Browsing by Subject "early reading skills"

The purpose of this study was to find out how Graphogame, a computer-based learning game can be used to help children with disabilities learn early literacy skills in rural Tanzania. Graphogame aims to help children automate letter-sound connections, which are found to be the most important prerequisite for reading in transparent languages. Previous studies have shown that Graphogame can be an effective learning tool for children without disabilities in both Finland and East Africa (e.g. Ojanen et al, 2015). In addition to investigating the effectiveness of Graphogame, this study aimed to bring forth the issues that arise when conducting a Graphogame intervention in this particular setting. The study was conducted as an intervention, where a group of five children with different types of disabilities played Graphogame daily for six weeks. Their progress was monitored through oral tests before, during and after the intervention. Participant observation was used to gather additional information on the learning process of the participants. The results of this study showed how some of the participants were able to improve their early literacy skills with the help of Graphogame. Three out of five participants in the experimental group were able increase their letter knowledge noticeably during the intervention, two some of them only learned a couple of new letters. It also revealed differences in the participants' ability to transfer their skills to contexts outside the game. Based on the observations made in this study, a list of considerations is made that should be taken into account when conducting future interventions in a rural Tanzanian setting and suggestions provided for future Graphogame research.