1. The Effects of Technology Use in Literacy Instruction Annie Harary Education 702.22 Fall 2009

2. Table of Contents Introduction – Statement of the Problem – Review of Related Literature – Statement of the Research Hypothesis

3. Statement of the Problem Technology is continually evolving and is a major part of our daily lives, especially in the lives of our students. While more students in New York City are meeting and exceeding State standards in reading, 57.6% in 2008 versus 68.8% in 2009, 3 out of 10 students in grades 3 to 8 are not reading at their grade level. New York City students are still underperforming versus New York State, having scored 12.3 points below students from the rest of the state on the 2009 state reading tests (“New York City,” 2009). Integrating technology into literacy instruction can be a solution to this problem.

4. Review of Related Literature Theorists Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences Theory – Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, and Interpersonal Intelligences (Gardner and Walters, 1993) Lev Vygotsky: Social Development Theory – Social interaction – More Knowledgeable Other – Active role in learning (“Social Development Theory,” n.d.)

5. Review of Related Literature Electronic Books / CD-ROM Storybooks – Helps students develop phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension – More inclined to read again – Removes burden of decoding – Individualized support – (Levefer-Davis & Pearman, 2005; Matthew, 1997; Mollin, 2005; Pearman & Lefever-Davis, 2006) Interactive Whiteboards (Shenton & Pagett, 2007) – Engage and facilitate student participation – Variety of multimodal texts

6. Review of Related Literature Artificial Intelligence (Sternberg, Kaplan, & Borck, 2007) – Enhance writing skills – Immediate and increased feedback Laptops (Barone & Wright, 2008) – Increases motivation, comprehension, writing competency, and critical thinking skills Digital Storytelling (Robin, 2008) – Visual images paired with written text increases comprehension – Encompasses multiple literacy skills

7. Review of Related Literature Studies – Comprehension scores are higher when reading electronic books/CD-ROM storybooks vs. traditional printed books (Doty, Popplewell, & Byers, 2001; Grimshaw, Dungworth, McKnight, & Morris, 2007; Matthew, 1997) – Read Along vs. Traditional Read-Aloud – LCD Projector increases student attention and retelling scores (Black, Brill, Eber, & Suomala, 2005) Cons – Motivation diminishes as whiteboards become more familiar; little to no training in using interactive whiteboards (Shenton & Pagett, 2007) – Teachers feel underprepared; lack of technical support (Barone & Wright, 2008) – Distracted by features of electronic texts – see more as a game; not everyone comprehends better using these (Matthew, 1997) – Become dependent on the program to decode and read the story for you (Lefever-Davis & Pearman, 2005)

8. Statement of the Hypothesis HR1: 27 Second-Grade students in P.S. X will increase their reading comprehension skills if technology is integrated into their reading activities over the course of four weeks.

9. References Barone, D., & Wright, T. E. (2008). Literacy instruction with digital and media technologies. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 292-302. Retrieved September 20, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. Black, N., Brill, A., Eber, D., & Suomala, L. (2005, July). Using technology to compare the instructional effectiveness of read aloud and read along materials in an elementary classroom. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from ERIC database. (Eric Document Reproduction No. ED496975). Doty, D. E., Popplewell, S. R., & Byers, G. O. (2001). Interactive CD-ROM storybooks and young readers’ reading comprehension. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33(4), 374-384. Retrieved September 13, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. Gardner, H., & Walters, J. (1993). A rounded version. In F. Schultz (Ed.), Notable Selections in Education (pp. 308-318). Connecticut: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. Grimshaw, S., Dungworth, N., McKnight, C., & Morris, A. (2007, July). Electronic books: Children’s reading and comprehension. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 583-599. Retrieved September 13, 2009, from Education Research Complete database. Lefever-Davis, S., & Pearman, C. (2005, February). Early readers and electronic texts: CD-ROM storybook features that influence reading behaviors. Reading Teacher, 58(5), 446-454. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.

10. References Matthew, K. (1997). A comparison of the influence of interactive CD-ROM storybooks and traditional print storybooks on reading comprehension. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 29(3), 263-75. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. Mollin, G. (2005, September). Hoover elementary turns to LeapFrog SchoolHouse. T.H.E. Journal, 33(2), 48. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database. New York City students make progress in every grade on state reading tests (2009, May7). Retrieved from http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/mediarelations/NewsandSpeeches/2008-2009/20090507_ela.htm Pearman, C. J., & Lefever-Davis, S. (2006, March). Supporting the essential elements with CD-ROM storybooks. Reading Horizons Journal, 46(4), 301-313. Retrieved September 17, 2009 from Education Full Text database. Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory into Practice, 47(3), 220-228. Retrieved September 12, 2009 from Education Research Complete database. Social development theory (Vygotsky) (n.d.). Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learningtheory.html Sternberg, B. J., Kaplan, K. A., & Borck, J. E. (2007). Enhancing adolescent literacy achievement through integration of technology in the classroom. Reading Research Quarterly, 42(3), 416-420. Retrieved October 2, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.