Award Date

1-1-2006

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Special Education

First Committee Member

John Filler

Number of Pages

184

Abstract

Reading is the most important skill that English Language (EL) learners acquire in school (Slavin & Cheung, 2005). Success in reading has been shown to impact many areas of student social and economic opportunities (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005). Students who come to school with limited English proficiency have greater difficulty learning to read in English (Freeman & Freeman, 2004). With the rise in the number of EL learning students in schools, school districts are compelled to find ways to teach English literacy skills to students with primary languages other than English; This study had two purposes. The first purpose was to determine the impact of the Lexia Primary Reading Program (Lexia, 2004), a computer-based reading program, on the English reading skills of first grade students whose primary language is Spanish. The second purpose was to determine how the language of instruction (i.e., Spanish or English) provided by the Lexia Primary Reading Program impacts the English reading skills of EL learners; Forty-one first-grade EL students whose primary language is Spanish participated in this study. Of the 41 first-grade students, 16 were male and 25 were female. Students were assigned to three groups. Students in the experimental groups received computer-based instruction from Lexia Primary Reading Program (Lexia, 2004). One of the experimental groups received English oral language instructions while the other experimental group received Spanish oral language instructions. Students in the comparison group received an equal amount of computer time with non-literacy based instruction; Lexia Primary Reading Program (Lexia, 2004) was effective at increasing literacy skills in some of the areas measured (i.e., oral language, picture vocabulary, letter-word identification, and passage comprehension). Passage comprehension was the only area that showed a difference relative to the language of instruction provided. This study answered several important questions regarding literacy skills of EL learners.

Keywords

Based; Computer; Computer-based; English; English As A Second Language; Impact; Interventions; Language Learners; Learners; Primary Language; Reading Skills; Skills; Support

Controlled Subject

Individualized reading instruction; Education, bilingual; Special education; Educational technology

File Format

pdf

File Size

4454.4 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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