Researchers at the Florida State University have come to the conclusion that regarding to teaching children to read what work best are individual programs. Sounds logic, but they have proved it by systematic field studies. "There is too much of a tendency in education to go with what ‘sounds’ really good”, says Carol M. Connor, researcher at the Florida Center for Reading Research. In a study published in the Science Magazine, "Algorithm-Guided Individualized Reading Instruction", Connor shows how individualized instruction works better that the usual approach of using the same system to teach all the students traditionally used in most of the schools.
Probably Connor is not discovering anything new to experienced teachers, who face the problem to teach too many students to dedicate personalized attention to each one. However, she, Frederick J. Morrison and Barry Fishman, professors at the University of Michigan, have developed "Assessment to Instruction”, a web-based software program designed to help teachers to create particular reading programs adapted to each pupil. So, the teacher would have to monitor the students, check their progress and adapt the individual programs for each children in the classroom. Which, by the way, seems a lot of work, too and probably it would require a considerable effort.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-01/fsu-nos012507.php
Of course, individualized teaching presents a lot of advantages to help students develop skills such as reading or writing. The difficulty lies in the necessity of a ratio next to one teacher per student and a good knowledge of each student's learning style as well as methods and approaches to literacy teaching. Computers can help, no doubt, in this task because they allow pupils to work at their pace and provide as much repetition or practice as required, but that is not enough; human interaction in the process is essential.
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