Talk STEM Familia: Dual-Language (TSFII)

Talk STEM Familia: Dual-Language Academic Vocabulary-Building Technology to Improve Educational, Career, and Health Outcomes Among Latinx Students

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04896229

Acronym

TSFII

Enrollment

400

Registered

2021-05-21

Start date

2021-02-01

Completion date

2024-09-12

Last updated

2025-05-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Vocabulary Acquisition

Keywords

Dual language technology, scientific academic vocabulary

Brief summary

The study will evaluate Talk STEM Familia (TSF) effects on student and parent scientific academic vocabulary knowledge and usage, scientific academic vocabulary (SAV) learning behaviors, academic self efficacy, and satisfaction with the program, including acceptance of the technology and its usability.

Detailed description

The Investigators will work with research practice partners Lane Educational Services District (ESD) to disseminate bilingual electronic and printed recruitment materials to Latinx families in the elementary and middle schools throughout the 16 school districts in Lane County, OR. Recruitment materials will direct families to contact the project's bilingual staff by phone to receive study details and, following a brief screen, to engage in an informed consent process. 300 eligible Latinx English-learner parent/student dyads will be recruited. Students will be in grade 4-8; families will speak primarily Spanish in the home; and families will have a smartphone, tablet, or computer and Internet access at home. The Investigators will administer the pre-test to all 300 parent/student dyads via Qualtrics and randomize 150 parent/student dyads to the TSF treatment, 150 parent/student dyads to the treatment-as-usual control condition. Each family will be assigned a non-identifiable user name linked only to their non-identifiable participant ID. The Investigators will then send the TSF program materials and links to the treatment group. These materials will include graphic and video tutorials on TSF set-up and use, including set-up of a wireless bridge that allows researchers to monitor the non-identifiable program usage. Bilingual telephone support will be provided during the 1-month set-up period and throughout the 24-week TSF intervention period. During the intervention, families in the treatment group will be asked to use TSF for 24 weeks. During that time, they will receive 3 notifications/week that prompt them to engage in program games and activities targeting 72 scientific academic vocabulary (SAV) words. Half way through the 24-week intervention period, the Investigators will administer the mid-test via Qualtrics to all 300 parent/student dyads and following the 24-week intervention, the Investigators will administer the post-test via Qualtrics to all 300 parent/student dyads. Pre-, mid-, and post-test surveys will measure gains in knowledge and usage of the 72 SAV words TSF targets, academic self-efficacy, and academic enabling behaviors. Treatment group dyads will also complete a usability, technology acceptance, and consumer satisfaction survey at post-test. All 300 parent/student dyads will receive a smart speaker at pretest, and $100 at mid-test and post-test. Following post-test, parent/student dyads in the treatment-as-usual control condition will receive TSF program materials.

Interventions

OTHERTalk STEM Familia Treatment Condition

This study has one intervention and two arms: experimental and treatment as usual. Participants randomized to the treatment condition will receive the TSF technology in addition to the vocabulary instruction, monitoring, or resources delivered by English Language Development programs (ELD) and schools. TSF will deliver frequent, brief, dual-language exercises to help families learn, practice and apply SAV words in conversation. Audio-visual lessons will support learning at all literacy levels, regardless of prior familiarity with STEM subjects. The complete TSF tool will contain approximately 72 minutes of video modeling and 12 hours of interactive exercises delivered over 24-weeks in brief, interactive, easy to assimilate lessons.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Intervention model description

One intervention and two arms: Intervention and treatment-as-usual

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

8 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Latinx English learner parent with a student (grade 4-8) 2. Speaking primarily Spanish in the home 3. Having a smartphone, tablet, or computer 4. Having Internet in the home 5. Being the student (grade 4-8) of a participating parent

Exclusion criteria

1\. N/A

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Student Scientific Academic Vocabulary (SAV) Word Meaning (AVM)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVM (Academic Vocabulary Meaning) will measure change in student vocabulary knowledge (multiple choice test of meaning). The multiple choice test is based on the assessment used in Beck et al. (1982) and McKeown et al. (1983) with middle school students. Scores were computed as the total percentage of vocabulary words correctly identified out of 72. Score could range from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicate greater levels of vocabulary knowledge.
Parent SAV Word Meaning (AVM)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVM (Academic Vocabulary Meaning) will measure change in parent vocabulary knowledge (multiple choice test of meaning). The multiple choice test is based on the assessment used in Beck et al. (1982) and McKeown et al. (1983) with middle school students. Scores were computed as the total percentage of vocabulary words correctly identified out of 72. Score could range from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicate greater levels of vocabulary knowledge.
Student SAV Word Usage (AVWU)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVMU (Academic Vocabulary Meaning Usage) will measure change in student ability to correctly use vocabulary words in sentence contexts. The sentence verification test is similar to the Test of Instructed Word Knowledge in Vocabulary used in the Apthorp et al. (2012) study of vocabulary learning in middle school. Scores were computed as the total percentage of vocabulary words correctly used in sentence context out of 72 items. Score could range from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicate greater levels of vocabulary words used correctly in a sentence.
Parent SAV Word Usage (AVWU)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVMU (Academic Vocabulary Meaning Usage) will measure change in parent ability to correctly use vocabulary words in sentence contexts. The sentence verification test is similar to the Test of Instructed Word Knowledge in Vocabulary used in the Apthorp et al. (2012) study of vocabulary learning in middle school. Scores were computed as the total percentage of vocabulary words correctly used in sentence context out of 72 items. Score could range from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicate greater levels of vocabulary words used correctly in a sentence.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Student Interest in Choosing STEM Careers (STEM)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	STEM will measure student interest in choosing STEM careers (4 items). Items were adapted from: the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI; Betts, Appleton, Reschly, et al., 2010) and the Efficacy to Influence School-related Performance subscale of the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES; Bandura, et al., 2001). Items used a 5-point response option (1 = not at all interested, 5 = extremely interested) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .69) and could range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicated greater interest using SAV words.
Student Use of SAV: AVUB	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVUB (Academic Vocabulary Usage Behaviors) will measure change in student use of SAV words (10 items). Items were adapted from: the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI; Betts, Appleton, Reschly, et al., 2010). Items used a 4-point response option (1 = not at all, 4 = 3-4 times per week) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .89) and could range from 1 to 4. Higher scores indicated greater use of SAV words.
Student Academic Learning (ALB)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	ALB will measure student academic learning behaviors (20 items). Items used a 5-point response option (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .90) and could range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicated greater levels of perceived academic learning behaviors.
Parent Academic Support (AEB)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AEB will measure parent academic support behaviors (20 items). Efficacy to Influence School-related Performance subscale of the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES; Bandura, et al., 2001). Items used a 9-point response option (1 = nothing, 9 = a great deal) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .94) and could range from 1 to 9. Higher scores indicated greater efficacy to influence school performance.
Parent Use of SAV: AVUB	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVUB (Academic Vocabulary Usage Behaviors) will measure change in parent use of SAV words (10 items). Items were adapted from: the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI; Betts, Appleton, Reschly, et al., 2010). Items used a 4-point response option (1 = not at all, 4 = 3-4 times per week) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .91) and could range from 1 to 4. Higher scores indicated greater use of SAV words.
Student Confidence in Using SAV Words (AVC)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVC will measure student confidence in using SAV words (10 items). Items were adapted from the Efficacy to Influence School-related Performance subscale of the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES; Bandura, et al., 2001). Items were developed using procedures for developing self-efficacy scales (Bandura et al., 2001). Items used a 5-point response option (1 = not at all confident, 5 = extremely confident) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .89) and could range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicated greater confidence using SAV words.
Parent Confidence in Using SAV Words (AVC)	Baseline, 12 weeks (mid-treatment), and 24 weeks (post-treatment)	AVC will measure parent confidence in using SAV words (10 items). Items were adapted from the Efficacy to Influence School-related Performance subscale of the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES; Bandura, et al., 2001). Items were developed using procedures for developing self-efficacy scales (Bandura et al., 2001). Items used a 5-point response option (1 = not at all confident, 5 = extremely confident) and a mean score was computed (alpha = .95) and could range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicated greater confidence using SAV words.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Pre-assignment details

We enrolled 400 participants, however, only 168 parents and student dyads (N = 336) were randomized to the study. The remaining 64 participants were part of the formative research and were never meant to be part of the randomized study. In the Protocol Enrollment, the Number Started and Number Completed reflect dyads. See the Milestones for specificity at the parent and youth levels.

Participants by arm

Arm	Count
Experimental: Intervention Parent/student/dyads in the treatment condition will be sent program materials via mail and text or email, including smart-speaker hardware, wireless network bridges for wireless network connectivity, and web links to Talk STEM Familia, including set-up video tutorials, and graphic instructions. Intervention activities will take place in participants' homes over the 24-week intervention period and will include using the dual-language Talk STEM Familia technology to receive instruction, practice, and feedback on academic vocabulary. Talk STEM Familia Treatment Condition: This study has one intervention and two arms: experimental and treatment as usual. Participants randomized to the treatment condition will receive the TSF technology in addition to the vocabulary instruction, monitoring, or resources delivered by English Language Development programs (ELD) and schools. TSF will deliver frequent, brief, dual-language exercises to help families learn, practice and apply SAV words in conversation. Audio-visual lessons will support learning at all literacy levels, regardless of prior familiarity with STEM subjects. The complete TSF tool will contain approximately 72 minutes of video modeling and 12 hours of interactive exercises delivered over 24-weeks in brief, interactive, easy to assimilate lessons.	164
Treatment as Usual Parent/student dyads in this arm will receive treatment-as-usual (the vocabulary instruction regularly provided in their schools). They will receive the TSF technology after post-test data has been collected.	172
Total	336

Withdrawals & dropouts

Period	Reason	FG000	FG001
Overall Study	Lost to Follow-up	113	113

Baseline characteristics

Characteristic	Experimental: Intervention	Total	Treatment as Usual
Age, Categorical <=18 years	82 Participants	168 Participants	86 Participants
Age, Categorical >=65 years	1 Participants	1 Participants	0 Participants
Age, Categorical Between 18 and 65 years	81 Participants	167 Participants	86 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) American Indian or Alaska Native	2 Participants	5 Participants	3 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Asian	1 Participants	1 Participants	0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Black or African American	1 Participants	2 Participants	1 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) More than one race	114 Participants	225 Participants	111 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0 Participants	2 Participants	2 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) Unknown or Not Reported	25 Participants	38 Participants	13 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB) White	21 Participants	63 Participants	42 Participants
Relationship to Child NA for child or missing parent report	80 Participants	172 Participants	92 Participants
Relationship to Child Parent report - Daughter	45 Participants	90 Participants	45 Participants
Relationship to Child Parent report - Other	1 Participants	1 Participants	0 Participants
Relationship to Child Parent report - Son	38 Participants	73 Participants	35 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Female	115 Participants	246 Participants	131 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Male	49 Participants	90 Participants	41 Participants

Adverse events

Event type	EG000 affected / at risk	EG001 affected / at risk
deaths Total, all-cause mortality	0 / 164	0 / 172
other Total, other adverse events	0 / 164	0 / 172
serious Total, serious adverse events	0 / 164	0 / 172

Outcome results

Primary

Parent SAV Word Meaning (AVM)

AVM (Academic Vocabulary Meaning) will measure change in parent vocabulary knowledge (multiple choice test of meaning). The multiple choice test is based on the assessment used in Beck et al. (1982) and McKeown et al. (1983) with middle school students. Scores were computed as the total percentage of vocabulary words correctly identified out of 72. Score could range from 0 to 100 and higher scores indicate greater levels of vocabulary knowledge.