Tutoring Bilingual Students With an Automated Reading Tutor That Listens: Results of a Two-Month Pilot Study

A two-month pilot study comprised of 34 second through fourth grade Hispanic students from four bilingual education classrooms was conducted to compare the efficacy of the 2004 version of the Project Listen Reading Tutor against the standard practice of sustained silent reading (SSR). The Reading Tutor uses automated speech recognition to “listen” to children read aloud. It provides both spoken and graphical feedback in order to assist the children with the oral reading task. Prior research with this software has demonstrated its efficacy within populations of native English speakers. This study was undertaken to obtain some initial indication as to whether the tutor would also be effective within a population of English language learners. The study employed a crossover design where each participant spent one month in each of the treatment conditions. The experimental treatment consisted of 25 minutes per day using the Reading Tutor within a small pullout lab setting. Control treatment consisted of the students who remained in the classroom where they participated in established reading instruction activities. Dependent variables consisted of the school districts curriculum based measures for fluency, sight word recognition and comprehension. The Reading Tutor group out gained the control group in every measure during both halves of the crossover experiment. Within subject results from a paired T-Test indicate these gains were significant for two fluency measures (p < .001) and one sight word measure (p = .056). Effect sizes were 0.55 for timed sight words, a robust 1.16 for total fluency and an even larger 1.27 for fluency controlled for word accuracy. That such dramatic effects were observed during a one-month treatment, suggests this type of technology may have much to offer English language learners. Introduction and Motivation Of the many challenges facing public schools today, one clear area of concern is how to meet the growing demand to educate our countries rising population of limited English proficient (LEP) students. Slavin & Cheung (2003) identify reading instruction for English language learners (ELL) as “one of the most important issues in all of educational policy and practice”. A surprising 20% of all U.S. students come from homes where English is not the primary language spoken (Van Hook & Fix, 2000). This population continues to grow at an overwhelming pace. From 1991-92 through 2001-02 1 Throughout the body of research, the terms limited English Proficient and English language learner are used somewhat interchangeably. Following the convention of (August & Hakuta, 1997) I will adopt the term English language learner or ELL whenever possible as it carries a more positive tone. ELL enrollments rose 95% compared to a 12% growth in total K-12 enrollment. This signifies an ELL growth rate of nearly eight times that of the general student body (Padolsky, 2002). While this population represents a wide range of language groups, roughly 3⁄4 of all English language learners come from Spanish speaking homes (Moss & Puma, 1995; Ruiz de Velasco & Fix, 2000; Zehler et al., 2003). Not only is this population growing, but also their achievement levels continue to lag far behind their native English-speaking peers. Third grade ELL students rank in the 30 percentile for reading, with 16% of this group receiving a grade of unsatisfactory in reading compared to only 7% of native English speakers (Moss & Puma, 1995). District coordinators report that 76% of third grade English language learners were either below or well below grade level in reading (Zehler et al., 2003). The National Center for Education Statistics find that a mere 7% of LEP fourth graders were at or above the Proficient level and only 28% reached the Basic level for reading achievement within the 9 major urban school districts sampled as part of their Trial Urban District Assessment (NCES, 2003). Research overwhelmingly indicates that current educational practices are not meeting the needs of this population. Guerrero & Sloan (2001) cite a large body of research indicating lower achievement levels for minority-language children (predominantly Spanish speaking) and identify this group as having increased risk of poor literacy in both their native and second languages (see, Arias, 1986; Congressional Budget Office, 1987; De La Rosa & Maw, 1990; Durgunoglu, 1998; Haycock & Navarro, 1988; Kao & Tienda, 1995; Orfield, 1986; Verhoeven & Aarts, 1998). Under the present political environment, this issue is becoming even more critical. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has placed demands on school districts to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals for all subgroups including English language learners. In fact, Title III of this legislation (Language Instruction For Limited English Proficient And Immigrant Students) is devoted specifically to the need to raise the achievement levels of our nations English language learners. Those schools that fail to meet AYP goals for this or any other subgroup over three consecutive years will face a myriad of sanctions (NCLB, 2001). Clearly, helping English language learners close the gap on their native English speaking peers will need to be a priority if our schools are to meet the challenges set out by this legislation. While NCLB places strong demands on performance and accountability, it does not legislate the methods that schools must use. In terms of methodology, a great deal of research has centered on the language of instruction for English language learners. This research can be divided into two broad categories; one supporting the use of native language instruction initially and then transitioning students to English and the other supporting instruction based in Englishonly immersion. Although there are extensive findings on both sides of this paradigm (see August & Hakuta, 1997; Chu-Chang, 1981; Seder, 1998; Slavin & Cheung, 2004; Slavin & Cheung, 2003; Thomas & Collier, 2001), one conclusion that seems common among research reviewers is that instructional practices may in fact have greater bearing on achievement then the language of instruction (August & Hakuta, 1997; Slavin & Cheung, 2003). August (2003) specifically identifies “a desperate need for more theoretically-driven research that employs quasi-experimental designs and high quality assessments to examine the effectiveness of instructional practices designed to bolster the literacy of English language learners”. Technologically based reading interventions are specifically cited as an area where future research is needed. August (2003) identifies the use of technology to support ELL literacy education as one of two areas particularly worthy of research efforts, noting its ability to both teach and assess component literacy skills. The National Reading Panel identifies the use of speech recognition technology in reading instruction as an area in need of further research (NRP, 2000). The use of technology and electronic texts has been observed as an important component in K-8 grade ESL classrooms (Meskill, Mossop & Bates, 1999). Finally, ESL teachers report that their students are both highly motivated by the use of computers and that they perceive higher social status with the mastery of computer skills (Meskill & Mossop, 2000, cited in August, 2000). In response to this driving need for research to identify better tools and methods to help English language learners, this research seeks to provide some initial findings on the efficacy of one particular computer-based tool for reading instruction, the Project Listen Reading Tutor.