Page 9 - iRead EL in Research Paper

iRead’s Approach
iRead provides a systematic sequence of explicit, recursive instruction with mastery-based interactive practice. Brief videos (30 seconds to one minute in length on average) use direct instruction to introduce new skills and concepts, often including the use of songs. Following the videos, engaging, interactive, game-like activities o er students ample opportunities to practice the new skills and apply them to reading. Practice continues, with guided practice activities that o er instructive collective feedback, until students have mastered the skills. All instructional activities are aligned with the foundational skills of the rigorous state standards for English language arts and literacy.
Phonemic and phonological awareness, as well as phonics, are highlighted in the context of activities in iRead ’s Alphabet
and Code strands. For example, students identify the primary sound for each letter of the alphabet, isolate and pronounce initial sounds in spoken words, and master the dominant sound-spelling correspondences for consonants and short vowels. Spelling, high-frequency/high-utility sight words, syllabication combined with morphology (word study), spelling, and uency are highlighted in activities in iRead ’s Word Play and Sight Words strands. Within all of these activities, students have the opportunity to use the foundational skills they are learning to make meaning. For example, as children decode words, they immediately see an image and hear and/or read a sentence to anchor its meaning. This reinforces the practice of immediately connecting the decoding of words with the meaning of those words. Additionally, students read connected text daily and apply the skills learned to short passages. In the Success strand activities, students apply the skills to literary stories and informational materials that increase in complexity according to the students’ progress through the software.
In the iRead program, reading is its own reward. Success is celebrated with the opportunity to read more challenging, age- appropriate texts. Throughout, foundational skill instruction is directed toward meaning, and is always linked to the reading of connected text. Beginning in Unit 4 (following units on letters and letter sounds), students practice reading connected text of gradually increasing length, and have regular opportunities to apply their skills to reading eBooks. For further skills practice in reading connected text, teachers can download titles from iRead ’s library of printable books and resources.
Phonemic and Phonological Awareness
Phonemic awareness, according to National Research Council (1998) reading experts, refers to the fact “that every spoken word can be conceived as a sequence of phonemes. Because phonemes are the units of sound that are represented by the letters of an alphabet, an awareness of phonemes is key to understanding the logic of the alphabetic principle and thus to learning of phonics and spelling. Phonological awareness is a more inclusive term than phonemic awareness and refers to the general ability to attend to the sounds of language as distinct from its meaning” (NRC, 1998, p. 52).
Brady (2012) provides a helpful distinction in noting that phonological awareness can be seen as having two levels: phonological sensitivity, which is denoted by a “conscious awareness of larger, more salient sound structures within words, including syllables and sub-syllabic elements (onsets and rimes)”, and phoneme awareness, which refers to explicit awareness of the individual phonemes that comprise spoken words in English (p. 20).
Research Evidence and Expert Opinion
Research consistently demonstrates that “learning to read can be facilitated by providing explicit instruction that directs children’s attention to the phonological structure of words, indicating that phonological awareness plays a causal role in learning to
read . . .” (NRC, 1998, p. 56). Furthermore, explicit training in phonological awareness shows stronger e ects than more indirect instructionalapproaches(NRP,2000,p.2-33).
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