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Kate MillerED [email protected] Research Proposal
The Dangling Carrot of Reading: Technology?
Area of Focus
Are students like goldfish? Do they respond to that which is bright and shiny?
Technology is often considered the bright and shiny toy for many students and teachers. This
study will focus on the use of technology in the classroom and home setting to motivate students
to read. I am curious to see if technology helps students maintain interest in reading. There are
several ways to incorporate technology with reading. At the school where data will be collected,
there are two software programs that engage the students with colorful graphics and track
reading fluency. One of the programs can be used at home as it is a web-based application. I am
also interested in finding that with the popularity of digital e-readers will help engage students by
increasing their likelihood of reading as opposed to traditional paper bound books.
Personal Lens
I am a reader. I have always loved to read. I can remember sunny mornings walking
with my mom to our local public library. Books have been a way to learn, travel, and entertain
myself for hours. I even work part-time at the same library I walked to as a child. As a teacher,
my goal is to instill a love of reading in my students. Books are purchased regularly for my
classroom library, read-alouds are performed, and book talks are held. This year, at the
beginning of the year, as always, I gave my students a reading interest inventory to see what their
reading experience and feelings were. I use this to help gauge the kinds of books I purchase and
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talk about in order to guide my students to books they can love. Much to my surprise, I had two
students that said that they “hated” to read. This was absolutely devastating to me as a reader.
These students were not failing students. They were fairly fluent. They were not the
stereotypical “bad kids” that thought reading was for “nerds.” They just hated to read. It was a
boring chore to them. After reading their surveys, and discussing why they didn’t like reading, I
was then on a mission to get those students to love reading. It was a struggle. The other student
is still a work in progress and has found books that he enjoys reading. I may not have given
them the love of reading, but I at least gave them the opportunity. However, by the end of the
year, one of the students liked reading more than at the beginning of the year after using a
website program called “Ticket to Read.” I can’t say he “loved” reading, but he at least did not
hate it anymore. This sparked my curiosity of the use of technology and the ability to motivate a
student to read. This brought me to question my use of technology and personal reading.
I always used to be a paper person. I’m the kind of person that would need to write out
an assignment first on lined paper and then type it. The same could be said of my reading style, I
don’t believe in books on tape or CD. I’ve tried them, they just aren’t my style. As a library
employee, I always snubbed that part of our collection, hailing the written word. However, my
love for gadgets encouraged me to buy a digital reader this past spring. I love it! There is
something wonderful about being able to bring multiple books with me wherever I go, instead of
loading half a suitcase full for a week’s vacation. The particular e-reader I bought can handle
children’s picture books in color. The few that I have purchased are fantastic. They have vibrant
colors, can be read aloud, and offer ways of interacting with the text that wouldn’t normally
occur. As a teacher, I wonder if this technology can be used to engage the disengaged reader,
that child in all of our classrooms, which brings me to my research.
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Setting
The research will be conducted in an elementary school in Maryland near the District of
Columbia. The main group being studied and tested will be 4th grade students. There are 393
students in the school, 45 of which are fourth graders. The population of the school is mostly
African American, and it is a targeted Title One school. Many of the students receive free or
reduced lunches. Most parents at the school have full-time jobs, although many have two jobs.
The neighborhood surrounding the school has been fairly well maintained and would be labeled
“blue collar.” The school has made AYP on MSA the past few years, however was considered
“safe harbor” in regards to the special education students. This is the first year that as a school
we have not made AYP. The school uses the Positive Behavioral Intervention Support (PBIS)
program. It has been awarded gold status for gains in behavior intervention the past two years.
Definition of Key Terms
In regards to this research project, technology will be referred to as software, e-readers,
and other digital tools that can be used to help enhance the reading experience. Motivation is
another important term and will be defined as something that encourages students to desire to
complete a task; in this case, read. Also, for this study I would like to include the word E-
readers- an electronic device that can be used to store e-books and manipulate digital text in
order to motivate my students.
Research Question
How can I use technology to motivate enthusiasm for reading in intermediate students?
Literature Review
Changing Role of Literacy
What is literacy? For hundreds of years, people have been on a quest to be able to read
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and write. Of course, most of the reading being done then involved paper and print. However,
today, many argue that with all the technology we have, new types of literacy skills are needed.
In an article by Julie Coiro(2003), she mentions that “Literacy has expanded from traditional
notions of reading and writing to include the ability to learn, comprehend, and interact with
technology in a meaningful way”(Selfe, 2000, p. 256). There is text everywhere we look, on
television, books, magazines, newspapers, and of course the computer, and practically every
mobile device from the most basic cell phone to a Smartphone. With the ease of access to the
Internet on multiple devices, “new text formats, new purposes for reading, and new ways to
interact with information [that] can confuse and overwhelm people taught to extract meaning
from only conventional print”(Coiro, 2003, p. 458). As teachers, it is imperative that we stay on
top of new technology so we can teach our students ways to comprehend information as we
move away from paper to digital print.
Digital print sources allow people to do much more than a printed page has ever allowed.
“Web-based texts are typically nonlinear, interactive, and inclusive of multiple media forms”
(Coiro, 2003, p. 459). Using digital print from websites and e-books often involve electronic
links peppered throughout the text to connect to definitions, pictures, videos, and related links. If
readers are so tied to linear text, digital text is often overwhelming and confusing. Coiro
mentions a quote that really strikes home to me in that “Never before has it been more necessary
that children learn to read, write, and think critically. It’s not just point and click. It’s point,
read, think, and click.” (Tapscott cited in Coiro, 2003, p. 459). Everyone needs to be able to be
technology literate and able to navigate web pages for one reason or another. The Internet and
digital text has made the act of reading interactive with more choices besides turning a page.
People can click on links to find other resources, highlight digital text, and take notes. In order
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to comprehend this digital text, it is imperative that people (students especially) learn to think
and make decisions to best improve their own comprehension. Thus, teaching students the
ability to make good decisions and think about how to process this new form of text is very
important.
Motivating Students to Read
Motivating students to read has always been a concern for parents and teachers alike.
Since the dawn of video games, more children are less likely to pick up a book as they are to
select a digital toy. Now that reading can be done using technology, many parents and teachers
are looking for ways to incorporate technology into their child’s reading routine. Media
specialists are now turning to digital media to appeal to today’s tech savvy students. Most
teachers have had reading software games on classroom computers. Now digital books are
becoming prevalent in the market, many of which are free. Teachers have read and discovered
that for students to be interested in a book it needs to appeal to them either by topic or on a level
they are comfortable reading(Worthy, 2002). A study conducted in the Mid-west gave two
students e-readers and tracked their usage. The Kindle (by Amazon) appealed to the students for
its “convenience and coolness factor”(Larson, 2010, p. 20). Students enjoy using the technology
to do something once considered dull.
Benefits of Using E-Books
Electronic books, or e-books are appealing to younger and older readers for their ease of
use and convenience. According to Jim Agee (2003), “E-books are a high tech tool through
which they may begin to enjoy a basic appreciation of literature’s beauty, formal varieties, and
unique opportunities on the literary lane of accumulated wisdom” (p. 5). Many readers have
found multiple benefits of using e-books, whether they are gifted readers or struggling readers.
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E-books are affordable, can be modified to meet the reader’s needs, enhance comprehension, and
appeal to the technology enthusiast in all of us. (Larson, 2010)
Consistent with many of the papers that I read, e-books can be found everywhere, even for
free (Larson, 2010, Weber & Cavanaugh, 2006)! Some universities and private schools are
encouraging the use of tablet PCs and digital readers in their libraries, eliminating print copies
from their shelves. Elementary schools are slowly becoming equipped with more technology
including access to digital books. E-books on software programs have been available for at least
the past ten years which sometimes required costly fees. Now that some books are considered
part of the public domain due to copy write expirations, they can be downloaded for free from
sites like “Project Gutenberg” or even from the public library. The e-books can be downloaded
into a digital reader, Smartphone, tablet PC, or normal computer using common software like
Adobe Reader or Palm Reader that is relatively affordable or free (Weber & Cavanaugh, 2006).
There are also websites geared specifically to children with interactive talking picture books,
some read by celebrities, like on Storyline Online, making them appeal more to a reluctant
reader.
E-books allow for manipulation of the text much easier than a printed book. Most e-
books and digital readers allow font styles and sizes to be changed to help the reader see and
understand the text better. The larger the text, the less likely a student will make an error reading
(Weber & Cavanaugh, 2006). This alone could boost the confidence of a struggling reader with
the help of technology if they can manipulate text size to their preference. E-readers can also
meet the needs of struggling readers by enabling the text to speech feature when a student comes
across difficult words and passages. Some e-readers and e-books even highlight the words being
read to help the reader track the recorded voice. This speed can also be adjusted to meet the
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reader’s needs.
E-books can also be modified like a regular book with highlighting and note taking
features. A reader’s thoughts and interactions with the text, like connections and questions can
be saved to the page for reflection by the student and teacher. Many e-readers allow readers to
post virtual “sticky-notes” on the pages of the text they are reading, like making their own
hyperlink to the word they wanted to leave the note on. Some software even allows pictures to
be drawn by the reader which could be helpful for the primary reader to explain their
understanding (Weber & Cavanaugh, 2006). Another aid to comprehension is the built in
dictionaries and hyperlinked text used to understand difficult words. Looking up a word on the
e-reader is much faster than getting a dictionary and searching for the word, so it may increase
the likelihood of a student looking up unfamiliar words, thus building vocabulary and
comprehension. Many readers are drawn to e-readers because they are friendlier to curling up on
the couch with than downloading books onto a desktop or cumbersome laptop computer (Larson,
2010) .
Studies of Using Technology to Enhance Reading
There are few studies that capture how e-readers and digital books capture the motivation
of readers. This is all the more reason why it is important for me to try my intervention. There
were two studies that I found specifically dealing with the use of e-books and one was about
incorporating e-readers into an elementary classroom. The potential of digital books is just being
realized at its surface, with more discoveries to be unleashed. Both studies from Larson (2010)
and Barone & Wright (2008) obtained similar results about how readers benefit from
manipulating digital text such as font size and read-aloud capability. Older students were found
to be more reluctant to use e-readers because of being so used to reading traditional books. The
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students in fifth grade were using e-books on the computer and probably would have preferred
the format if they had more portable e-readers.
In a small case study involving two second grade students selected to use e-readers, both
used the e-readers to aid their reading weaknesses and strengths. This study by Larson gave a
new perspective to e-readers in that a teacher can use the note taking capabilities as a means of
assessment and better understanding of the student. One student perceived as serious and shy in
person was found to be humorous after reading meaningful connections and notes left on her e-
reader. The e-reader notes also allowed the teacher to see what level of comprehension the
students were at as well as being able to classify notes into commonly accepted comprehension
categories. As e-readers and digital books continue to make their way into classrooms, more
studies need to be conducted to evaluate their value to reading and comprehension.
Summary
Literature supports that many people are now being drawn to e-books and digital readers.
They allow readers to customize their reading experience by manipulating the text and format as
well as accessing media linked to text, and adding notes. As students grow and learn, the world
becomes more entrenched with technology so they will need to be informed thinkers as they read
now, more than ever. By learning how to read non-linear text and use various sources, e-books
are simple ways to incorporate that into the classroom setting. The act of reading an e-book and
playing games based on what they are reading allows for more motivated students and more
confident readers. Digital media seems to be our future and many people gain information from
places like the Internet, so the ability to use those resources in the most effective way is a much
needed life skill for our students. More research is needed to discover benefits of e-books and
digital readers in the 21st century classroom.
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In Defense of Action Research (Methodology)
According to Marzano, “Educational research is a key factor in enabling school
administrators, principals, teachers, and parents to make sound decisions” (Johnson, 2008, p. 11).
In order to make changes in our ever changing school settings, teachers need to be active
participants in assessing the needs of their students in order to make learning optimal for all
students. A special type of research has been created to allow teachers the access to help guide
educational decisions from data they collect, called action research. Action research “satisfies
the desire of all teachers to increase the likelihood that a given curriculum, instructional strategy,
or use of technology will positively affect student outcomes” (Mills, 2000, p. 12). In order for
teachers to use action research it usually starts with a problem, “when a situation is observed and
there is recognition that something within that situation could probably have been done better”
(Mertler, 2000, p. 15). This is what I would like to do. I would like my students to love reading,
thus making their vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension better. By reading,
students naturally become better readers with practice. However, in that pursuit I would like to
improve their motivation to read so it is less of a chore and not thought of as boring.
Participants
The participants in this study are fourth grade students from Maryland near the District of
Columbia. They are from a working class background and most of whom receive free and
reduced meals at their school. There are 45 students being looked at in the study, nineteen of
whom are boys, and 26 are girls and are divided into two classes. Demographically, the students
are of Caucasian, Latino, African American, and Asian races. The students will be reading in
their home and their classroom to create a more “meaningful and rewarding pursuit,” because
they will be in their natural environment as data is being collected. (Sagor, 2006, p. 11)
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Data Collection Methods
Preliminary Data Collection
In order to compile preliminary data, I will use a variety of methods. The students will
be given a reading interest inventory to assess their interest in reading, such as genre and
subjects, how well they view themselves as readers, and an estimate of how much they read
during the school year and during the summer. This will be done using a Google survey in the
computer lab at school and results will be sent to the teacher digitally. The survey will be
anonymous to help protect the students’ identities so they can share how they really feel about
reading. Each student will also receive a reading log/journal that will have students record the
title of what they are reading, thoughts about it, number of minutes read, and if the item is fiction
or non-fiction.
I will also conduct interviews with a random sampling of students to see how they feel
about reading after the reading interest inventory. I will ask the students questions pertaining to
what they like to read and if there is anything they think that could make reading better to help
tailor my interventions. The interviews will be recorded on a microcassette player so that I can
listen to them again after taking notes during the interview to combine all the information
possible. I will ask questions pertaining to their favorite reading experience and why they like or
do not like to read. I will keep a reflexivity journal to track my thinking and discoveries from the
data I will collect.
Evaluation of Intervention
My intervention is to have students have more access to digital media to see if it increases
their reading times. I plan on allowing two students a week to have access to an e-reader in order
to see if there is a difference between a non e-reader week and the week with the digital reader
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using their reading logs. All of the students will have access to a websites called
“Tumblebooks,” “The International Children’s Library,” and “Storyline Online” websites to
help fulfill their nightly 20 minutes of reading. Their reading logs will be used to see if their
self-selected reading time has increased using the websites. The students can also log onto the
websites to record more reading time during free time in the classroom using the computer and
during computer lab. The intervention of allowing the students to use the technology will be
analyzed using the data from the student surveys, reading logs, and interviews.
Procedures of Verification
The data collected will be from three main sources: a reading interest survey (pre and
post), a reading log, and student interviews. This will allow me to compare general responses
from the anonymous survey to actual interviews so I can compare what the students have said in
the interviews and surveys to assess why they feel the way they do about reading. Interviews
may take place more than once so that I can get more data before and after the intervention in
addition to the anonymous survey and the quantitative data of the reading logs. By having
multiple data sources and various ways to collect student input via reading logs and interviews, I
will be able to see if the inclusion of technology motivates my students to read with both
qualitative and quantitative data.
Ethical Considerations
To complete this action research project, I will need to obtain permission from my
administrator, Loyola, and my students’ parents. I will also ask students’ for their permission
before recording or collecting their reading logs, reminding them that their names will not be
given and they will not be identified in the research by name. The data will be shared with my
classmates and professor and my administrator which will be listed on the permission sheet that I
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will require both parents and students to sign. The permission slip will allow students to access
websites for digital e-books using the class passwords and participate in surveys and have their
reading logs collected for data purposes. The students surveys will be collected anonymously
using a Google survey to protect student identities. I will assign different names to the students
when creating graphs about time read from their reading logs. Students and parents will also be
informed that the responses students have about reading will not affect their grades and they can
withdraw at any time.
Proposed Intervention(s) (Action Plan)
For my intervention I intend to assess if students’ use of technology helps increase their
self-selected reading time. I will interview the students in my classroom to see how they feel
about reading as well as administer a survey in the first week of school to get some data. I will
have students read for their mandatory twenty minutes of reading time, but allow them to also
access programs like “TumbleBooks,” “Story Line Online,” and the “International Children’s
Digital Library” and “Ticket to Read” which they will be able to access from home and school
using the Internet and see if those websites increase the amount of reading time the students
choose to complete. I will assess their use of their self-selected reading by checking their
reading logs to read their recorded thoughts (typed notes, like digital sticky notes) and log their
time read to see if it increases over time. I plan to lend out two e-readers to two students per
week and see if the use of e-readers increase student reading over time versus traditional books.
After the 14 weeks of the program, I will collect the student reading logs and complete the post-
reading survey.
Members of Action Research Team
- Kate Miller- Teacher Researcher
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- Robin Smith- E-Coach
- Stacey Cornetti- Reading Teacher
- Students and Parents
- Loyola Professor
Negotiations to be Undertaken
Permission from Loyola University will need to be obtained by submitting the
appropriate forms. I have already taken and passed the online education component of ethical
research considerations. I will also need permission from my principal in order to complete my
action research project. Once I receive her permission, I will send a letter home to my students’
parents in order to obtain permission for students to use online materials at home and to be able
to collect data for the research report.
Timeline
Week 1: Send out parent permission letters
Week 2: Administer surveys and distribute e-readers, website codes and addresses, and
demonstrate reading log entries
Week 3: Interview students and have them begin to use reading logs
Week 4- Week 12: Have students continue to use reading logs
Week 13: Begin post-program interview
Week 14: Administer post-survey, collect reading logs
Resources
- Reading Logs p. 15
- E-readers
- Computers
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- Survey (Pre- and Post) pp. 17-18 or Google Form (see screenshot below)
- Parental Permission Form p. 16
- Internet and access to the following websites
- http://www.tumblebooks.com
- http://www.tickettoread.com
- http://www.childrenslibrary.org
- http://www.storylineonline.net
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Reading Log
DateMinutes
Read GenreComments- How reading made you
feel/connections/questions
15
August 23, 2011
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
I am going to be conducting a research project for my graduate program in Instructional Technology. The project is to help see if technology increases self-selected reading time. The project will include surveys and interviews about your child’s reading habits. Your child’s identity will be protected and any documents collected will be returned to your child or destroyed at the end of the project. There will be no grades associated with the amount of reading time your child does outside of their mandatory 20 minutes of reading homework. They will be given codes to use online resources for digital reading websites to use for the reading time at home and at school. Please allow your child to use these resources at home on your home computer. Also, during the program your child will receive an e-reader for a week. The directions and care of an e-reader will be explained to your child as well. Your support and encouragement is appreciated. Please sign and return the form below to give or deny permission.
Sincerely,
Kate Miller
Please Sign and Return the form below
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(Parent Name)
I, ______________________________________, GIVE permission for my child,
(Student Name)
________________________________________, to participate in the research program. I understand that my child can quit at any point without penalty.
Date: ____________________________________________
(Parent Name)
I, ______________________________________, DO NOT give permission for my child,
(Student Name) ________________________________________, to participate in the research program.
Date: ____________________________________________
Reading Interest Survey
Directions: Read the questions below. For each question, write your answers on the lines below. If you can’t answer a question, write: I don’t know. If you need more space, you can write on the back or use additional paper.
1. Why do you read?_______________________________________________________________________
2. What benefits do you see in reading? How do you think reading helps you in your daily life?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does reading make you feel?________________________________________________________________________
4. Do you have a favorite book or author? What is the title or author’s name? ________________________________________________________________________
5. Where do you like to read?________________________________________________________________________
6. Do you have a library card?________________________________________________________________________
7. How often do you go to the public library? ________________________________________________________________________
8. Do you own books? About how many?________________________________________________________________________
9. Do you read stories on an e-reader or tablet PC, or the computer?________________________________________________________________________
10. What do you do with the book before you start reading it?________________________________________________________________________
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11. As you read, do you use any strategies when you don’t understand a word?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. What do you do when you finish a book?________________________________________________________________________
13. What do you do well as a reader? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. What do you like about reading? Why?________________________________________________________________________
15. What don’t you like about reading? Why?________________________________________________________________________
16. How do you pick the books you read?________________________________________________________________________
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