Enhancing Early Reading Skills in 4-6 year old children: Measuring Effectiveness and Exploring Learning Patterns from an 8-week Systematic, Synthetic, High-Dosage, Technology-Supported Phonics Program

Low literacy (ability to read and write) profoundly impacts a person’s life, participation, and well-being. With up to 44% of adults reading at a low literacy level, illiteracy costs our nation an estimated 44 billion annually. Graphemes are letters or groups of letters representing sounds in words. Strong grapheme knowledge in junior primary is associated with long-term positive effects on literacy skills. Barriers to providing high-quality evidenced-based reading instruction continue to impact negatively on Australian children’s literacy development. Technology is potentially one way in which barriers to effective instruction can be removed.
This study will investigate the effectiveness of one computer-assisted phonics program, Reading Doctor, which was developed locally in South Australia, and has shown promising results in previous small-scale studies. The primary aim of the research will be to evaluate the effect of an 8-week Reading Doctor intervention on improving grapheme knowledge for children aged 4-6 years of age. Children will access assessment and instruction by connecting online via a mobile device from a range of contexts. Leveraging the advantage of technology-supported instruction to collect computer generated big-data, secondary analysis will investigate trends and correlations in grapheme learning. We aim to contribute to the advancement of literacy instruction, and ultimately improve educational, and participation outcomes for children .