Music as a Reading Fluency Intervention

          In many schools around the country, programs in the arts are overlooked by reading and math instruction due to the pressures to raise scores on standardized tests.  As an early childhood teacher, I use many songs to help my students remember concepts and even the daily routines.  Most of the time the songs are paired with dances or body movements, which motivates the children and meets the needs of a variety of learners.  Children, especially those of younger ages extremely enjoy musical experiences and I think it is important to account for this unique reader factor.

          Howard Gardner listed musical intelligence as one of his original seven intelligences.  Musical intelligence is defined as "skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns.  It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms" (Smith, 2008).   Interestingly, under the description of musical intelligence from Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences, Smith goes on to say, "according to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence."

          Winner of The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award in 2007, TUNEin to Reading is a reading intervention for struggling readers designed to improve fluency.  The program is utilized in grades 3 through 12.  Its goal is to engage students in developing fluency while repeated reading and singing of song lyrics.  This "unconventional approach to fluency development" (Florida Center for Research Reading) also incorporates computer technology.  First, the software assesses students' instructional reading level through the use of cloze tests.  Next, students chose a song and silently read the lyrics on the computer screen three times while listening to the melody.  Then, students record the song at least three times, each time trying to improve their fluency.  A score is assigned after each performance, which makes it somewhat of a game.

          A study  on 7th and 8th grade students in a West Central Florida middle school yielded that treatment groups receiving 30 minutes of TUNEin to Reading intervention over 9 weeks experienced a 1.37 grade level gain in instructional reading level while the control group showed little change in reading level.  Other results of the program are listed in Music Program Improves Reading Fluency including great gains by 3rd and 4th grade students at Churchville Elementary School in Harford County, Maryland.

            Strengths of TUNEin to Reading include a strong research base for repeated reading, the motivation and engagement that is often lacking in conventional reading instruction and easy-to-navigate software.  Additionally, students are engaging in explicit and systematic instruction while practicing to read and sing words in a meaningful context.  Professional development for staff is also offered at a separate cost from the program, nevertheless, there is official training for the program which reviews the research behind it.  One weakness of the program is that word accuracy is not addressed, but can easily be strengthened with teacher modeling and pre-teaching of difficult words.  Shared singing is another recommendation to improve word accuracy.  More information about the program can be found at the TUNEin to Reading product website.

          TUNEin to Reading seems like an effective reading fluency intervention, as it allows struggling readers to utilize their musical intelligence and technology to improve their weaknesses.  This program provides a fun, meaningful and interdisciplinary way for students to overcome their reading challenges and is inherently motivating through the use of headphones, a microphone and recording.  Education is taking a turn to interdisciplinary instruction and this is one way in which our students can greatly benefit from it.

References

Electronic Learning Products (2010). Tunein to reading. Electronic Learning Products. Retrieved from

          http://www.elpcorp.com/content.cfm?page_id=187 

Florida Center for Reading Research.  Tune in to Reading [PDF document]. Retrieved from

           http://www.fcrr.org/FCRRReports/PDF/TuneReading.pdf

Pytel, B. (2010). Music program improves reading fluency. Suite101. Retrieved from

           http://www.suite101.com/content/music-program-improves-reading-fluency-a226690

Smith, M. K. (2008).  Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences.  The Encyclopedia of Informal

          Education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Fostering Academic and Social Independence through Digital Readers

          A recent advancement of integrating technology with literacy is the use of electronic-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and Apple iPad.  In Lotta Larson's article Digital Readers: The Next Chapter in E-Book Reading and Response, she lists several advantages of e-book readers including multimodal animations and sounds, a text-to-speech option, a highlighting tool, a dictionary and a note-taking feature that would be helpful in establishing academic and social independence for young readers.

          The opportunity to use e-book readers is very motivating for children, even struggling readers.  The text-to-speech tool allows younger students to listen to a story if they cannot read the text independently.  However a downside of this feature is that the voice is semi-robotic and does not demonstrate inflection as the author might intend.  Unlike digital readers on laptops or desktop computers, e-books are more portable and allow students to read in a more comfortable setting and read together, which encourages positive social peer interactions.  Possibly the most advantageous features are the note-taking tool and dictionary, as they allow children to initiate their own learning and solve decoding and new vocabulary challenges independently.

          The case study on Amy and Winnie focused on the digital note-taking tool, by which the students transferred their thoughts into written notations.  It was very interesting to see how the spontaneity and impulsiveness of the notes Amy and Winnie had taken reflected their understanding of the story, personal meaning making, questioning, answering and literary evaluation, all of which contribute to enhanced text comprehension and interpretation.  By using the tools built into the Amazon Kindle, the students were able to become more reflective, metacognitive and independent learners.  Ms. Miles was also able to gain further insight into the girls' personalities through their notes (Larson, 2010).

          While I am more familiar with the Amazon Kindle than the other digital readers, as I have used the text-to-speech feature to complete reading assignments, it is my understanding that it does not offer picture books in electronic form.  The Apple iPad and the Barnes & Noble Nookcolor, which will be released later this month, both have colorful touchscreens and appeal to children as well as adult readers.  In The iPad Meets the Children's Book, author Karen Springen states, "In fact, children's stories held six of the top 10 paid iPad book-app sales spots as of press time" and lists a number of popular children's book titles.  Teachers should explore the use of digital readers, as there are many advantages of using them as instructional tools in the classroom.

References

Barnesandnoble.com (2010). Nookcolor. Barnes & noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com
          /nook/index.asp

 Larson, L. C. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in e-book reading and response. The Reading
          Teacher 64(1), 15-22.

Springen, K. (2010). The ipad meets the children's book. Publisher's weekly. Retrieved from
          http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/42762
          the-ipad-meets-the-children-s-book.html