Module 5: Conducting Research on New Literacies

As an early childhood special education teacher, I recognize the importance of literacy. I am interested in learning ways to improve my ability to support my students. For this assignment, I searched for research articles about improving literacy for special education students through iPad usage. I have selected five research articles for this annotated bibliography. Four out of five of the articles were published in the last five years. Only one article was ten years old. Two of the articles specifically addressed educators’ professional development to improve literacy in special education. The other three specifically focused on the use of iPad apps and games to help children improve literacy. Two of the articles used the term open apps and closed apps. Closed apps are instructional apps where the player earns coins for completing the game. Open apps allow for more creativity in the players learning. The open apps mentioned in the articles were more appealing for the students and lent themselves to play-based learning. I am more familiar with closed style apps than open apps. I would be interested in learning more about open style apps and finding ways of introducing them to the students in my class.  

Annotated Bibliography

Benner, G. J., Strycker, L. A., Pennefather, J., & Smith, J. L. M. (2022). Improving Literacy for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: An Innovative Approach. Teacher Education and Special Education, 45(4), 331-348. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/08884064221079813 (Original work published 2022)

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders have significant deficits in reading. This study sets out to answer three questions to determine the feasibility of a professional learning program to address teachers’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and burnout. A 10 week online professional development program, called Integrated Literacy Study Group, was developed to equip elementary teachers to meet the literacy needs of students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders.

Fantozzi, V. B. (2021). “It’s Everyone’s iPad”: Tablet use in a play-based preschool classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 19(2), 115-127. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1476718X20983835 (Original work published 2021)

The study looked at the use of iPads in a play-based preschool classroom over the course of two years. The article defines closed apps as coin earned instructional led apps, while open apps are user directed and support teaching. Open apps more closely align with play-based philosophy and were used in the study. The iPads were used for language building and storytelling activities. In a play-based classroom, the children’s response and initiative are important to encourage the teachers to continue to incorporate the iPads into the day.  

Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2015). New directions for early literacy in a digital age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(3), 289–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798414533560

This article explores the use of iPads in learning possibilities, as well as teaching early literacy development to nursery schools, early childhood, and special education classrooms. The study looked at open and closed ios apps and their effects on learning. Closed apps tend to be repetitive, and the students lost interest quickly. Open apps allow creativity in learning. The article listed drawbacks, such as teachers spending extra time outside the classroom finding apps and students frustration over apps.  While the study was exploratory in nature, the authors expressed the benefits of using iPads in the classroom. 

Vasalou, A., Benton, L., Ibrahim, S., Sumner, E., Joye, N., & Herbert, E. (2021). Do children with reading difficulties benefit from instructional game supports? Exploring children’s attention and understanding of feedback. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(6), 2359–2373. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/bjet.13145

The paper studied twenty-six children ages 8-11 with reading difficulties in England to understand how the children respond to literacy learning games. Students played two games per session of a game they had previously played. The screen was recorded, and audio dialogue was recorded. When a student encountered an error, the student was asked a series of questions to determine the reason for the error to determine if the student attend to, understand and act upon different types of feedback within the games.

Zepp, Lauren B., et al. “Preparing Special Educators to Teach Reading Using Multimedia Instruction: A Literature Review.” Journal of Special Education Technology, vol. 39, no. 4, 13 Feb. 2024, pp. 500–512, https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434241232121. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

The research article delves into multimedia models efficacy for intervention taught in special education preparation. The research specifically reviewed reading instruction from fourteen quantitative studies, excluding any studies that did not include reading instruction. Skills such as phonics, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness were the most common forms of intervention. The research saw significant gains in pre-service teacher knowledge from technological interventions from multimedia vignettes and Content Acquisition Podcasts (CAP). The podcasts align with Richard Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). CTML states that the use of text, images, and audio helps individuals learn better. The theory is that multimedia instruction approaches are more effective than traditional approaches.  

 References

Benner, G. J., Strycker, L. A., Pennefather, J., & Smith, J. L. M. (2022). Improving Literacy for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: An Innovative Approach. Teacher Education and Special Education, 45(4), 331-348. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/08884064221079813 (Original work published 2022)

Fantozzi, V. B. (2021). “It’s Everyone’s iPad”: Tablet use in a play-based preschool classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 19(2), 115-127. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1476718X20983835 (Original work published 2021)

Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2015). New directions for early literacy in a digital age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(3), 289–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798414533560

Forzani, E., Leu, D. J., Yujia Li, E., Rhoads, C., Guthrie, J. T., & McCoach, B. (2021). Characteristics and Validity of an Instrument for Assessing Motivations for Online Reading to Learn. Reading Research Quarterly (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), 56(4), 761–780. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/rrq.337

Vasalou, A., Benton, L., Ibrahim, S., Sumner, E., Joye, N., & Herbert, E. (2021). Do children with reading difficulties benefit from instructional game supports? Exploring children’s attention and understanding of feedback. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(6), 2359–2373. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/bjet.13145

Zepp, Lauren B., et al. “Preparing Special Educators to Teach Reading Using Multimedia Instruction: A Literature Review.” Journal of Special Education Technology, vol. 39, no. 4, 13 Feb. 2024, pp. 500–512, https://doi.org/10.1177/01626434241232121. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.