Kate MillerED 670.52kamiller2@loyola.eduAction 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

1

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.

2

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

3

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

4

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.

5

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

6

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

7

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.

8

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)

9

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

10

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

11

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

12

- 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

13

- 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

14

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

16

(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?________________________________________________________________________

17

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?________________________________________________________________________

18

References:

Agee, J. (2003). Exciting e-books: A new path to literature. TechTrends, 47(4), 5-8. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Applegate, A. J., & Applegate, M. (2010). A study of thoughtful literacy and the motivation to read. Reading Teacher, 64(4), 226-234. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/RT.64.4.1

Barone, D., & Wright, T. E. (2008). Literacy instruction with digital and media technologies. Reading Teacher, 62(4), 292-302. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/RT.62.4.2

Buzzeo, T. (2007). Literacy and the changing role of the elementary library media specialist. Library Media Connection, 25(7), 18-19. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Coiro, J. (2003). Reading comprehension on the internet: Expanding our understanding of reading comprehension to encompass new literacies. Reading Teacher, 56(5), 458- 64. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Gambrell, L. B. (2011). Motivation. Reading Teacher, 64(6), 459. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/RT.64.6.10

Johnson, A. P. (2008). A short guide to action research (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Kenny, R., Gunter, G., & Association for Educational Communications and Technology, W. C. (2004). Digital booktalk: Pairing books with potential readers. Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Larson, L. C. (2008). Electronic reading workshop: Beyond books with new literacies and instructional technologies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(2), 121-131. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/JAAL.52.2.3

Larson, L. C. (2009). E-reading and e-responding: New tools for the next generation of readers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(3), 255-258. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/JAAL.53.3.7

Larson, L. C. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. Reading Teacher, 64(1), 15-22. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598./RT.64.1.2

Marklein, M. (2010). Can college students learn as well on iPads, e-books? Retrieved from USA

Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-10- ebooklearning10_CV_N. htm#

19

Marzano, R.J. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA:

ASCD.

McKenna, M. C. (1991). Computerized reading assessment: Its emerging potential (reading technology). Reading Teacher, 44(9), 692-93. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Mertler, C. (2006). Action research: Teachers as researchers in the classroom. Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.

Mills, G. (2000). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Pianfetti, E. S. (2001). Focus on research: Teachers and technology: Digital literacy through professional development. Language Arts, 78(3), 255-255-262. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/196861914?accountid=12164

Rasinski, T. V., & Padak, N. (2011). Who wants to be a (reading) millionaire?. Reading Teacher, 64(7), 553-555. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/RT.64.7.14

Sagor, R. (2000). Guiding school improvement with action research. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Selfe, C.L. (2000). Technology and literacy in the twenty-first century. Carbondale: IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Weber, C. L., & Cavanaugh, T. W. (2006). Promoting reading: Using ebooks with gifted and advanced readers. Gifted Child Today, 29(4), 56-63. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

White, T. G., & Kim, J. S. (2008). Teacher and parent scaffolding of voluntary summer reading. Reading Teacher, 62(2), 116-125. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. doi:10.1598/RT.62.2.3

Worthy, J. (2002). What makes intermediate-grade students want to read? Reading Teacher, 55(6), 568-69. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

20