Evaluating a computer-assisted phonics intervention for improving foundational English literacy learning in multilingual India

Abstract

The overall aim of this dissertation was to examine whether GraphoLearn English Rime, a computer-assisted phonics-based intervention, could effectively support children’s foundational English literacy learning in India. Through a series of three studies, this research evaluates whether GraphoLearn would lead to significant improvements in children’s foundational English literacy skills (Studies I and II), as well as examines the relationship between children’s first (Hindi) and second (English) language literacy skills (Study III) to better inform English literacy instruction and intervention. Both Studies I and II employed a randomized controlled trial design to evaluate the efficacy of GraphoLearn English Rime with children across Grades 1-3 in English-medium government schools. Children in the intervention group played GraphoLearn and children in the control group played a math game. Both groups of children played their respective games during school hours through touchscreen devices equipped with headphones. The children were pre- and post-tested on a set of in-game and out-of-game oral and paper-based measures designed to assess basic skills of foundational literacy. In Study II, children were also assessed at pre-test using a set of oral and paper-based Hindi measures, which for a majority of children was their first language. The data collected through the oral and paper-based English and Hindi measures were used in Study III to examine the phonological predictors of children’s literacy skills within and across the two languages. Overall, results indicated the efficacy of GraphoLearn in improving subskills of reading, specifically children’s knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. However, the results also highlighted the limitations of computer-assisted interventions when used in the absence of comprehensive literacy instruction and teacher support. Examination of the phonological predictors of children’s L1 and L2 literacy skills reaffirmed the importance of English phonemic awareness for English decoding. There was also evidence indicating cross-language contributions of Hindi phonological awareness to English decoding. Taken together, there is strong evidence indicating that children attending English-medium schools in India can benefit from phonics-based literacy instruction but there remains a need to understand how technologies like GraphoLearn utilized for learning in such contexts.

Keywords: GraphoLearn, English learners, foundational literacy, phonics, India, cross-language transfer, phonological awareness, ed-tech, intervention