ERIC Number: EJ1218964
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 31
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1524-8372
EISSN: EISSN-1532-7647
Field Tests of Learning Principles to Support Pedagogy: Overlap and Variability Jointly Affect Sound/Letter Acquisition in First Graders
Bob McMurray; Tanja C. Roembke; Eliot Hazeltine
Journal of Cognition and Development, v20 n2 p222-252 2019
Many details in reading curricula (e.g., the order of materials) have analogs in laboratory studies of learning (e.g., blocking/interleaving). Principles of learning from cognitive science could be used to structure these materials to optimize learning, but they are not commonly applied. Recent work bridges this gap by "field testing" such principles: Rather than testing whole curricula, these studies teach students a small set of sound-spelling-regularities over a week via an Internet-delivered program. Training instantiates principles from cognitive science to test their application to vowel acquisition, a critical part of reading. The current study follows up on two prior studies, which found differing effects of consonant variability for learning vowels. In addition to investigating this discrepancy, this study examined a new principle: blocking/interleaving. Although interleaved training is typically beneficial, this is difficult to apply in reading where there are many regularities. We compared a fully interleaved regime (six vowels) to two blocked regimes teaching two vowels on each block. Blocked conditions differed on whether vowels overlapped (EA with OA) or not (EA with OU). Blocking was crossed with consonant variability. Four hundred seventeen first graders were pretested on six vowels, and underwent three to five days of training, followed by a posttest and retention test. Blocking had little effect. However, there was a variability benefit when overlapping vowel strings were blocked together, and no effect of variability for interleaved training. Thus, benefits may only be observed if blocking highlights contrast between regularities. When applied to real-world skills, learning principles from cognitive science may interact in complex ways.
Descriptors: Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence, Reading Instruction, Cognitive Science, Spelling, Comparative Analysis, Vowels, Phonemes, Retention (Psychology), Reading Tests, Elementary School Students, Grade 1, Teaching Methods, Pretests Posttests, Feedback (Response), Accuracy, Computer Assisted Instruction
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 1; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF); Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iowa (Des Moines)
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1330318; EDIES15C0023