Mobile App for “The Whole Book Reading” Teaching Based on the Blended Learning

• In Event: 3-101 - Using Education Technology to Systematically Enhance Teaching and Learning Across Grades and Content Areas

Integrative Statement

Introduction
In China, K-12 curricula have a long history of using a certain chapter from each book as primary reading materials. However, Chinese language arts education should focus on students’ interests in reading, appreciation of Chinese language arts, writing skills, and learning abilities (Ye, 1941). Therefore, whole books instead of specific chapters should be the primary focus of Chinese language arts curricula. To encourage the whole book reading, Chinese Curriculum Standards for K-12 Education has highlighted "Read more books, read good books and read whole books" as an important instructional practice (Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, 2011). However, due to the lack of clear and systematic instructional guidance, many teachers have challenges to apply the whole book reading approach in classrooms (Huang, 2017). To meet the needs of the whole book reading in Chinese language arts education, [the technology-based Chinese language arts teaching and learning platform] combines a blended learning approach to support the whole book reading in classrooms and extends reading to the home environment. Since 2015, the platform has been systematically used by more than 30,000 teachers and 2 million students. The product covers 304 cities in China and 106 countries and regions in the world.

Hypothesis
The Research Team conducted an evaluation to determine whether students who used [the technology-based Chinese language arts teaching and learning platform] had an increase in Chinese language and literature ability.
Study Population
Given that whole book reading is a systematic, continuous and long-term process, most schools' reading programs run from one month to one year or longer. As of August in 2018, the number of students participating in the project has reached 1,889, including 277 in elementary schools, 856 in 7th grade, and 832 in eighth grade, and 203 in tenth grade.

Methods
We used the Chinese Academic Ability Test (CAAT) as the primary student outcome measure. The CAAT was developed by the research team and includes a reading subscale (overall perception, memorization, comprehension, and appreciation) and a writing subscale (content, expression, and text presentation). Students’ performance based on CAAT is divided into four levels from A to D, with A being the best.
We also collected student interviews and surveys to understand whether [the technology-based Chinese language arts teaching and learning platform] motivates students’ interests in learning Chinese language and literature and encourages their application of reading and writing strategies.

Results
The preliminary results (n=533 students in grade 7 and grade 8) indicated that students improved their reading and writing skills after using [the technology-based Chinese language arts teaching and learning platform] for at least a month. Percent of students at level A (pre=0 vs. post=4.22%) and level B (pre=2.35% vs. post=34.94%) increased significantly; whereas percent of students at level C (pre=43.53% vs. post=41.57%) and level D (pre=54.12% vs. post=19.28%) decreased. In addition, the interview​ ​and​ ​survey results​ ​revealed​ ​that​ ​students became more motivated to read Chinese literature and were more likely to apply reading and writing strategies after using the platform.

Authors

• Xiaolong Zhang, Capital Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Haiyan Wang, Capital Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Benwen Wu, YunShuXie
  Non-Presenting Author