Online Literacy programs and the Art of Repetition
It is no new news that repetition is at the core of how we learn best. When it comes to learning to read and spell this means revisiting words and sounds again and again, little and often, over many lessons, but with a little something more and different each time. This is how we store information in long term memory and build on what we already know.
Overlearning means reinforcement, which leads to automaticity and fluency.
But how can an online literacy program give the student the repetition and reinforcement that is needed?
Luckily, very easily.
The good news is that online literacy programs can be enormously conducive to the methodology of repetition and revisiting.
Here’s how…
Online programs that have an in-built ‘computer voice’ make it very easy for the student to listen again and again without embarrassment.
A student, who cannot keep up and hasn’t understood, may feel shy to ask the teacher to explain something again. How many students just don’t bother saying if they haven’t understood? I guarantee many. In a small remedial group there will be those students who get carried along by the others. It’s not always easy for the tutor to fully know if every child has ‘got it’.
With an online intervention program, a student can listen as many times as they wish, to really make sure they have heard the sound, word, or sentence correctly. It allows them to feel ok about not getting it right the first time; they can get it wrong a second time too… they will get it right in the end. These programs are designed to get the student to self-check, so repetition is in-built to the program and is part of the learning process.
An online program with a recording mechanism gives great opportunity for repetition.
Recording the voice is key when it comes to improving decoding and reading skills online. By recording the voice when reading, the student can compare their own way of reading a word to the correct version; they can redo if necessary and listen as many times as they want. Hearing their own voice back and comparing to the computer voice - rather than just saying the word out loud and moving on - has much more impact when it comes to the self-checking process. The student is far more likely to spot errors and correct themselves. It is all part of that multi-sensory loop of seeing, hearing, saying and checking. This builds in further, highly effective, repetition to the process.
An online program makes it easy to reuse material in different ways.
A structured, cumulative program will keep using the same material for some time, but in new activities, building on from what has already been learned. A word may not leave the system for about ten sessions. By using these words in different activities, the student is revisiting and reinforcing what they’ve learned without even realising it. With a good online program this is made to happen systematically, without the tutor needing to prompt revision, create extra materials, or, in fact, remember to do anything.
An online literacy tool should have the mechanism to monitor and carry out progress checks, to see if anything needs repeating.
We need to know if learning has ‘stuck’. Monitoring and progress checking from within the program, or as additional exercises, help show whether the sounds and words the student has covered are secure. If they’re not, then work can be reset to do again before moving on. This makes it very easy for the tutor to know that the student is always working at the right (and comfortable) level.
So, when it comes to repetition and revisiting, technology has it covered…more than once.
Hannah MacLellan worked as a Dyslexia & Literacy Specialist at Dyslexia Action for many years and now works with the Units of Sound development team. She has considerable experience working with and providing advice, training and support to schools, colleges, community centers and parents. Units of Sound has a home version, Literacy that fits, which is designed to get parents/guardians supporting their child at home without all the training that is involved with most intervention tools used in schools.
It is no new news that repetition is at the core of how we learn best. When it comes to learning to read and spell this means revisiting words and sounds again and again, little and often, over many lessons, but with a little something more and different each time. This is how we store information in long term memory and build on what we already know.
Overlearning means reinforcement, which leads to automaticity and fluency.
But how can an online literacy program give the student the repetition and reinforcement that is needed?
Luckily, very easily.
The good news is that online literacy programs can be enormously conducive to the methodology of repetition and revisiting.
Here’s how…
Online programs that have an in-built ‘computer voice’ make it very easy for the student to listen again and again without embarrassment.
A student, who cannot keep up and hasn’t understood, may feel shy to ask the teacher to explain something again. How many students just don’t bother saying if they haven’t understood? I guarantee many. In a small remedial group there will be those students who get carried along by the others. It’s not always easy for the tutor to fully know if every child has ‘got it’.
With an online intervention program, a student can listen as many times as they wish, to really make sure they have heard the sound, word, or sentence correctly. It allows them to feel ok about not getting it right the first time; they can get it wrong a second time too… they will get it right in the end. These programs are designed to get the student to self-check, so repetition is in-built to the program and is part of the learning process.
An online program with a recording mechanism gives great opportunity for repetition.
Recording the voice is key when it comes to improving decoding and reading skills online. By recording the voice when reading, the student can compare their own way of reading a word to the correct version; they can redo if necessary and listen as many times as they want. Hearing their own voice back and comparing to the computer voice - rather than just saying the word out loud and moving on - has much more impact when it comes to the self-checking process. The student is far more likely to spot errors and correct themselves. It is all part of that multi-sensory loop of seeing, hearing, saying and checking. This builds in further, highly effective, repetition to the process.
An online program makes it easy to reuse material in different ways.
A structured, cumulative program will keep using the same material for some time, but in new activities, building on from what has already been learned. A word may not leave the system for about ten sessions. By using these words in different activities, the student is revisiting and reinforcing what they’ve learned without even realising it. With a good online program this is made to happen systematically, without the tutor needing to prompt revision, create extra materials, or, in fact, remember to do anything.
An online literacy tool should have the mechanism to monitor and carry out progress checks, to see if anything needs repeating.
We need to know if learning has ‘stuck’. Monitoring and progress checking from within the program, or as additional exercises, help show whether the sounds and words the student has covered are secure. If they’re not, then work can be reset to do again before moving on. This makes it very easy for the tutor to know that the student is always working at the right (and comfortable) level.
So, when it comes to repetition and revisiting, technology has it covered…more than once.
Hannah MacLellan worked as a Dyslexia & Literacy Specialist at Dyslexia Action for many years and now works with the Units of Sound development team. She has considerable experience working with and providing advice, training and support to schools, colleges, community centers and parents. Units of Sound has a home version, Literacy that fits, which is designed to get parents/guardians supporting their child at home without all the training that is involved with most intervention tools used in schools.
