The Effects of Implicit and Explicit Feedback in an ASR-based Reading Tutor for Dutch First-graders

Abstract

Literacy skills are pivotal for children to become schooled and educated and to engage with written texts in everyday life. Learning to read is a primary skill that children acquire at school. Supervised, supportive guided reading aloud may help children improve their reading skills. However, such a supportive context is usually difficult to realize at school since teachers do not have enough time to give directed individual feedback. An ASR-based reading tutor could be a solution in such a pressing situation, as such a tutor can 'listen' to children reading, provide individual feedback on errors, and store information on reading practice into logfiles.In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of an ASRbased Reading Tutor for Dutch first graders, in which different forms of feedback were implemented. We collected data from 525 first-graders in 44 schools, with 263 pupils who received explicit feedback and 262 pupils who received implicit feedback. Analyses based on mixed linear regression models indicate positive effects of both feedback forms on reading accuracy and a trade-off relationship between accuracy and speed.

An ASR-enabled Reading Tutor: Investigating Feedback to Optimize Interaction for Learning to Read

“…Our previous study [5] seemed to confirm the results that explicit feedback was more effective than implicit feedback [6,7]. In this paper we extend a previous study [5] by including data from an additional group of about 200 children who practiced with the RT, but did not receive any form of feedback on reading during practice. So this is a control group that helps us establish the impact of a feedback vs a no-feedback condition on reading aloud.…”

“…Most Dutch first graders practice for accuracy and fluency by reading lists of words and short stories according to a 'decodable books'-approach: children read words they can read based on the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they have learned [8]. In previous studies, a Dutch RT was developed that employs ASR to 'listen' to children reading aloud and to give feedback on their reading performance [5,9,10]. One of the features of the Dutch RT is its logging capabilities: ASR results and student information are stored in log files to allow innovative research [9].…”

“…This also means that the number of errors made should be limited and consequently the amount of feedback on errors too. In the explicit feedback condition (see (a) in Figure 1) children were informed which words or sentences were read incorrectly at the first attempt, while in the implicit feedback condition (see (b) in Figure 1) pupils were just asked to read some words or sentences again, without making explicit that these words were read incorrectly at the first attempt [5]. Pupils in the no-feedback condition did not receive any feedback, but, to keep them motivated, half of a picture was presented after the first attempt and the other half of the picture was made visible after the second attempt.…”

“…Most of the available research on the effects of feedback on learning to read was conducted in the classroom and looked at the final outcomes of learning, rather than investigating the process as it unfolds. In our previous study [5], we have investigated the usability of a Dutch RT equipped with logging capabilities as a controlled research environment to investigate the development of reading skills and the impact of different forms of feedback during practice. Feedback on reading performance can be provided in different ways [6], through phonics-based instructions, word-supply methods, but also by stimulating children to read words correctly without presenting the correct forms directly, i.e.…”