Research on Letter-Sound Knowledge

Guide for Participants

 

Welcome to the Reading Doctor® Online letter-sound knowledge study! This guide provides instructions to help you get started with the program and support your students in improving their letter-sound knowledge. If you or your school require technical support with the program, please contact us.

Note: This research is being conducted by Flinders University. If you would like to participate but you are not yet enrolled in the study, click HERE.

You can view a summary of this guide by clicking the image below.

 

CLICK HERE to download a PDF version.

 

Checklist

Before using the program with students

   ✅    🌟Read this guide🌟

   ✅     If your student(s) are using a Google Chrome browser on PC, Mac or Chromebook, Save a bookmark to https://login.readingdoctor.com/ or If your students are using an iPad, install the ReadingDoctor Online iPad app

   ✅    Print Name Cards (provided by the researchers) with login details and QR codes for the student(s) participating in the study

   ✅   Print instructions to read to students before they begin HERE

   ✅    If multiple students will be using the program in one room, prepare working headphones. Please note: If your iPads are newer than 9th generation, you will need iPad headphone adapters because new iPads do not have a regular headphone output (see this link).

About Reading Doctor® Online

ReadingDoctor® Online is an evidence-based program designed to improve phonemic awareness and phonics skills for beginning (K-3) and older struggling readers. It targets essential skills such as phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, blending, segmentation, decoding, and sight word recognition.

In this study, the focus is on evaluating the program’s effectiveness in strengthening Letter-Sound Knowledge. The activities your students complete in this study will be a selection of those in the full program that specifically target Letter-Sound Knowledge.

Why teach Letter-Sound Knowledge?

Letter-sound knowledge, also known as grapheme knowledge, involves understanding which letters or groups of letters represent individual speech sounds in language. This foundational skill is crucial for decoding written language and learning new words. It is a  major component of synthetic phonics. Research has shown that explicit instruction in letter-sound relationships significantly improves reading ability.

What will my student(s) be doing, and how can I help them?

The part of the program used in this research consists of letter-sound knowledge tests (which assess student’s knowledge of letter-sounds) and letter-sound knowledge activities (which teach letter-sound knowledge). Please supervise the student(s) when they use the program so you can help them understand what to do and ensure their devices are working correctly.

The program will begin by testing student’s letter-sound knowledge. After they complete the tests, students will begin 8 weeks of letter-sound knowledge activities either 1) straight away or 2) after 8 weeks, depending on which research group they are in. The researchers will tell you which group your student(s) are in! After their 8 weeks of activities, the students will do their tests again. Depending on which group your student(s) are in, they may do their tests for a third time after an 8 week break. The researchers will let you know!

How to get students going with the program

Step 1: Access the Platform

Please note -  the researchers will send you Name Cards with Usernames and Passwords as well as QR codes for each participant in the study (it may be easier for young students to log in using a QR code)

 

If your students are using a PC, Chromebook or Mac:

Open Google Chrome and navigate to https://login.readingdoctor.com/. Please save a bookmark! Enter the student’s Username and Password, then press ‘Login’:

 
 

Ask students to press the ‘Full Screen’ button after logging in (this minimises distractions by removing the browser bar and Chrome menu at the top of the screen):

 
 
 
 

If your students are using an iPad:

Please ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest version (Version 1.0.6) of the ‘Reading Doctor Online’ app from the App Store. You can download it by clicking this link from an iPad (you may need to ask your IT support person for help if installing on many iPads):   

 
 

After installing the app and connecting headphones, tap on the Reading Doctor Online app icon:

 
 

Tap the ‘Login’ button:

 

To log a student in, enter their Username and Password, then press ‘Login’, or use a QR code (see below):

Please note: the app version number is displayed at the bottom left of the screen.

 

It may be easier for young students to log in using a QR code rather than a Username and Password. The researchers will send you Name Cards with Usernames and Passwords as well as QR codes for each participant in the study. This video shows you how to use a QR code to log in:

 
 

Step 2: Prepare Your Students

Please ensure that your students are:

 
 

Working in a quiet room with minimal distractions

 

Seated at a desk with their computer or iPad in front of them

 

Wearing headphones (if muliple students are in the same room), and that the sound on their devices is working, with the volume set to an appropriate level

 
 

Step 3: Begin Testing

After students are logged in and before they begin their testing, please read them the following instructions:

When students first log in to the program, they will be presented with their list of letter-sound tests (on the right of the screen, below). The ‘Practice Test’ at the top helps students to understand what to do, and it also helps you to ensure the device is working properly (sound can be heard, etc):

Students will need to complete their tests before starting their activities (shown on the left). Tests must be completed one at a time, from top to bottom.

How testing works

After starting one of the tests by clicking on it, students will be required to match the sound they hear with a number of choices presented to them on the screen:

Here’s how testing works in a bit more detail:

  • Practice test: The student will be presented with a ‘Practice Test’ designed to help the them understand the test format. This test contains basic shapes instead of graphemes. Please ensure the sound is turned up and working on their device during the practice test. You can answer any questions and help students to understand what to do during the practice test.

  • Single Letter Graphemes Test: After completing the practice test, the students complete the ‘Single Letter Graphemes’ test. This test assesses the student’s knowledge of the relationship between single letters and their corresponding speech sounds (e.g. the sound /c/ like in “cat”). There are 25 items in total. If students make 5 consecutive errors, the test will finish. Otherwise, students will be presented with all of the items in the test.

  • Longer Graphemes Test: After completing the ‘Single Letter Graphemes’ test without making 5 consecutive errors, the students knowledge of longer graphemes will be tested. This test assesses the student’s knowledge of longer letter-sound relationships (e.g. the sound /ch/ as in “cheese”). There are 25 items in total. If students make 5 consecutive errors, the test will finish.

Once logged in, depending on which research group they are in, students can begin working through their letter-sound knowledge activities by pressing the big green button in the Activity Menu (see below). Other students will wait 8 weeks before starting their activities.

 

Step 4: Start Learning!

After completing their tests, your student(s) can begin their activities. The program will adjust difficulty level automatically. Please note that depending on the group they are in, your student(s) may have to wait for 8 weeks before starting their activities.

Once logged in, students can begin working through their letter-sound knowledge activities by pressing the big green button in the Activity Menu:

 
 
 

Top tips to help your students

✅ Have students complete activities in a quiet, distraction-free environment and  with headphones on. There is a lot of careful listening that is required in the program so distractions must be kept to a minimum!

✅ Sessions should be supervised whenever possible, ensuring students stay on track and can ask for help if required.

✅ Help students to use the program but don't do the activities for the student.  Reading Doctor Online adjusts the difficulty of activities based on student performance. If you help too much, the program will increase the difficulty level beyond the student's ability!

✅ Encourage effort and persistence! For example, say, "I love the way you kept going on those hard ones even though it was a bit tricky!"

 

More information about the program

If you would you like to know more about how the activities work, the summary below may help. Please contact us if you have further questions!

How the Activity Menu works

 
 

The Activity Menu is designed to be very simple for students to use. To play their next activity, students just press the big green button. There is a particular order of activities that your students will complete, starting with simple activities and moving to more complex ones. In order to move to the next activity, your students have to complete the current level accurately and quickly.

Reading Doctor® Online will automatically adjust the difficulty level for your students:

  • Activities need to be completed with 80% accuracy before the next, more difficult activity is unlocked.

  • If your student scores between 50% and 80%, the activity will be repeated.

  • If they score less than 50%, an easier activity will be presented to them.

How the Activity Screen Works

 
 

The program adjusts the level of scaffolding (help) it provides based on each student's needs. It will provide more scaffolding and more repetition for targets that students find difficult, while removing targets that students find less challenging.

The more filled in circles there are (as shown in the image), the less scaffolding the student will receive with this target. The empty circles represent how many more times that target needs to be successfully identified by the student before it is removed from the activity. There is more information about this mechanism here.

 

FAQ