Using E-readers and Interactive Read Alouds to Promote Participatory Learning and Literacy in Lagos,

Using E-readers and Interactive Read Alouds to Promote Participatory Learning and Literacy in Lagos, Nigeria Mark Buttweiler, Sandeep Mallareddy, Anna Marrs, and Erin Daniels

Date: December 2021 Team: Mark Buttweiler, Sandeep Mallareddy, Anna Marrs, and Erin Daniels Acknowledgments: Special thanks to:

Leaders in Learning. https://newglobe.education/

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Background Literature Review Design Factors of Read-Aloud Intervention Measuring the Impact Quantitatively Discussion Appendix References

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Abstract Expanding access to on-level texts provides students with more opportunities to practice reading and, in turn, accelerates progress toward improved reading fluency and reading comprehension.

Independent reading without support, however, may not maximize potential learning gains. Through E-readers and lesson guides, we provide a large selection of on-level content and well-crafted lessons that ensure students are actively participating and engaging with the text. We investigate whether interactive read alouds (IRAs), where teachers model higher-order thinking, can support the development of metacognitive connections and contribute to student mastery of inferential questions and general reading comprehension. Through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 47 Nigerian private schools, we evaluate 641 lower elementary students’ performance on inferential reading comprehension. We find that interactive read alouds result in a 0.2 standard deviation increase in reading comprehension performance during a single term of instruction suggesting their overall effectiveness and potential for wider implementation.

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1. Background Primary school enrollment has expanded faster in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region in the world, but literacy levels remain low, even for primary school graduates (Smith-Greenway, 2015).

In Nigeria, the World Bank estimates adult literacy rates at 51% and youth literacy rates at 66%.

However, across sub-Saharan Africa, efforts to improve literacy are hampered by lack of access to quality texts. In Kenya, for example, the average textbook to student ratio reached 1:2 in urban areas and 1:5 in more remote regions. In Benin, that ratio is closer to 1:10 (Fredriksen, 2015). Students need textbooks to support their learning, teachers need textbooks to guide the classroom, and policymakers need textbooks to implement their overarching educational strategy in the classroom.

Advances in E-Book accessibility and decreases in device prices has made the provision of E-Books an attractive solution to getting books into children's hands. Of course, limits in the number of devices available and hours in the day suggests the need for intentional lesson plans designed to address learning gaps. Research on how to maximize the impact of E-Readers by creating lessons that target specific skills is limited. When students struggle to master inference, how can E-Readers accompanied with participatory lessons directly fill that gap?

Our organization identifies and implements technological innovations that can impact student learning in low-income communities in sub-Saharan Africa. We opened our first schools in Nigeria in 2016.

To increase our students’ access to on-level texts, we partnered with WorldReader, supplementing our literacy program with a daily period devoted to reading fiction and nonfiction texts on an E-reader.

While students are fascinated with both the devices and content, we are still experimenting with the best ways to incorporate this technology in the classroom to maximize its impact on reading comprehension in addressing literacy gaps that impact our students.

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Internal research on student performance on early grade reading assessments suggests that although our students have outperformed their peers in literacy growth, they still struggle to correctly answer inferential comprehension questions. While 76% of our Primary 2 students in Nigeria correctly answered direct reading comprehension questions, only 28% of students were able to answer inferential questions, as measured on the reading comprehension Early Grade Reading Assessment subtask. The original E-reader program gives students ample time to practice reading fluency and devotes some time to reading comprehension, however there is no targeted support to address the development of inferential thinking skills.

In order to complement our E-reader program with more instructional support, we have added lessons that use interactive read alouds, or IRAs. An IRA is a type of think-aloud strategy in which the teacher reads a passage out loud and explains their thought process for comprehending particular points in the text (Collins-Block and Israel, 2004). By modeling the appropriate reading strategy, the teacher directs the students toward logical connections and conclusions, helping them to correctly approach and answer inferential questions. This metacognitive awareness enables students both to assess their own comprehension and implement the demonstrated strategies when practicing on their own.

We incorporate IRAs in our lesson guides to improve students’ ability to use inferential thinking in answering reading comprehension questions. We investigate the impact of think-aloud strategies in early grades, which is particularly interesting to the extent that movement in early grade reading comprehension competencies affect students’ longer term literacy development. We hypothesize that students will engage more deeply with reading passages when scaffolded lesson guides adopting IRAs are used.

2. Literature Review Singer et al (1992) suggest that world knowledge is needed to infer a missing premise in a syllogism.

For example, when faced with the statements [Socrates is human.Therefore, Socrates is mortal] the evaluation of the missing premise [Humans are mortal] is required for the chain of reasoning to be acceptable. Graesser et al (1994) modifies Signer’s model, proposing that a reader constructs a logical argument and solves the argument by supplying a missing idea that is both coherent at local and global levels, and explains why events in the text occurred. Inference, then, can be thought of as a simple logical argument.

Inference is a key component of reading and reading comprehension, as the ability to draw inferences predetermines reading skills (Kispal, 2008). While expert readers use inferences to associate two different pieces of a text and arrive at a third, implicit, conclusion, novice readers often cannot perform such association, leading to lower reading comprehension (Collins-Block & Israel, 2004).

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Strategies for improving inference in literacy While the logic for inference is simple, few strategies for improving inference in early grade literacy have been outlined in the existing literature. Reciprocal teaching (where teachers teach strategies related to prediction, questioning, seeking clarification, and summarization and have student leaders utilize these strategies with their peers) and think-aloud approaches are associated with inference teaching (Kispal, 2008), but neither models have developed age-specific strategies. Regarding when explicit metacognitive tools (such as comprehension monitoring) should be presented to students, Baker (2002) suggests that metacognitively-oriented strategies are most successful with upper primary students. However, this is problematic as inference skills develop much earlier (Kispal, 2008).

How, then, can inference development be supported in the early grades?

Think-aloud Techniques A think-aloud approach may be effective for early grade literacy, as it does not require active metacognitive action on the part of the student. However, to our knowledge, think-aloud’s impact on inference has not been previously investigated. In addition, the discussion and development efforts have been focused primarily on methods for effective think-aloud approaches, with little quantitative evidence on their effect. Davey (1983) developed five techniques to help students approach a text as a message to be understood rather than a code to be cracked (making predictions, describing mental images during reading, sharing analogies, verbalizing confusing points, and demonstrating fix-up strategies), finding these methods improved student attitudes after three weeks of practice. Baumann et al. (1993) argue that by requiring a reader to stop periodically to reflect on how a text is being processed and understood, think-aloud enhances a child’s comprehension monitoring ability. Of course, it is not just the teacher’s responsibility to think-aloud; students should then slowly utilize this metacognitive tool. Afflerbach and VanSledright (2001) argue that student usage of think-aloud approach can even be used as a valuable assessment of the effectiveness of a modeled strategy.

Limited Evidence from Think-alouds to Improved Inference The literature suggests that think-alouds lead to improved academic outcomes, but do not explicitly measure the link between the method and reading comprehension. Through classroom observation, Oster (2001) argues that think-aloud strategies result in improved peer sharing and class discussion, higher levels of reading comprehension, and increased levels of literature enjoyment, but did not measure student performance relative to a control. Using a quasi-experimental method to examine the impact of a think-aloud strategy on nonfiction science texts, Ortlieb and Norris (2012) find a positive link between the strategy and student performance. However, this study focused on growth differences between two classes, which may have been on different growth trajectories. In a smallscale RCT, Jahandar et al. (2012) find that there is a significant increase in TOEFL scores for English language learners who were trained in reading using think-aloud methods compared to traditional methods. This research measures improvements in English language but is unable to determine how it directly impacts reading comprehension.

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Limited Evidence from Think-alouds to Improved Inference The literature suggests that think-alouds lead to improved academic outcomes, but do not explicitly measure the link between the method and reading comprehension. Through classroom observation, Oster (2001) argues that think-aloud strategies result in improved peer sharing and class discussion, higher levels of reading comprehension, and increased levels of literature enjoyment, but did not measure student performance relative to a control. Using a quasi-experimental method to examine the impact of a think-aloud strategy on nonfiction science texts, Ortlieb and Norris (2012) find a positive link between the strategy and student performance. However, this study focused on growth differences between two classes, which may have been on different growth trajectories. In a smallscale RCT, Jahandar et al. (2012) find that there is a significant increase in TOEFL scores for English language learners who were trained in reading using think-aloud methods compared to traditional methods. This research measures improvements in English language but is unable to determine how it directly impacts reading comprehension.

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3. Design Factors of Read-Aloud Intervention Our E-reader program provides students a daily opportunity to access on-level texts. With this E-reader program, students are guided to independently read three to four books for one 40-minute period per day in addition to their standard classes. Our target students often have little access to technology and the E-reader is likely the first computer they have interacted with. Therefore, students are provided with an introduction on how to find and open the correct book with the E-reader during the first week of classes.

3.1 Factors Identified from Exploratory Studies 3.1.1 Variety of books and student engagement The E-reader Program has undergone several design iterations since its inception. We first piloted our E-reader lessons in Kenya in 2016. In these lessons, students reviewed vocabulary words, read a story on the E-reader, and then answered questions about the story. While stories were provided to students based on their grade, the limited number of stories made it difficult to ensure that texts were precisely aligned with student reading levels. The result of a small-scale observation study of students who voluntarily participated in the program showed only modest literacy gains compared to their peers. However, it also uncovered qualitative insights into the diversity of text offerings and student engagement. Most importantly, students found lessons repetitive when provided with few books, and disliked the need to re-read books across multiple lessons. This was more pronounced among the students in lower grades. Grade 1 students, for example, had less than 100 titles on their level and had to re-read books as many as 9 times within the academic year.

Based on the result of pilot studies, we expanded the library to include more than 600 books, tripling the size of our libraries. In 2018, Grade 1 students had libraries with more than 300 books, and re-read titles a maximum of only 3 times within the academic year. Feedback from teachers show that students notice new books and are excited when presented with a new story.

3.1.2 On-level alignment of texts and student engagement Further research found that existing digital content was scarcer for emergent readers and that texts were mismatched with student reading levels. When the program was unable to match students with on-level texts, the program was not contributing to improved literacy skills for our students.

Our digital library now has a wider breadth of content for all levels of emergent readers that include more engaging picture books for our youngest students and a new leveling system to ensure content is correctly matched to student reading ability.

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3.1.3 Features of lesson guides and student engagement Finally, initial pilot lesson guides demonstrated that students spent, on average, 43% of the lesson time engaged in independent reading. After modifications to lesson design, particularly reductions in unnecessary teacher talk, students currently spend, on average, 65% of the lesson time engaged in independent reading. In addition, lesson structures have changed to provide students with more support of unfamiliar words and to increase reading comprehension expectations.

Based on these results, we formed a set of primary features to focus on in subsequent iterations of the design of the E-reader program. We outline the most salient improvement points in the next section.

Figure 1: An example of an E-reader lower primary teacher guide

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3.2 Current Design of the E-reader Program In the improved design of our E-reader program, we address student engagement using design factors of (1) variety, (2) level-appropriateness of texts, and (3) relevant interaction techniques.

These factors are considered in the context of Nigerian cultural norms and practices, within which we evaluate the effect of our intervention design.

First, lessons are provided to the teacher through a teacher computer. These lessons prompt the teacher with concrete guidelines to ensure a vibrant and participatory classroom experience.

We refer to these lesson plans as teacher guides, as they provide additional instructional help than a typical lesson plan. Teacher guides have two different versions depending on the grade (lower and upper primary) of students.

For lower primary, the teacher writes the first story title on the board. Students then revise a sight word, or high frequency word, and a new word, both of which they will encounter in that story. The teacher gives a two-sentence summary of the story and directs the students to read the story a certain number of times (depending on the story length). While students read, the teacher monitors student pronunciation of the text, assists students with decoding new or unfamiliar words, and responds to student queries. After reading the story, students answer comprehension questions with their partner and discuss the story. This process is repeated for two more stories (three in total). The method used in upper primary is similar but with more stories (four in total) and without word revision.

3.3 Piloting Interactive Read Alouds In Primary 2 classes in Nigeria, we piloted IRAs to determine the impact of that intervention on inferential thinking. While the pre-reading activities are the same (introduction to sight words and new words followed by a two-sentence summary of the story), during the IRA, the teacher reads the story, models inferential thinking, checks for understanding, and gradually releases to studentanswered inferential thinking questions. Post reading, two inferential questions are posited, followed by an oral class discussion.

For example, after introducing the main character, the teacher describes the picture of the boy.

She thinks out loud, saying that since the boy has one eye open, she knows the boy was sleeping.

Similarly, when she sees that the boy is shouting and has his fist in the air, she thinks aloud that the boy must be angry. By modeling these inferences, the teacher explicitly models the thought processes expected of successful readers while independently reading. An example of the treatment E-reader teacher guide can be seen in Figure 2 (note that lines 1 through 19 are identical to the control group).

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Figure 2: An example of a IRA teacher guide

4. Measuring the Impact Quantitatively 4.1 Design of the RCT We conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) to determine the impact of IRAs on student achievement. Lesson content is controlled by providing standard lessons across multiple classrooms.

Identical assessments were administered to collect data on student achievement. We chose Nigerian Primary 2 as a target grade for our study for two reasons: First, fluency rates were high enough that students were ready for comprehension work. Second, we have access to baseline data on student performance across 49 schools.

The choice of treatment classrooms (which were provided with the new teacher guides) was randomized, with treatment assignment stratified by region. There were 24 schools in the treatment

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group and 25 schools in the control. 479 and 501 students were assigned to the treatment and control group, respectively. Baseline assessment data prior to the implementation of the new teacher guide was collected in January of 2018. We find no statistically significant differences between baseline scores, age, and the percentage of female students.

Figure 3: Baseline Balance Table The endline assessment data on student performance was collected after running the program for 11 weeks (the entirety of Term 2, equivalent to a semester in U.S. academic calendar). Though we had a targeted campaign to collect data for all of the 980 students who participated in the baseline, we only collected data for 641 students at the endline, resulting in an attrition rate of 35% due to both absenteeism and population mobility.

Figure 4: Student Counts at Baseline and Endline

As seen in Figure 4, attrition was slightly higher for the treatment group versus the control, but we do not see any differential attrition by group based on baseline performance. (See Figure 6: Differential Attrition in the Appendix)

4.2 Methodology We measure inferential reading comprehension with an in-class quiz conducted at the beginning and end of the study. This quiz consists of five inferential reasoning questions about a text which students will only interact with during the beginning and end of study quizzes.

We estimate the impact of our new IRA teacher guides using an ordinary least squares regression controlling for baseline assessment results. Our preferred model estimates endline assessment scores for student i in school j at time period t as a function of baseline assessment scores (Yi,j,t-1), attendance rates (Attendancei,j), gender (Femalei,j ) and an error term (εi,j).

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Yi,j,t = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 Treatmentj,t + 𝛽2 Yi,j,t-1 + 𝛽3 Attendancei,j + 𝛽4 Femalei,j + εi,j

Our coefficient of interest is 𝛽1, which provides an estimate for the impact of the IRA program on student performance on inferential reading comprehension. All estimates cluster standard errors at the academy level.

4.2 Results IRAs have a positive impact on inferential reading comprehension as estimated by our five-question quiz, though only statistically significant at a 10% confidence level. We find an increase in performance by roughly 0.3 points on the 5 point quiz (or 6%). This is roughly equal to a fifth of a standardization.

Table 1: Regression Results

Due to our sample size, this difference was within the margin of error and only statistically significance at a 10% confidence level when controls for pupil attendance are included. However, as this was a short intervention, these results suggest a potential positive impact on student performance. Moving a fifth of a standard deviation within a term is not small relative to other education interventions.

We find the impact to be positive across baseline levels. At every baseline score, pupils who received the IRA intervention performed better. The only group where the standard lesson guides were more effective was for students who had scored zero on the baseline assessment. While this

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study was not powered to detect differences across groups, future research should assess the differential impact of IRAs.

5. Discussion E-Reader programs may be a potential solution to providing a greater breadth of content in resourceconstrained environments. However, research is limited on the best pedagogy to deliver lessons with E-Readers. We are particularly interested if an E-Reader program can be used to fill an existing learning gap we have identified in our schools. We asked if IRAs as part of an E-Reader program can result in improvements on inferential reading comprehension. We contributed to the research on IRAs through (1) exploring techniques on designing and implementing think-alouds in a developing country context through E-Reader technology and the design implications addressed through developing this technique, and (2) an evaluation of the program through a large-scale study that quantifies the impact of the think-aloud approach on student’s reading comprehension relative to a silent-reading approach.

Figure 5: Average Endline Results by Group and Initial Performance

We found that IRAs delivered through lesson guides were accessible to teachers. Pupils enjoyed the lessons, becoming so engaged with some stories that they would gasp in anticipation. Quantitatively, pupils who received IRAs scored marginally higher on the inferential thinking test than their counterparts at a 90% confidence level. This increase is equal to about one fifth of a standard deviation. However, the relatively small sample (47 schools) limits the statistical power of the evaluation. In turn, this limits our ability to say with confidence that the new pedagogy was effective.

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Our results did not immediately justify making a change at scale. Nevertheless, they inform subsequent evaluations using a more robust sample size. Future iterations of lesson design innovations will increase both sample sizes and the length of the intervention.

Appendix

Figure 6: Differential Attrition

References Afflerbach, P., & VanSledright P. (2001). Hath! Doth! What? Middle Graders Reading Innovative History Text. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(8). 696-707.

Baker, L. (2002). Metacognition in comprehension instruction. In C.C. Block & Pressely, M. (Eds) Comprehension Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Baumann, J. F., Jones, L.A., & Seifert-Kessel, N. (1993). Using think alouds to enhance children’s comprehension monitoring abilities. The Reading Teacher, 47, 194-193.

Collins-Block, C. (2004). Teaching Comprehension: The Comprehension process approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Collins-Block, C., & Israel, S. E. (2004). The ABCs of Performing Highly Effective Think-Alouds. The Reading Teacher, 58(2), 154-167.

Davey, B. (1983). Modeling the Cognitive Processes of Reading Comprehension. Journal of Reading, 27(1), 44-47.

Fredriksen, B., Brar S., with Trucano, M. (2015). Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa: Strategies for Addressing the High Cost and Low Availability Problem. Directions in Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.

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Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. Psychological Review, 101(3), 371-395.

Jahandar, S., Khodabandehlou, M., Seyedi, G., & Abadi, R. M. D. (2012). The Think-aloud Method in EFL Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 3(9), 1-9.

Kispal, A. (2008). Effective teaching of inference skills for reading. Berkshire: National Foundation for Educational Research.

Narvaez, D., Van den Broek, P., Ruiz, A.B. (1999). The influence of reading purpose on inference generation and comprehension in reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 488-496.

Onwuameze, N. C. (2013) Educational opportunity and inequality in Nigeria: assessing social background, gender and regional effects. PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, 2013.

Oster, L. (2001). Using the think-aloud for reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, 55(1), 65-69.

Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of?. In: M.L. Kamil, Mosenthal, P.B., Pearson, P.D., and Barr, R. (Eds) Handbook of Reading Research: Volume III. New York, NY: Larence Erlbaum.

Singer, M., Halldorson, M., Lear, J.C., & Andrusiak, P. (1992). Validation of causal bridging inferences in discourse understanding. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 507-524.

Smith-Greenaway, E. (2015). Educational attainment and adult literacy: A descriptive account of 31 sub-Saharan Africa countries. Demographic Research, 33(35), 1015-1034.

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Leaders in Learning https://newglobe.education/

Using E-readers and Interactive Read Alouds to Promote Participatory Learning and Literacy in Lagos, Nigeria Mark Buttweiler, Sandeep Mallareddy, Anna Marrs, and Erin Daniels

Using E-readers and Interactive Read Alouds to Promote Participatory Learning and Literacy in Lagos, Nigeria

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