None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether literacy instruction using the ABRACADABRA (ABRA) program 30 minutes per day, 4 days per week for one Semester improves student literacy in the Northern Territory (NT) moreso than traditional literacy instruction. ABRACADABRA (ABRA) is an online web-based early literacy program designed by Concordia University in Canada according to best practices in literacy instruction. The study tests the hypothesis that students who receive ABRA instruction will have higher scores than students who do not receive ABRA instruction on two measures of foundational skills for future reading: 1) phonemic awareness (recognition of the sounds in the English language) and individual word reading.
Interventions
Students will receive ABRACADABRA (ABRA) instruction for one semester (Semester 1, 2010) for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 4 days per week up to a maximum of 1 hour per day, 5 days per week
.
Developed by a team of literacy and classroom technology experts at Concordia University, ABRA takes a balanced and flexible approach to reading instruction. ABRA includes 32 instructional activities embedded in 17 stories and provides instruc-tion in alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, writing and ass
Students will receive ABRACADABRA (ABRA) instruction for one semester (Semester 1, 2010) for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 4 days per week up to a maximum of 1 hour per day, 5 days per week . Developed by a team of literacy and classroom technology experts at Concordia University, ABRA takes a balanced and flexible approach to reading instruction. ABRA includes 32 instructional activities embedded in 17 stories and provides instruc-tion in alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, writing and associated sub-skills (Hipps, Abrami, Savage, Cerna & Jorgenson, 2005). ABRA instruction begins by introducing the main characters and then reading age-appropriate stories. Story associated activities, such as rhyming, are then selected and students can work individually or in groups of varying sizes to answer questions. The ABRA tool is available at no cost at http://abralite.concordia.ca. The ABRA intervention will be delivered by one of six trained registered teachers. Treatment students will leave their classrooms to attend ABRA lessons in separate rooms. The delivery medium will depend upon the schools’ available technologies, and may include interactive White Boards, computer labs and/or laptops. The registered teachers will be trained and intensively supported by a researcher during bi-weekly site visits to deliver ABRA according to best practice. The six ABRA teachers will collaborate on lesson design in order to ensure they are providing the same quality and type of instruction.
Sponsors
Charles Darwin University -- School for Social and Policy Research
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
4 Years to 8 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Students enrolled in Transition, Grade 1 or Grade 2 classrooms (or combination thereof)
Exclusion criteria
Lack of reliable internet access within the students’ school Schools with fewer than 60 students in Transition, Grade 1 and 2 classrooms Schools with less than 30% Indigenous students Students identified by the school as being non-testable due to severe cognitive impairment or unable to complete pretest assessment.
Outcome results
None listed