NGL 2014
Improving literacy skills through learning reading
by writing: The iWTR
method presented and tested
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
2016-07-24
Learning how to Read and Write – a basic skill
• A complex cognitive activity
• Learning Graphemes &
Phonemes
• Combining them into words
• Not only reading or writing the
words but also interpreting the
meaning of them
• Handwriting (fine motor skills)
• Putting words together into
sentences
• Dyslexia or other difficulties of
various kinds
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Literacy
• Learning to read and write – a
skill that not all children learn
sufficiently
• Increasing demands on the ability
of the use of written language in
various ways
• Information technology – more
opportunities demanding literacy
skills
• Digital literacy
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
PISA 2012
Skolverket (2013), Summary report; 398
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
A small – scale pilot study from Sollentuna
•
The overall aim: Contribute to
developing better methods for
learning to read and write in early
years
•
Conduct a small pilot study testing
the new ICT-supported method iWTR
•
Compare the outcomes from
traditional read and writing methods
with the iWTR method
•
Did the iWTR method improve
children´s skills in reading and
writing?
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Background
ASL, WTR, STL/iWTR
• 1984 computer-assisted program
”Write to read” (WTR) USA
• 2003 ASL (Write to read, Arne
Trageton)
• Eva Hultin & Maria Westman
research in Sandviken 2014…
• iWTR/STL is a method developed
from ASL but without the
computer printout - more
focusing on publishing texts on
the web thus getting written
feedback from schoolmates
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Methods
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
Fig. 1.
The iWTR method. Lgr 11 is the Swedish National curriculum
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
7 year olds Publishing & giving feedback
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
An example of a class site in year 1
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Publishing texts and receiving feedback on a class site
Text Åk 1
2016-07-24
Återkoppling
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR method
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Method
• Test group – two 1st grade classes, 7 years old working accordingly to the iWTRmethod (41 students)
• Control group – two 1st grade classes, 7 years old not working accordingly to the
iWTR-method the iWTR-method (46 students)
• Quasi experiment using existing classes from the same school:
• -All students in all grade classes in the school
• -All from the same residential area
• -A fairly even gender distribution and distribution of the group sizes
Table 1. Gender distribution and group sizes
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Data collection
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Results on H4 reading test
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Results
• More excellent readers in the test group than in the control group (tested
according to the H4-test)
• Students´texts were assessed using the national goals and requirements
from Lgr 11 concerning the grade 3 national test (Skolverket 2011)
• The texts produced in the test group were (much) longer, containing a
clearer story with more logical flow of events described than the control
group students.
• According to the teachers´assessment a majority of the students had
already at the end of grade 1 achieved writing skills by the national tests
to be taken in grade 3. (This not formally tested but due to the assessment
based on the guidelines from NSL Skolverket)
• Importantly students´ with less literacy skills performed well in the test
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
7 year old student writing a text
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The results of the social interaction part
Great differencies compared to the traditional group:
• Increased interaction concerning the work during the production of texts
• Written interaction during the writing process
• Comments and feedback on finished and published texts on the site –
possible to read over and over again (showed out to be good for the
confidence)
• The test group students became more meticulous and processed their
texts. This probably due to the feedback they were given but also due to
the fact that it was to be published on the site for more people to read
• Discussions going on online for example when making riddles for others to
read
• Leading to much more writing and reading being done – leading to literacy
improvement
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Conclusions
Due to the fairly small test group – far- reaching conclusions cannot be made
– the results of this trial are clearly encouraging. The tests show:
• Both reading and writing skills had improved considerably in the test
group
• Student satisfaction was high
• By the end of grad 1 all students (irrespective of whatever difficulties they
had had) were assessed by the teachers as having good confidence in
their reading and writing improvement.
• All students published their texts online and therefore got feedback from
both teachers and peers from the entire class.
• All students texts were equally good looking and therefore readable for
all (also with the help of synthesize for those needing it).
• Nobody had to erase mistakes on paper resulting in wrinkled paper,
missing words sqeezed into too small spaces etc.
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Conclusions
The good results can to a part be explaned by:
• the technology used
• By the social arrangements…but in particular by the two together!
The social process supported by the technology used:
-increased motivation
-Improved students´understanding of how other people recieve their texts
-The social nature of language has been more clear during the process of
producing the texts
-The texts have all been used to communicate with peers and teachers not
just a text for the teacher to to check and correct
-All students (irrespective of difficulties of any kind) published their text and
read others on the site – every student has been visible and read on the web
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Finally
• A small-scale study
• contributes to practice by providing an innovative, theorybased method for literacy development and some empirical
evidence for its effectiveness.
• The contribution to research is to show, by means of a
structured test, the importance of a conducive social context
for making good use of ICT.
• Further research includes a larger study comprising eight
schools in City of Sollentuna using the same method and
measurement tools.
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
The iWTR (STL) method presented and tested
Highlights
• An ICT-based method for
improving literacy
development in primary
school
• Reading is improved, writing
is even more improved using
the method
• The method is effective for
high as well as low
performers
• The importance of social
interaction for making the
best use of ICT
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Written communication and getting feedback…
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Onwards and further research
• Due to the second interim of the ”Digitaliseringskommissionen” (SOU
2014:13) 20% of the teachers think that ICT is interfering with their
pedagogy…
• This project and study has resulted in a community wide training called
STL/SKUT for teachers in Sollentuna focusing on:
• Supporting teachers in different ways in how to integrate ICT into the
pedagogy
• Eventually reaching all teachers, even those who still do not se the benefits
of using ICT in their classroom
• Increase the equivalence both within schools but also schools between
• Further research includes a larger study comprising schools in Sollentuna
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund
Thank you
for listening!
2016-07-24
Annika Agélii Genlott & Åke Grönlund