The effect of using a mobile literacy game to improve literacy levels of grade one students in Zambian schools

Type Journal Article - Educational Technology Research and Development
Title The effect of using a mobile literacy game to improve literacy levels of grade one students in Zambian schools
Author(s)
Volume 62
Issue 4
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2014
Page numbers 417-436
URL http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-014-9342-9/fulltext.html
Abstract
This intervention study was conducted to document conditions under which a computer based literacy game (GraphoGame™) could enhance literacy skills of first grade students in an African city. The participants were first grade students from Government schools (N = 573). These students were randomly sampled into control (N = 314) and various intervention groups (N = 259). GraphoGame™ was administered on cellphones to students at their schools under supervision. Each student in the study was assessed using a battery of locally developed cognitive tests that measured emergent literacy skills (Orthography test), decoding competence (Spelling test), vocabulary (Picture Vocabulary Test—PVT) and arithmetic (Zambia Achievement Test—ZAT). There was a positive effect of the game for the Spelling test—which closely targeted the skill GraphoGame™ is designed to promote. The most effective intervention combined exposure of both the teachers and the students to the game. Initial letter knowledge was a good predictor of final letter knowledge on GraphoGame™.

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