The purpose of this study was to compare the academic achievement of students through the use of standardized testing to examine the relationship of participation in a computer-based phonics instructional system called Fast ForWord®. The sample included students enrolled in the fifth and sixth grades at four elementary schools in the Grainger County, Tennessee, school system. The comparison group consisted of same-grade peers at the four elementary schools in Grainger County who were not enrolled in the Fast ForWord® program. Students' scores were compared using the 2003 Terra Nova standardized assessment test and using their 2001 and 2002 test scores as a control. Comparisons were made using the reading, language, math, science, and social studies subsections of the Terra Nova. Differences between students who received Fast ForWord® and students who did not receive Fast ForWord® were analyzed. The study examined the variables of gender, school enrollment, socioeconomic status, time of intervention, and ability grouping. These variables were examined with analysis of covariance to determine differences. When differences did exist between groups, posthoc tests were used to determine specific differences between groups. The findings indicated that there were measurable differences in the performance of students who received Fast ForWord® compared to students who did not receive Fast ForWord®. Significant differences were found in reading and language subsections of the Terra Nova test for students who had participated in the Fast ForWord® reading program. The findings from the examination of other variables indicated that gender as well as gender x the intervention (Fast ForWord®) interaction were the same for females and males in their performance on the Terra Nova. The findings from the variable socioeconomic status were determined using system data for free/reduced or paid meals. The study determined that socioeconomic status did not significantly affect scores of students including the socioeconomic status x the intervention interaction. The study did determine differences in students' performance among schools attended. The study found some differences for intervention administration times and among ability groups. Posthoc tests were performed to determine which groups were different.

The recognition that YouTube, a free-access video sharing website, is being widely used as a source of public information has lead medical researchers to conduct studies on health-related videos. However, it appears that educational researchers have not explored YouTube videos about reading instruction, given that no published studies could be located on this topic. The current study conducted controlled searches related to the “big five” areas of early elementary reading instruction as identified by the National Reading Panel (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension). Search results were recorded and the top 40 “most relevant” videos on each topic were analyzed to determine information about viewership, format, content, and creators of the videos. Results indicated that while YouTube videos addressing all five areas of reading instruction were prolific and highly viewed, users would need to be critical, informed, and tech-savvy in order to find relevant videos from credible sources.

The recognition that YouTube, a free-access video sharing website, is being widely used as a source of public information has lead medical researchers to conduct studies on health-related videos. However, it appears that educational researchers have not explored YouTube videos about reading instruction, given that no published studies could be located on this topic. The current study conducted controlled searches related to the “big five” areas of early elementary reading instruction as identified by the National Reading Panel (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension). Search results were recorded and the top 40 “most relevant” videos on each topic were analyzed to determine information about viewership, format, content, and creators of the videos. Results indicated that while YouTube videos addressing all five areas of reading instruction were prolific and highly viewed, users would need to be critical, informed, and tech-savvy in order to find relevant videos from credible sources.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur Tragetons metod har använts i den tidiga läs- och skrivinlärningen. I uppsatsen har det förts ett resonemang omkring metodens för- respektive nackdelar samt om metoden kan anses vara lämplig för alla elever eller ej. För att undersöka detta har två pedagoger från en skola i södra Sverige intervjuats. De arbetade i en årskurs 2 respektive årskurs 3; och det är deras tankar och åsikter som undersökningen har baserats på. Resultatet visade att de intervjuade pedagogerna var positivt inställda till att använda datorn i sin undervisning. De ansåg också att metoden var speciellt lämplig för elever som redan har knäckt läskoden, samt för de elever som kan tycka det är svårt att skriva för hand. Pedagogerna ansåg att den begränsade tillgången till datorer i skolan var en nackdel samt att det inte var bra för eleverna att sitta för länge vid datorerna.

Students with moderate intellectual disabilities (MoID) typically are not taught decoding skills because they have difficulty mastering critical blending skills. In response to this skill deficit among students with MoID, an Initial Phonics instructional sequence was created that included student development of rapid and automatic retrieval of taught letter-sound correspondences to a level of mastery before teaching the skill of blending. For each of 16 students with MoID (ages 6-15), mastery criterion of letter-sound automaticity phases was determined by their individual naming speed as measured by the Rapid Object Naming (RON) subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). Visual analysis of graphically displayed single-case data revealed a functional relation between simultaneous prompting procedures and letter-sound correspondences, automaticity, and blending acquisition for all students. Furthermore, the use of hierarchical linear growth modeling (HLGM) revealed statistical significance for: (a) the impact of daily instruction on the development of letter-sound correspondences, automaticity, and blending in terms of average student growth per instructional session, (b) variability between student growth trajectories within automaticity and blending phases, (c) student pretest scores on RON as an explanatory variable for differences between growth trajectories within automaticity treatment phases, and (d) the extent to which the number of sessions to mastery within automaticity phases and student age predicted acquisition of blending skills. The purpose of identifying explanatory/predictor variables was to classify cognitive predictors for students with MoID who successfully acquire blending skills.

Computer technology has rapidly improved over the last few years, with more powerful machines becoming ever smaller and cheaper. The latest growth area is in portable personal computers, providing powerful facilities to the mobile business person. Alongside this development has been the vast improvement to the human computer interface, allowing noncomputer- literate users access to computing facilities. These two aspects are now being combined into a portable computer that can be operated with a stylus, without the need for a keyboard. Handwriting is the obvious method for entering data and cursive script recognition research aims to comprehend unconstrained, natural handwriting. The ORCHiD system described in this thesis recognises connected handwriting collected on-line, in real time, via a digitising pad. After preprocessing, to remove any hardware-related errors, and normalising, the script is segmented and features of each segment measured. A new segmentation method has been developed which appears to be very consistent across a large number of handwriting styles. A statistical template matching algorithm is used to identify the segments. The system allows ambiguous matching, since cursive script is an ambiguous communications medium when taken out of context, and a probability for each match is calculated. These probabilities can be combined across the word to produce a ranked list of possible interpretations of the script word. A fast dictionary lookup routine has been developed enabling the sometimes very large list of possible words to be verified. The ORCHiD system can be trained, if desired, to a particular user. The training routine, however, is automatic since the untrained recognition system is used as the basis for the trained system. There is therefore very little start-up time before the system can be used. A decision-directed training approach is used. Recognition rates for the system vary depending on the consistency of the writing. On average, the untrained system achieved 75% recognition. After some training, average recognition rates of 91% were achieved, with up to 96% observed after further training.

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Facial Landmark Tracking (Face Tracking) is a key step for many Face Analysis systems, such as Face Recognition, Facial Expression Recognition, or Age and Gender Recognition, among others. The goal of Facial Landmark Tracking is to locate a sparse set of points defining a facial shape in a video sequence. These typically include the mouth, the eyes, the contour, or the nose tip. The state of the art method for Face Tracking builds on Cascaded Regression, in which a set of linear regressors are used in a cascaded fashion, each receiving as input the output of the previous one, subsequently reducing the error with respect to the target locations. Despite its impressive results, Cascaded Regression suffers from several drawbacks, which are basically caused by the theoretical and practical implications of using Linear Regression. Under the context of Face Alignment, Linear Regression is used to predict shape displacements from image features through a linear mapping. This linear mapping is learnt through the typical least-squares problem, in which a set of random perturbations is given. This means that, each time a new regressor is to be trained, Cascaded Regression needs to generate perturbations and apply the sampling again. Moreover, existing solutions are not capable of incorporating incremental learning in real time. It is well-known that person-specific models perform better than generic ones, and thus the possibility of personalising generic models whilst tracking is ongoing is a desired property, yet to be addressed. This thesis proposes Continuous Regression, a Functional Regression solution to the least-squares problem, resulting in the first real-time incremental face tracker. Briefly speaking, Continuous Regression approximates the samples by an estimation based on a first-order Taylor expansion yielding a closed-form solution for the infinite set of shape displacements. This way, it is possible to model the space of shape displacements as a continuum, without the need of using complex bases. Further, this thesis introduces a novel measure that allows Continuous Regression to be extended to spaces of correlated variables. This novel solution is incorporated into the Cascaded Regression framework, and its computational benefits for training under different configurations are shown. Then, it presents an approach for incremental learning within Cascaded Regression, and shows its complexity allows for real-time implementation. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first incremental face tracker that is shown to operate in real-time. The tracker is tested in an extensive benchmark, attaining state of the art results, thanks to the incremental learning capabilities.

JUSTINO, M. I. S. V. Efeitos do reforço escolar numa abordagem fônica em alunos do ensino fundamental com graves defasagens na alfabetização. 2010. 156 p. Dissertação (Mestrado) Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto. Apesar das mudanças implantadas na política, currículo e metodologia educacional nos últimos dez anos, os resultados de avaliações do rendimento escolar dos alunos do ensino básico, em nível nacional e estadual, têm indicado sérios problemas no que se refere à aprendizagem das competências básicas de leitura e escrita. No contexto dessa problemática, o presente estudo buscou avaliar os efeitos de uma intervenção de reforço escolar, baseada no desenvolvimento da consciência fonológica e no ensino explícito da correspondência entre grafemas e fonemas, sobre a aprendizagem da leitura e escrita de um grupo de alunos do Ensino Fundamental ciclos I e II, com graves defasagens na alfabetização. Participaram do estudo 31 alunos, com idade entre 09 e 21 anos, de ambos os sexos, cursando da 4ª à 8ª série do Ensino Fundamental, de uma escola pública da periferia de Ribeirão Preto, em São Paulo. A pesquisa foi composta por quatro fases: inicialmente foi realizada uma avaliação diagnóstica coletiva das habilidades de leitura e escrita, com todos os alunos de 4ª a 8ª séries da referida escola. Aqueles apresentando dificuldades na alfabetização foram avaliados individualmente, no pré-teste, em provas de conhecimento de letras, consciência fonológica, leitura e escrita de palavras, sendo encaminhados para a intervenção 31 alunos com graves defasagens em termos de alfabetização. As atividades de reforço escolar foram desenvolvidas coletivamente, em duas aulas semanais, de duas horas cada, durante 10 meses. No final da intervenção foi realizado o pós-teste, com a reavaliação das mesmas habilidades do pré-teste, de modo a analisar os efeitos sobre a aprendizagem da leitura e escrita. As análises estatísticas mostraram diferenças significativas entre o pré e o pós-teste para todas as habilidades avaliadas. Dos 31 participantes do reforço escolar, em apenas seis alunos não se observou evolução do pré para o pós-teste. Os outros 25 alunos avançaram significativamente na aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita, concluindo-se que a intervenção mostrou-se eficaz para a superação das dificuldades de alfabetização para a maior parte dos alunos vítimas de fracasso escolar. / JUSTINO, M. I. S. V. Effects of tutoring in phonics approach in elementary school students with serious gaps in literacy. 2010. 156 p. Masters dissertation Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences and Literature USP. Despite the changes implemented in policy, curriculum and instructional methodology in the last ten years, the results of evaluations of the performance of pupils in basic education, in national and state levels, have indicated serious problems at learning basic skills in reading and writing. In the context of this issue, this study sought to evaluate the effects of an intervention to enhance these skills, starting at the development of phonological awareness and explicit teaching of the correspondence between graphemes and phonemes, in a group of students of elementary school cycles I and II, with serious gaps in literacy. This study involved 31 students, aged between 09 and 21 years, of both sexes, attending the 4th to 8th grades, in a public elementary school on the outskirts at Ribeirão Preto, in São Paulo. The research comprised four stages: initially a collective diagnostic evaluation was performed to assess the skills of reading and writing of all students from 4th to 8th grades of that school. Those having difficulties in literacy were assessed individually in the pre-test in letter knowledge, phonological awareness, reading and writing words, and 31 students with serious gaps in terms of literacy were sent to the intervention. Tutoring activities were developed collectively in two weekly classes of two hours each, for 10 months. At the end of the intervention was performed post-test, with a reassessment of the same abilities of the pre-test in order to analyze the effects on reading and writing skills. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between pre and post test for all abilities evaluated. Among the 31 participants only in six students we have not observed great changes between the pre and post-test. The other 25 students made significant progress in reading and writing, concluding that the was effective in overcoming the difficulties in literacy for most students who are victims of school failure.

Barns läsutveckling har länge delat upp forskare och lärare i två läger. The reading war i USA spred sig över världen under 1970-talet och påverkade även lärare och forskare i Sverige. Debatten gällde om elever skulle fortsätta undervisas genom att lära sig alfabetets bokstäver och tillhörande språkljud eller om det var mer effektivt att använda sig av en helordsmetod. Syftet med denna konsumtionsuppsats har varit att undersöka skillnader i barns läsutveckling vid användandet av Phonics och Whole language och hur dessa skiljer sig mellan olika ortografier. Vi har även analyserat tidigare forskning där de kombinerat dessa två metoder.Denna vetenskapliga litteraturstudie har genomförts genom att jämföra resultat av tidigare forskning. Resultaten i dessa studier har sedan granskats och analyserats och sedan sammanställts utifrån våra frågeställningar och vårt syfte. Resultaten visar att det uppstår vissa skillnader vid barns tidiga läsning. Elever som undervisas med Phonicsmetoden utvecklar en större fonologisk medvetenhet och avkodar orden bättre än de elever som undervisats med Whole language. Vidare visar resultaten att de elever som undervisats med Whole language får en bättre läsförståelse. Gällande läsningen visade eleverna liknande resultat och skillnaderna låg i avkodning av okända ord samt läsförståelsen.Det viktigaste vid läsundervisningen är dock att läraren är kompetent och besitter en stor kunskap om den metod hen använder sig av.