Description:

Purpose: Struggling adolescent readers must overcome substantial barriers imposed by the printed materials they are asked to read if they are to gain meaningful access to text. Technology can assist students to overcome these challenges. Although implementations of supported electronic-text (e-text) are potentially appropriate for any learner at any reading level, most applications focus on the needs of students with language or learning difficulties that make it difficult for them to access or comprehend printed text in traditional formats. The purpose of the Electronic Supported Text Research for English Language Learner Academic Success (ESTRELLAS) Project is to develop and test a set of "supported e-Text" interventions for Spanish-speaking adolescents who qualify for services as English language learners (ELLs).

Project Activities: The ESTRELLAS Project will develop and test an electronic reading system designed to improve reading competence and content-area learning of Spanish-speaking adolescent ELLs through supported versions of electronic reading materials. The ESTRELLAS Electronic Reading System for Expository Text will provide ELL readers with a customizable selection of three types of e-text supports: structural supports, content-specific supports, and strategic supports. Following an iterative design process, each e-text support will be tested individually and in combination to determine the best ways to provide support to students reading the text materials assigned as part of the curriculum. In the final year of the project, the team will explore the degree to which different combinations of support are more or less appropriate for learners with different levels of skill in English and Spanish, and for use when reading different types of text.

Products: At the conclusion of the project, the team will have a fully developed ESTRELLAS Electronic Reading System for Expository Text and a set of recommendations to support customizing the ESTRELLAS Reading System for ELL students with different levels of Spanish and English literacy. Training materials for teachers and students will also be developed and tested. Published reports describing the findings of the studies carried out during the development process will also be prepared.

Structured Abstract

Setting: Participants will be recruited from Oregon school districts.

Population: Students participating in the ESTRELLAS Project will be Spanish-speaking middle school students (grades 6-8) who have been identified as ELLs.

Intervention: The intervention consists of "supported e-texts" which are electronic versions of content-area texts that have been enhanced in ways that are designed to improve reading competence in English.

Research Design and Methods: The research team will carry out a 3-year design-based research project to develop and test three types of e-text supports for improving text comprehension and content learning for ELL adolescents struggling to read traditional content-area texts in Science and Social Studies. In Year 1, the project will develop and test structural supports: e-text supports designed to facilitate movement through the text and foster motivation for reading. Two specific structural supports have been identified for initial development and testing: alternative paginations and text-to-speech. In Year 1, the project will also focus on one or more content-specific supports: e-text supports designed to scaffold the learning of key concepts within the text by focusing on vocabulary. Three content-specific supports have been identified as potentially useful for this population: English definitions, Spanish translations, and enhanced illustrations. In Year 2, the project will continue to work on refining the content-specific supports and also test two types of strategic supports: self-questioning and digital note taking. In Year 3, the project will explore combinations of these resources for ELL students with different levels of Spanish and English literacy. This will include reading different types of expository texts with the goal of developing recommendations for customizing the ESTRELLAS Reading System for Expository Text. Training materials for teachers and students will also be developed and tested. Within-subject experimental designs will be used where appropriate. Students and teachers will also be asked to provide feedback on the e-text supports throughout the development process.

Control Condition: There is no separate control condition. All students will receive all aspects of the intervention, and individual performance will be compared with and without the supports using within-subject experimental designs where appropriate.

Key Measures: The key outcome measures in this project include: indicators of software usability based on screen capture and computer log files; teacher and student descriptions of factors that facilitated/inhibited use of the materials in the classroom; student performance on tests of vocabulary, comprehension, and content knowledge; surveys of teacher and student satisfaction, and observations of student engagement with the materials. Some of the specific assessments include: bilingual verbal abilities tests; subtests in the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement-Revised test (i.e., Picture Vocabulary, Oral Vocabulary, and Verbal Analogies); Indicadores Dinámicos del Exito en la Lectura (IDEL); DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF); and the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) in both Spanish and English.

Data Analytic Strategy: To evaluate the data gathered as students use the system over multiple sessions, the researchers will use a random regression or random coefficients analysis (RCA). The RCA will estimate a trajectory across time for each student from his or her repeated measurements. To bolster the conclusions of these analyses, the research team will also explore meditational influences that correspond to the usage pattern of eText supports. In addition, they will estimate the use of resources through electronic transcripts of students' eText interactions, and test whether that accounts for the effects attributed to the particular condition.

Project Website: http://estrellas.uoregon.edu/

** This project was submitted to and funded under Interventions for Struggling Adolescent and Adult Readers and Writers in FY 2009.