The Effect of e-Book Vocabulary Instruction on Spanish-English Speaking Children
Wood, Carla; Fitton, Lisa; Petscher, Yaacov; Rodriguez, Estrella; Sunderman, Gretchen; Lim, Taehyeong (2018). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v61 n8 p1945-1969. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1187764
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examining258Students, gradesK-1
Department-funded evaluation
Review Details
Reviewed: November 2018
- Department-funded evaluation (findings for BLOOM)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
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Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IV (PPVT-IV) |
BLOOM vs. Business as usual |
0 Months |
Full sample;
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93.77 |
89.66 |
Yes |
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|
Expressive definitions |
BLOOM vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
21.99 |
20.67 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 49%
Male: 51% -
Rural, Suburban, Urban
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Florida, Kansas
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 21 kindergarten and 25 first-grade classrooms across eight public schools located in Florida and Kansas. (p. 5)
Study sample
According to parent reports, 95% of the sample was eligible for free or reduced price lunch. At the end of the school year, 51.2% of the final participant pool was male and 48.8% female. All students spoke Spanish at home. (p. 5)
Intervention Group
Students in the intervention condition participated in supplemental Bridging for Language Outcomes in the Classroom (BLOOM) e-book sessions embedded with explicit vocabulary instruction. In the intervention condition, children listened to the recorded e-books three times a week for 10-20 weeks. The e-book sessions lasted 25 minutes and contained explicit instruction in both Spanish and English on targeted words as the words occurred in the book. This explicit instruction included previewing the target words, expanding and bridging across the two languages, visual representations of the function of the words through video clips, providing game-like word map activities with tiered supports, and a final audio and visual review. (pp. 6-7)
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison condition participated in supplemental Bridging for Language Outcomes in the Classroom (BLOOM) e-book sessions without embedded instruction, directions, or additional language content apart from a recording of the text appearing on the page. Students read the same e-books as students the intervention conditions. They participated in 10-15 minute sessions 3 times a week for 10-20 weeks. (p. 7)
Support for implementation
Depending on the day of the week and availability of classroom-support personnel, teachers, classroom assistants, paraeducators, volunteers, and researchers assisted children with logging into the computers for the e-book sessions (p. 9)
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
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Study findings for this report.
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Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).