reader's eye fixations move through the text relative to the voice. The user also controls the overall play rate of the voiceover. Learners at first shadow the voiceover, with a lag of one or two syllables. With practice, they synchronize with the voiceover, take on the prosodic patterns of the voiceover, and increase their eye-voice span.
Working with third grade children in an after school program, we found that in eight weeks the overall reading rate increase by an average of about 25%, measured on unfamiliar reading materials. Other non-fluent behaviors also decreased, including inappropriate sentence boundaries and the tendency to give full stress to function words.


Keywords: Reading Fluency, E-Books
Stream: Measuring Learning Outcomes
Presentation Type: 60 minute Workshop Presentation in English
Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Dr. Robert Berdan

Professor, Center for Educational Technology and Learning, California State University
Long Beach, California, USA

Dr. Berdan is joint professor of linguistics and educational psychology. He directs the Center for Educational Technology and Learning. His research interests include models of sociolinguistic variation, and micro analysis of the inter-relationships between oral reading and eye movement.

Ref: LS7P0077