Improving Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension Through the Creation of Talking Books

1
Improving Oral Reading Fluency (and
Comprehension) Through the Creation of Talking
Books

• Grace Oakley

2
Background

• Fluency
• Rate, accuracy, and word recognition
• Closely associated with comprehension
• Why Do We Teach It?
• Reciprocal relationship with comprehension
• Positive attitudes and concepts of themselves as
  readers
• Want to read and can model to other students

3
Schematic Representation of Reading Fluency and
Its Relationship to Comprehension
Fluent Oral Reading (With Expression)
Access to Models of Expressive Reading
(Silent) Reading FLUENCY
Automaticity of Word Recognition (Rate Accuracy
Comprehension (Making Meaning)
Use of Syntactic Cues (to facilitate chunking of
words into larger units)
4
How do we teach fluency?

• Modeling
• Volume, pitch, phrasing, rate, emphasis
• Teaching Self-Monitoring
• Compare stored model voices in their heads with
  their own reading (tape recorders)
• Repeated Readings
• Improved comprehension
• Assisted, Unison, or Paired Reading
• Oral Recitation Lesson
• Read Aloud and Story Map
• Syntactic Sensitivity (Phrasing)

5
The Study

• Participants
• Three 9-10 year old female private school
  students
• Formative Experiment
• Facilitative Factors
• Inhibitive Factors
• Preferability
• Effectiveness, Efficiency, Appeal

6
Creating Electronic Books

• Story Board
• Main character, setting, and story starter
• 10-12 pgs. with 100-200 words collaboratively
  written
• Recording Narration
• Practiced reading while recording 3-6 times
  replays
• waveforms
• Digital Camera
• Due to time constraints used photography
• Chunking Text
• Explicit instruction

7
Results
8
Facilitative and Inhibitive Factors
People Factors
Facilitative
Inhibitive

• Motivation
• novelty affect
• Collaboration
• Helped each other with the technology, reading
  and writing
• Prior Knowledge
• Electronic books Software

• Collaboration
• Out of practice with collaborative writing
• Disagreement
• Waiting to use the keyboard

9
Facilitative and Inhibitive Factors
Resource Factors
Inhibitive
Facilitative

• Software
• Illuminatus common word processing
• See Waveforms - narration
• Hardware
• Available and Useable
• Space
• Small side room

• Software
• Had to learn Illuminatus for text highlighting
• Play with effects
• Hardware
• Access difficulties
• Time
• Lack of

10
Facilitative and Inhibitive Factors
Activity Factors
Inhibitive
Facilitative

• Prewriting
• Story Starter
• Management
• Researcher/Teacher Assistant

• Prewriting
• Didnt want to plan a storyboard
• Management
• Supervision difficulties
• Initial stages were time-consuming

11
Studys Outcomes

• Fluency rate and accuracy improved overall
• All three students unexpectedly improved in their
  comprehension
• Increased students levels of confidence
• Reading at or closer to grade level
• Helps reluctant readers

12
More Outcomes

• Students ICT skills improved
• Expert understanding elevated them in the eyes of
  their peers
• Increased awareness of audience
• Improved and practiced collaborative skills
• Expanded their metalinguistic awareness through
  talking

13
Implications

• Difficult to judge successfulness of this
  experiment due to additional support provided for
  students
• Phonics Program
• After School Assistance
• Ongoing Support in the Class

14
Future Research

• Look at the process again in other contexts
• Multimedia Software
• Use paper/pencil with commonly used software -
  Are the benefits similar?

15
Comments and Question
Thank You!