The Effects of Computer Assisted Reading Versus Traditional Reading Programs

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The Effects of Computer Assisted Reading versus Traditional Reading Programs

Amber Duncan

December 11, 2012

CAT 531

The University of Alabama



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When thinking about using technology in the classroom, we are always trying to find new

ways to impact our students. Some of these ways are through technology such as iPADs, math

software, apps, websites, and reading programs. In thinking about the many different technology

ideas that are coming out, one of the questions that was posed by my placement teacher was:

“ Does computer based reading interventions provide reading gains when compared to typical

instructional strategies as assessed using both written and computer based assessments?” After

my teacher wrote this question down, I started becoming curious about the question myself. I

turned the question into: “Does computer based instruction and interventions provide reading

gains compared to typical instructional strategies?”

Before answering the research question, I wanted to know what my placement teacher

had to say about how she used technology in the classroom and what challenges and successes

she has faced with using technology. The way she uses technology in the classroom is through

computer based behavior incentives, class works assessment and intervention/instructional

modules, individual educational programs, and Lexia reading intervention. With these different

ways she uses technology in the classroom, there come challenges and successes. The challenges

she has faced have been something that many teachers say where learning the new programs as

they are introduced and adopted, maintain the student interest in the programs, and keeping up

with the changes and the technologies used at home compared to at school. The success she has

achieved with it has been mostly for behavior incentives, since the children love playing the

games on the computer.

After having these thoughts on my mind, I found two articles that answered my

research question and they were very interesting to read. One of the ways my teacher uses the

technology in her classroom through the Lexia Reading program. This reading program and the



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Accelerated Reader program was on my mind while reading the articles. In the study titled

Reading Rate and Comprehension as a Function of Computerized Versus Traditional

Presentation Mode: A Preliminary Study, they talked about how different computer assisted

programs affect a students’ reading. When talking about the difference between computer

assisted reading programs and traditional instructional programs, we need to understand exactly

what that means. A computer assisted reading program is where the student opens a program and

the student works within the program, either by reading a passage, having the passage or words

read to them, or doing activities that involve identifying different words or sounds. The

traditional instructional program is where you have the teacher present the material to the

students and they work through the reading material. The traditional reading program may have

examples such as the guided reading practice, having the student read to the teacher, or having

the student read one on one. In this article, they talked about the Accelerated Reading program or

AR and about the Qualitative Reading Inventory-Third Edition or QRI-3. The Accelerated

Reading program is a program that is still used in schools today. When you look at the AR

program, you are looking at how the student comprehends the book that they have read. Also, it

is used as an incentive for students to read since they will earn points after finishing reading and

taking a quiz on the book. The other program is where a child will read a passage out loud to the

teacher and the teacher will grade how the student does reading the word list or the passage. The

different results from the study stated that there were no significant differences in rate

comprehension overall when looking at computer assisted reading programs and traditional

reading programs (Sorrell , Bell & McCallum , 2007). After reading the information in this

article, I related it to how the reading program at my current placement is used to help the

students. The students use Lexia to help with word sounds and blends at the Kindergarten level



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all the way up to helping the students spell the word. This program is primarily an audio

program. Even though the program might be on the screen and the student might have to read the

words, the student is just listening for the sounds and what to fill in. This could also pose another

problem for a student that they might now understand completely what they are reading and

therefore cannot transfer the material back to the traditional way of reading.

The next article that I read, relates to my field and degree was entitled Computer-Assisted

Instruction to Enhance the Reading Comprehension of Struggling Readers: A Review of the

Literature. The article started off by talking about how one of the greatest challenges facing

classroom teachers today is how can I modify my instruction to benefit all of the students in my

classroom. This means the students with learning disabilities all the way to up the students with

gifted abilities. The students with learning disabilities are the ones that teachers tend to shy away

from because they do not know exactly how to modify the instruction the students. In this

research, it high lights one of the answers that my teacher said about how technology is

constantly changing and that there might be not enough funding to provide professional training

on these programs for the teachers. The different interventions that this article talked about were

from computer interventions such as assistive technologies and reading the text on the computer,

to computer versus the printed text and exploring how the computer and the printed text affects

different age students to supported text on the skill that the student was struggling with. The

results of the different studies showed that some of the interventions have had at least a

somewhat positive effect on student comprehension. This means that there are interventions that

are helping the students that are struggling to read, such as reading online or vocabulary

definition online. When they looked at if placing the students on the computer without teacher

supports, then the effect of no teacher support while the student was using the computer was not



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positive like the other results were showing. The last thing that stood out to me in this article is

that reading and reading online are becoming synonymous (Stetter & Hughes, 2010). This is

important because in an age of technology, we are moving away from reading the printed text, to

reading online or through iPADs. And with this different technology, that means that the teachers

have to update their technology and improve with the students as well. And like my placement

teacher said, there is not always enough training for the constant change of technology, but that

there should be more professional development for the teachers to help them stay up to date on

the technology.

After reading these different articles and realizing what exactly it means to have

computer assisted programs and traditional instructional programs, and how important it is for

teacher to have training on these different programs and what benefits their students.



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Resources

Stetter , M. E., & Hughes, M. T. (2010). Computer-assisted instruction to enhance the reading

comprehension of struggling readers: A review of the literature. Journal of Special

Education Technology , 25(4).

Sorrell , C. A., Bell , S. M., & McCallum , R. S. (2007). Reading rate and comprehension as a

function of computerized versus traditional presentation mode: A preliminary study.

Journal of Special Education Technology , 22 (1 ).

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The Effects of Computer Assisted Reading Versus Traditional Reading Programs