Examining the impact of the ABRACADABRA (ABRA) web-based literacy program on primary school students in Hong Kong

Examining the impact of the ABRACADABRA (ABRA) web-based literacy program on primary school students in Hong Kong

• Mak, Barley S. Y. Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Cheung, Alan C. K. Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Guo, Xin Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Abrami, Philip C. Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
• Wade, Anne Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Education and Information Technologies, 22(6), 2671-2691, 2017

Springer New York LLC

2017

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GB English Language
• L Educational Measurement & Evaluation
  • LA Intelligence, Ability & Aptitude Tests

Foreign Countries Elementary School Students Reading Programs Program Effectiveness Reading instruction Low income Students Reading Tests Pretests Posttests Scores Comparative Analysis Outcomes of Education Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence Reading Fluency

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

The current paper examined the effects of A Balanced Reading Approach for Children Always Designed to Achieve Best Results for All (ABRA), a web-based literacy programme developed by the the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) at Concordia University, on primary school children in Hong Kong. The participants were 249 Primary 1 students from two low social economic status schools in Hong Kong and the two schools were well-matched on many demographic characteristics. All participating students were pre-tested in the fall and post-tested in the following spring. After adjusting for pretest differences, the treatment school scored significantly higher than the controls on three of the six outcome measures at post-tests: phoneme-grapheme correspondence (ES = +0.22, p < 0.05), phoneme segmentation (ES = +0.46, p < 0.00), and nonsense word fluency (ES = +0.22, p < 0.06). Both treatment and control students scored similarly on word reading, listening comprehension, and initial sound fluency. The outcomes of the study provides some promising evidence of the effects of ABRA on Chinese primary students in Hong Kong, especially on the enhancement of phonological skills, thus leading to early success in the formative years of learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Practical implications are discussed.
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• English

Journal Articles

• 13602357

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/08b46730

2018-06-14