Encoding: A Playful Introduction to Kindergarten Literacy

¥ Purpose - Should four-year-olds be introduced to letters? If so, how can they be introduced in a meaningful way? And how can that introduction be done using interactive, playful learning experiences?  We tested whether playing with NICHD-funded ipad apps would be motivating and effective in teaching phoneme awareness, letter knowledge, and phonological blending.
¥ Method – Two hundred and fifty-six PK and K students were randomly assigned to an intervention group – a treatment group that used Talking Shapes, an ipad app focused on teaching the speech to print connection between sounds and letters, and a control group that used an ipad app that included a variety of narratives and vocabulary words selected from the narratives. Based on the significant gains found for the PK treatment group, we followed these students into Kindergarten. The primary research question in the follow-up study was whether or not the students in the treatment group performed better at the beginning of Kindergarten compared to both students that were in the control group and all other students that entered kindergarten.
¥ Results - We followed up the descriptive statistics with a simple regression model. Due to the small sample size and limited demographics, the models tested the differences between the two groups (treatment and control). Overall, we found a statistically significant effect for the treatment group (p < .05), indicating that the treatment group was significantly more prepared for kindergarten than all other students.
¥ Conclusions – Students who enter kindergarten with prerequisite letter-sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, and blending skills will have greater success learning to read. These foundational pre-literacy skills can be acquired in playful and interactive ways using ipad technology.