Independent Use Of A Low Cost Phonics Application To Increase Kindergarten Students

Effects of the Independent use of a Low Cost Phonics Application to Increase Kindergarten Student’s Phonics Skills

Abstract

Phonics skills are critical for reading and writing development in children. According to Brown (2014), children who do not master phonics, along with other skills such as phonemic awareness, fall behind their peers as they progress through their education (p. 35). Technology, such as iPad applications, provide a variety of resources and applications that claim to increase children’s phonics skills through play. There is a wide base of research supporting the use of applications in the educational setting. Researchers have even developed frameworks for the best practice of implementing iPad applications in the classroom. These practices have proven the effectiveness of many applications to improve a variety of skills within the classroom. Due to the low cost of educational applications parents often download them and expect that if their child plays on them, they will increase their skills. For this study the researcher

She chose the abc PocketPhonics application for the purpose of this study. This application was designed to teach letter formation, letter sounds, and blending of simple words. To start, users begin with initial and final consonants and long vowels. The researcher liked this application because it was based on the Letters and Sounds framework, used in many educational settings, and followed the hierarchy for early phonics skills (Keher, 2012, p. 3). It was also aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Teachers have reported that this application is tailored for personalized learning and allows students to learn at their own pace. They also liked the way the application concurrently taught recognition of letter sounds with writing the sound. It used a multisensory approach which makes the preservation of these skills higher (Keher, 2012, p.