Phase+1+Identifying+an+Educational+Problem+and+a+Proposed+Solution

‍‍‍‍‍‍media type="custom" key="23893772"‍‍‍‍‍‍ Uploaded on Jun 23, 2011 Language instructors face several problems when teaching pronunciation, including time constraints and the difficulty of designing effective tasks. (MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages | @http://www.newschool.edu/matesol) This hands-on workshop suggests practical solutions and outline seven concepts in teaching pronunciation. Participants will practice applying these concepts and utilizing presentation techniques.

Introduction: Learning issues are real and easy to identify among learners at schools. Every student goes through a learning process as they acquire knowledge at some stage. Teaching pronunciation involves a variety of challenges. It is an English aspect that requires time, repetition and practice. Phase (i) of this Capstone project will include the description of the learning issue, supporting evidence, proposed technology use solution to the problem, and the students’ involved and the school context where the learning issue exists. Learning issue/Educational problem: This is a review of the literature in which I support my decision based on the research literature. Research-based Evidence shows evidence that supports the solution I have chosen. I will have to support my decision based on the research literature. I will need to provide a synthesis of the literature using scholarly research based articles. I will discuss the findings of the literature and compare and contrast what the literature indicates about my solution. I need to show research based evidence that my solution has the potential to be successful is promising to help positively impact the learning issue, “Pronunciation and reading simple words.” For children to acquire vocabulary there should be multiple exposures of words within text and vocabulary should be taught directly and indirectly. According to Neuman and Dwyer’s (2009) pre-k early literacy study, “without frequent practice, multiple exposures to words, and systematic opportunities to use words, children are not likely to acquire vocabulary” (p. 391). Pronunciation and reading simple words is the learning issue, I have identified. Because of students' disabilities, pronunciation becomes more difficult to teach and technology can be used to help to alleviate the problem or correct the issue. Pronunciation is more of a learning issue if students are from an original non- English speaking country. When they come to school, they will be speaking their own native language so it is the teacher’s responsibility to find ways to introduce English words in a variety of ways, making use of technology such as audio, songs, videos,. Games, e-books, read along stories etc.  The evidence for this learning issue is there; so many researchers have studied about teaching pronunciation using technology. Pronunciation is a set of habits of producing sounds. The habit of producing a sound is acquired by repeating it over and over again and by being corrected when it is pronounced wrongly. By so doing, learning to pronounce a second language means building up new pronunciation habits and overcoming the bias of the first language (Cook, 1996).Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning. Computer assisted instruction (CAI) is as one method of providing individualized intervention that results in larger vocabulary increases. CAI provides: (a) individualization and self-pacing, (b) repetition, (c) carefully sequenced instruction, (d) frequent child response, and (e) increased motivation. (Narkon et al., 2011)For students with disabilities, CAI provides increased attention, immediate feedback, reinforcement and increased motivation.

Supporting evidence that this is a real problem:

Gilbert, (2008) p.5 Communication in spoken English is organized by “musical signals.” There are two aspects to these signals – rhythm and melody – and the combination of these two aspects may be called prosody. Often, the term prosody is used to mean rhythm alone, while the term intonation is used to refer specifically to melody (or pitch patterns). However, prosody refers to the combination of both rhythm and melody.  Prosody provides teachers a way to interconnect aspects of rhythm and melody when teaching pronunciation. The teachers need to understand that both these aspects of spoken English work together and are vitally linked. Research has shown that letter-sounds play an important role in children’s spelling skills if taught at early stages of their school as from pre- kindergarten, kindergarten-aged, first and second grade levels. In an analysis that reviewed 1,962 research articles on phonemic awareness, the National Reading Panel (2000) reported to Congress that teaching phonemic awareness exerts strong and significant effects on children’s reading and spelling skills. Teaching pronunciation should be a priority because language is primarily a means of communication and this communication should be understood by all. Learners should understand and sound the alphabet and use the alphabetic knowledge to pronounce words and even spell the words. They learn better if exposed to the language sounds in context. Making use of listening activities in the classroom, help learners to see and listen to the rhythm and melody of the language. Linnea’s (2005) findings conclude that the alphabetic system provides a mnemonic that helps students secure new vocabulary words in memory, both their pronunciations and their meanings. In that case, beginners need a strong alphabetic foundation when they learn to read because it helps them acquire new vocabulary words. There is a connection between letters in spellings and sounds in pronunciations of the words. For example, the word “hat” has three sounds /h/, /a/, and /t/ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> and can be correctly read and spelled using the three letters that correspond with each of those sounds (h, a, and t). Understanding the relationship between printed letters and their corresponding sounds is an important skill for successful learners. Researchers recommended that students have at least one year of instruction in a systematic phonics-based program to develop skills related to letter-sound correspondence and postponing spelling instruction until students had received a year of instruction in a phonemic approach. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">A supporting video from Gilbert (2011) about teaching pronunciation concepts recorded during a workshop. Language instructors face several problems when teaching pronunciation, including time constraints and the difficulty of designing effective tasks. (MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages | @http://www.newschool.edu/matesol) The hands-on workshop suggests practical solutions and outlines seven concepts in teaching pronunciation. Participants will practice applying these concepts and utilizing presentation techniques. The presenter, Judy B. Gilbert, is an internationally respected authority on teaching English pronunciation, a teacher, teacher trainer, and author. The event was co-sponsored by the Department of English Language Studies and Cambridge University Press. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Most students with learning disabilities just need to be taught in ways that are tailored to their unique learning styles. By learning more about learning disabilities, the teacher has to find ways to help students to pronounce words using technology. Gina Kemp, et al. (June 2013) describe learning disabilities, or learning disorders as learning problems. A learning disability is not a problem with intelligence or motivation. As a matter of fact, students with learning disabilities are just as smart as everyone else but see, hear, and understand things differently. The most common types of learning disabilities involve problems with reading, writing, math, reasoning, listening, and speaking. Teachers can use technology to assist students with learning problems in many different ways. Common red flags of learning disabilities/problems among students are:
 * * § Problems pronouncing words
 * § Trouble finding the right word
 * § Difficulty rhyming
 * § Trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, days of the week
 * § Difficulty following directions or learning routines
 * § Difficulty controlling crayons, pencils, and scissors or coloring within the lines
 * § Trouble with buttons, zippers, snaps, learning to tie shoes ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mastering the skill of reading is considered essential and important for students to succeed. Students who fail to read in the early grades fall further behind as they progress through elementary school, middle school, and high school. The research study established five areas with a sufficient evidence base that require they be included in any reading curriculum. These are systematic teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, vocabulary, direct and indirect vocabulary, and exposure to reading comprehension strategies. (The National Reading Panel, 2000) The finding on the graph showed that teaching children to manipulate phonemes in words improves their reading. This finding was replicated repeatedly across multiple experiments and thus provides converging evidence for causal claims. Phonics instruction was done stressing the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading and spelling, systematic phonics instruction produces significant benefits for students in kindergarten through 6th grade and for children having difficulty learning to read. Across all grade levels, systematic phonics instruction improved the ability of good readers to spell. The impact was strongest for kindergarteners and decreased in later grades.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Research reveals the best approach to teaching students with Learning Disabilities (LD) to read. Over the past 30 years, a great deal of research done was to identify the most effective reading interventions for students with learning disabilities who struggle with word recognition and/or reading comprehension skills. Between 1996 and 1998, a group of researchers led by Swanson(2009) Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of California at Riverside, synthesized the results of 92 such research studies (all of them scientifically-based). Through that analysis, Dr. Swanson identified the specific teaching methods and instruction components that proved most effective for increasing word recognition and reading comprehension skills in children and teens with LD. Some of the findings that emerged from the meta-analysis included one-on-one reading instruction for students with LD. Students with LD who receive reading instruction in small groups are likely to gain more greater increase in skills than students with individual instruction. According to Stanberry and Swanson (2009) research reviews, sound instructional practices should include: daily reviews, statements of an instructional objective, teacher presentations of new material, guided practice, independent practice, and formative evaluations (i.e., testing to ensure the child has mastered the material). These practices are at the heart of any good reading intervention program.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Proposed technology use solution to the problem: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Several studies provided evidence of educational benefits for students with pronouncing/reading problems and the use of computer-supported instruction. Researchers found that using computer modeling instead of using a teacher as a model increased the reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension of students with disabilities (Coleman & Heller 2010). Technology such as the promethean board, digital recorders, laptops, Kurzweil 3000 (a text-to-speech software program that is typically used for students with reading disabilities) iPad’s, eBooks and a lot more of assistive technology has shown some great improvements in helping students with pronouncing problems. Research has proved that the use of technology can give students exposure to literacy that might not otherwise be made accessible to them (Skouge et al. 2007). Teachers should be trained how to use technology effectively in their classrooms towards helping students to read. If teachers provide all the instructional text in a digital format, students with reading problems will be able to copy and paste the information into talking word processors and other text-to-speech software programs so they can listen to the information they cannot read/comprehend. (Robyler & Doering, 2010) There are a lot of iPads apps for struggling beginners that teachers can use to help students pronounce and read words such as which offers all the same features of any basic e-reader through synchronized highlighting and a serial presentation view, the app helps those with reading disabilities make sense of the text. [|Read 2 Me]: meant for those who have difficulty reading, app has a complete entire library of texts, all of which can be read out loud. [|Bob’s Books]: use phonics-based interactive games to help kids learn how to read. Activities will help young learners to sound out words, spell, and make connections between letters and sounds. [|IStoryTime]: are numerous titles to choose from in the iStoryTime series, all of which allow kids to have the book read to them or to get help reading it themselves. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">With the special class, I plan to use the promethean board, computers in the classroom which are switch accessible, AAC devices either a Vantage of a Dyna V Max which is a high tech augmentative communication device to assess the curriculum and to communicate for wants and needs. They could be using a voice in the box, talk pads, and step by step, Fusions. The Assistive technology devices such as the Speech Generating Device (SGD) communication device are used by an individual to enable him or her to communicate more effectively with others. A device assists an individual in communicating through printed words, speech or voice output, pictures, or any combination of these. Devices range from having basic components and performing fundamental language functions to having the ability to perform computer-like functions and control household appliances. SGDs are designed to be used as either a primary method of communication or a supplementary mode of communication to augment existing communication strategies and can be configured or customized to address most communication needs. (CATEA, 2010) This will all depend with the students’ disabilities, using the technology; I hope to address and tackle the instructional learning issue during the implementation.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">The students’ involved and the school context where the learning issue exists: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">My research environment will be at Cannon Road Elementary in Montgomery County Public Schools. I will work with a special teacher for K-2 students with special problems. I have been in her classroom and observed what these students go through during learning sessions. The teacher uses technology in her class. With the school principal’s permission, I hope to work with the special teacher, Para-educators and the students involved. I have mailed a letter to the school administrator seeking permission approval to work in the school. I hope to observe the students and describe more of their individual disabilities towards reading simple words. The technology to be used will depend with the students’ disabilities in that class. It is a new renovated school and most of the technology tools such as the promethean board, laptops, AAC devices, talk pads etc. are already in use.

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">References: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access ([|CATEA]), (October 9, 2010) Argumentative and Alternative Communication. Georgia Institute of Technology ([|GT]) College of Architecture ([|COA]) .assistivetech.net: National Public Website on Assistive Technology

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Coleman, M.B. & Heller, K.W. (2010). The use of repeated reading with computer modeling to promote reading fluency with students who have physical disabilities. Journal of Special Education Technology, 25 (1), 29-41.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Cook, V. (1996). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Arnold.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gilbert, J. B. (2008) Teaching Pronunciation Using the Prosody Pyramid. Cambridge University Press. 32 Avenues of the Americas, New York: NY. 10013-2473, USA. [|www.cambridge.org]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gilakjani, A. P. (December 22, 2011) The Significance of Pronunciation in English Language Teaching. English Language Teaching Vol. 5, No. 4; April 2012. Islamic Azad University, Lahijan: Iran. www.ccsenet.org/elt

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gina Kemp, M.A., Melinda Smith, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. (June 2013) Learning Disabilities & Disorders. Helpguide.org. All rights reserved. [|http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities.htm#problems]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Linnea, C. E. (2005) Learning to Read Words: Theory, Findings, and Issues. City University of New York, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Narkon, D. E., Wells, J. C., & Segal, L. S. (2011). E-Word Wall: An Interactive Vocabulary Instruction Tool for Students with Learning Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 43(4), 38-45.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Neuman, S. B. & Dwyer, J. (2009) Missing in action: Vocabulary instruction in Pre-K. The Reading Teacher, 62(5), 384-392, DOI: 10.1598/RT.62/5/2.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read [Online].Available: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrppubskey.cfm [2000, November 10].

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Robyler, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2010). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. (Fifth Edition). Boston, MA: PEARSON Education.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Skouge, J. R., Rao, K., & Boisvert, P.C. (2007). Promoting early literacy for diverse learners using audio and video technology. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35 (1), 5-11. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">[]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Stanberry, K. and Swanson, L. (2009) Reading Rockets. Effective Reading Interventions for Kids With Learning Disabilities U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. WETA Washington, D.C.