This study investigates the use of translational resources, using the text-to-speech tools in WYNN (Freedom Scientific) to improve students’ comprehension of social studies text.
Cynthia M. Okolo, Ira Socol, Shani Feyen, Summer Ferreri
Research Questions:
This study investigates the use of translational resources to improve students’ comprehension of social studies text.
- How does a text-to-speech (TTS) tool affect the comprehension of social studies texts by 8th grade students with learning disabilities?
- What are the differential effects on text comprehension when students: (a) read text aloud, (b) listen to text read by a TTS tool as they view the text, and (c) listen to text read by a student of their age as they view the text?
- How do student characteristics, particularly reading fluency and listening comprehension, affect text comprehension in each of these three conditions?
Description:
This study is currently underway with 8th graders in three school districts. It employs a multi-element design in which the three conditions are alternated to determine the impact of each on students’ comprehension. We rewrote forty 500-word sections from a widely used 8th grade social studies text in order to ensure that all selections have a consistent readability level (8th grade). We also created 4 questions per passage: (a) vocabulary, (b) main idea, and (c) two details. Questions also are at the 8th grade readability level, and will be read to students in all conditions. We are comparing performance of students with high listening comprehension but poor fluency to that of students with lower listening comprehension and poor fluency.
What we have learned:
- Text to speech (TTS) tools can be highly sophisticated and offer many different options to support text comprehension. However, there is very little research-based guidance that can help teachers configure these tools to meet the needs of individual students.
- Most schools we have approached to assess interest in this study do not use TTS.
- Teachers do not know how to configure TTS tools.
- The readability of social studies texts varies widely; and readability is inconsistent within sections and throughout the text.
What we do not know:
- What are the relative advantages of text presented and read by TTS to text read by the student and/or by a peer?
- How do student characteristics affect the impact of TTS tools on comprehension of social studies text?
- Do teachers and students believe that TTS is a valuable tool for use in the social studies classroom?