Project Activities
The design team will create an instructional phonics curriculum starting with hard consonants and short vowels. To develop the technology, an application (app) will be prototyped. Following this development, a writer and graphic artist will author several short books as supplemental reading to complement the words being taught in the phonics curriculum. Finally, teacher professional development materials will be developed. To assess implementation feasibility, the usability of the technology, and the promise of the product to support student literacy, 10 special education teachers with five students per class will use the product to supplement normal instruction over a 12-week period. The study will measure students' word learning, comprehension, and the overall accessibility and integration within existing practices.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Product: This project will develop the Go Talk Phonics software, to be used with the existing Go Talk Express platform to support literacy for low to non-verbal 6-to-17 year olds. The software will use multimedia content which through animated voices will model explicit phonics instruction for commonly used letter sounds and words. Using pre-programmed modules, students will be supported in manipulating phonemic elements. For example, a student could learn words such as mat, sat, or rat by merging together word parts and sounds from the letters m, s, r, a, or t. The product will include a phonics curriculum and a professional development guide with an assessment rubric to facilitate teacher usage.
Additional project information
FAST-TRACK AWARD:
Phase I Amount: $149,806
Phase I Period: 6 months
Phase II Amount: $899,830
Phase II Period: 2 years
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
