Dialect: Integrating Technology and Reading Assessment to Diagnose Spanish Reading Difficulties

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: The Effects of Technology Integration in Literacy Instruction and Assessment

Abstract

This proposal describes an application to identify reading difficulties in Spanish-speaking beginning readers. The application follows a whole-to-part approach to reading diagnosis and provides valuable information about reading development from the perspective of each subprocess.
The tool was validated for 1378 Chilean students in Kindergarten through third grade. Results from this pilot application also revealed that 77% of first graders are lagging behind in their reading development, that phonological and phonemic instruction in kindergarten is almost non-existent, and that 25% of students beyond first grade have reading difficulties in at least one subprocess.
The use of an Ipad-based assessment is an efficient way to diagnose early reading difficulties and provide intervention strategies to overcome those difficulties in a timely manner.

Authors

• Pelusa Orellana, Universidad de los Andes

• Carolina Melo, University of Virginia