1. Introduction
The use of computer in language learning has become increasingly important as it helps to simplify the teachers’ works and enhance students’ learning. Schools nowadays have develop a lot of courseware to help students grasp the learning efficiently and lessen the burden of the teachers. In language learning, teachers normally use computer to facilitate students in reading comprehension because the computer can help the students in term of finding meaning of unfamiliar words. This paper is intended to review the five articles on the topic of improving reading comprehension through computer assisted language learning. Thus, the writer had chosen five articles that interrelated to each other. The five articles are as follow;
1. The Effects of Computerized Reading Instruction on Comprehension of Second Graders.
Written by: Angela D. Whitaker
2. Case Study: High School Reading Academy Engages Readers with Computer and Audio Books.
Written by: Douglas McCoy, Diane Hardenstein,and Kristi Bevis.
3. The Effects of a Computer-Assisted Reading Program on the Oral Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and Generalization of At-Risk, Urban Second-Grade Students.
Written by: Starr E. Keyes, M.Ed.
4. Improving the Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students With Disabilities Through Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading
Written by: A E- Hwa Kim, Sharon Vaughn , Janette K . Klingner, Althea L. Woodruff, Colleen Klein Reutebuch, and Kamiar Kouzekanani.
5. An Examination of the Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction on Reading Comprehension.
Written by: Stephanie L. Gilbert, B.A.
Part 1 – Review and summary of the articles
Article 1: The Effects of Computerized Reading Instruction on Comprehension of Second Graders
This study examined the effects of using a computer-assisted program (Read Naturally) with reading comprehension on second graders who were below grade-level expectations in reading. The list of the research questions are as follow;
1) What effect will the Read Naturally computer software program have on the ability of second-grade students with reading risk to answer comprehension questions from treatment passages?
2) What effect will the Read Naturally computer software program have on the ability of second-grade students with reading risk to answer comprehension questions from non-treatment or generalization passages?
3) What effect will the Read Naturally computer software program have on the ability of second-grade students with reading risk to retell a previously read passage?
4) What effect will the Read Naturally computer software program have on the ability of second-grade students with reading risk to retell a non-treatment or generalization passage?
5) Will the participants improve their reading scores on four Woodcock-Johnson reading sub-test as measured by pre and post-intervention?
6) How will teachers and parents rate the effects of the intervention on the students’ comprehension?
The study used the multiple baselines across students. The design consisted of three tiers with two students in each tier for a total of six students. The procedures for the intervention were: students learned key words in the story, made a prediction, one-minute timed reading, read along with the computer, independent practiced reading, comprehension test, and retell the story. Findings from this study support the effectiveness of the program to increase reading comprehension for all six participants.
Article 2: Case Study: High School Reading Academy Engages Readers with Computer and Audio Books.
The writers were intended to investigate the effects of using supplemental instruction to provide extra reading practice for 9th graders with deficient reading skills. The researchers also highlight the use of the Start-to-Finish computer books in weekly tutoring sessions to increase students’ reading comprehension, fluency skills and positive reading enjoyment.
The subjects were identified from the Fall 2003 ITBS composite reading scores (less than the 25th percentile) and 8th grade team recommendations. Twenty-four students completed the course and represented a diverse ethnic group from low socio-economic backgrounds.
The finding of the research is that six students met or exceeded the target in comprehension, and two students met both targets with improved competency in identifying the main idea, inferring meaning, finding details and reading with purpose through pre-reading, connection and post-reading activities.”
Article 3: The Effects of a Computer-Assisted Reading Program on the Oral Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and Generalization of At-Risk, Urban Second-Grade Students.
This study examined the effectiveness of a computer-assisted reading program, Read Naturally (RN), on the oral reading fluency (ORF), comprehension, and generalization of second graders who were at risk for reading failure. The research questions that can be seen in the study are;
1) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral reading fluency of urban second-grade students at risk for reading failure?
2) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the number of comprehension questions answered correctly by the participants?
3) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral retell of the participants?
4) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral reading fluency on generalization passages (i.e., AIMSweb) of the participants?
5) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the number of comprehension questions answered correctly on generalization passages (i.e., AIMSweb) by the participants?
6) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral retell on generalization passages (i.e., AIMSweb) by the participants?
7) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral reading fluency of generalization passages conducted in the classroom using the classroom curriculum?
8) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the number of comprehension questions answered correctly on generalization passages conducted in the classroom using the classroom curriculum?
9) What effect will the RN computer software program have on the oral retell on generalization passages conducted in the classroom using the classroom curriculum?
10) How will the participants respond to the RN program (as measured by a social validity questionnaire)?
11) How will the teacher rate the effectiveness of the RN intervention on the ORF and comprehension of the students?
Six students received the intervention (RN) three to four times a week for approximately 7 to 12 weeks. Results revealed that the RN program was effective at increasing the ORF of all six participants on the RN treatment stories and AIMS web generalization stories. The two measures of comprehension revealed mixed results. Only half of the participants showed increased performance on the percentage of comprehension questions answered correctly, but all six participants increased the number of words re-told per minute from baseline to intervention on all three types of stories. These results support the use of computer-assisted reading instruction and repeated reading activities.
Article 4: Improving the Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students with Disabilities through Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading.
This study investigated the effects of computer-assisted comprehension practice using a researcher-developed computer program, Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading (CACSR), with students who had disabilities. Two reading/ language arts teachers and their 34 students with disabilities participated. Students in the intervention group received the CACSR intervention, which consisted of 50-min instructional sessions twice per week over 10 to 12 weeks. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between intervention and comparison groups’ reading comprehension ability. Effect sizes for all dependent measures favored the CACSR group. Furthermore, a majority of students expressed positive overall perspectives of the CACSR intervention and believed that their reading had improved.
Article 5: An Examination of the Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction on Reading Comprehension.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of computer-assisted-instruction on reading comprehension. A non-equivalent control group design was used to study 30 students from a junior high school in southeast Texas. Both the control and treatment groups took the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test as a pre-test and as a post-test. Both groups studied the same novel and were given the same assignments. However, the treatment group completed the assignments on computers, while the control group completed the assignments without computers. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that there was no significant difference in the reading comprehension of students who received computer-assisted-instruction and the reading comprehension of students who did not receive computer-assisted-instruction.
Part 2 – Reaction
1. Does the topic of the research interest you?
Reading is a very important element in language learning and it would provide a lot of information to the learners. But, without comprehension, it is very hard for a student to grasp the meaning of a text. Thus, reading comprehension can be very crucial in language learning especially English language as a lot of reading materials are in English. The topic is very important as the use of technology such as using computer in improving reading comprehension really did interest me a lot. There are also increasing number of e-book where students can access reading materials on-line through e-book reader such as the Barnes and Noble Nook and iPad. Teachers must utilise all of the technology that is available on the market to ensure better comprehension for the students.
2. Do you think the studies were well conducted?
Most of the studies are well conducted and the report written accordingly to the topics and sub-topics needed for a research. But, the most common limitation of studies were their sampling that relatively small and cannot be generalize to other country accept for their own. The researchers should increase the number of sample and subject so that the study can be more reliable and valid. For an example, the research made by Angela D. Whitaker on the ‘The Effects of Computerized Reading Instruction on Comprehension of Second Graders’ only have six subjects from the suburban school. The findings of the study are limited to the exact school and those subjects. Another cause for the findings to be inconclusive to other people or subjects is the sampling method. One of the study conducted used non-random sampling where the subjects were chosen by the researcher because they are her students. A part from that, the experimental also was done in clinical setting where non-natural setting occurs and the setting may reflect the findings of the research. The studies can be improved by administering the experimental process on the more natural setting and it will lessen the likelihood of the students to produce better grades.
Conclusion
Two of the study focuses on the Reading Naturally (RN) and the findings of the research clearly proven that by using computer assisted learning; it helps the students enhancing their reading comprehension. One of the studies show improvement by 17.5% and the other revealed mixed results where half of the subjects show decreased in their test comprehension results but positive number in words re-told per minute. The other study focuses on the Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading also shows that experimental group outperformed the comparison group on all measures and that these differences were statistically significant. However, in the research in examining the effect of computer assisted instruction, both groups' post-test means were lower than their pre-test means, but the differences were not significant. More research is needed in this field and teachers should really made action research to address this issue.
The implications of the studies can really help teachers in planning their lesson in the future. The use of technology can be very beneficial but observation must be kept at maximum level so that the students will focus on their works and learning material. The findings of the studies suggested that the use of computer programs and reading strategies enhance students reading comprehension and teachers in Malaysia should take advantage of the computer lab existed in their school.
References
Ae- Hwa Kim, Sharon Vaughn , Janette K . Klingner, Althea L. Woodruff, Colleen
Klein Reutebuch, and Kamiar Kouzekanani (2006). Improving the Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students with Disabilities
Through Computer-Assisted Collaborative Strategic Reading. Retrieved on 15 February 2011 from www.u.arizona.edu/.../Improving%20the%20Reading%20Comprehension.pdf
Angela D. Whitaker (2009). The Effects of Computerized Reading Instruction on
Comprehension of Second Graders. Retrieved on 12 February 2011from http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Whitaker%20Angela.pdf?osu1250618139
Douglas McCoy, Diane Hardenstein,and Kristi Bevis (2007).Case Study: High
School Reading Academy Engages Readers with Computer and Audio Books. Retrieved on 19 February 2011 from www.donjohnston.com/pdf/start.../Start_to_Finish_Case_Study.pdf
Starr E. Keyes, M.Ed (2010).The Effects of a Computer-Assisted Reading Program
on the Oral Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and Generalization of At-Risk, Urban Second-Grade Students. Retrieved on 15 February 2011 from http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/pdf/6c39c83c01e85981ddf5b59aead5c6fa/1298404970//share4/pqimage/pqirs101v/201102221432/49993/2786/out.pdf
Stephanie L. Gilbert, B.A (2008). An Examination of the Effects of Computer-
Assisted Instruction on Reading Comprehension. Retrieved on 18 February 2011 from http://proquest.umi.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/pdf/b1ed07f2ec94ff3a770c668dc9067ea6/1298394871//share3/pqimage/pqirs101v/201102221144/31676/18081/out.pdf
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