Using Technology to Develop Early Phonological Awareness Skills

Abstract

Differentiated instruction, a necessary practice in inclusive education, allows teachers to meet the needs of all students in a given classroom. The partnership of education and technology provides teachers with an interactive and focused means to present student-specific content. This three week, action research project explores the use of an ACTIVboard and classroom desktop computers to engage and motivate students in a variety of activities targeting phonological awareness skills, specifically syllabication and rhyming. The literature review examines the history of technology in schools, the benefits of using technology in the classroom, notes the relationship between phonological awareness and reading readiness, and discusses the relationship between technology and student achievement. The study was performed in a suburban school district in Western New York and included 37 kindergarten students from two classrooms. A control group of students learning the same content, syllabication and rhyming, without the use of an ACTIVboard, was maintained. Data was gathered with pre and post student assessments; teacher observations were also noted. Conclusions report that students in both classrooms demonstrated an increased understanding of skills taught while the average scores for both the rhyming and syllabication assessments were higher in the targeted “technology” group. Results suggest that the technology-based instruction was more effective in supporting student learning and align with current research on technology integration in the classroom.