The purpose of this study was to evaluate Core5, a computer-assisted instruction
(CAI) programme, on developing early literacy skills in struggling kindergartners
and providing enrichment for high achieving kindergartners. Conducted through
the positivist research paradigm, the research design of this study is a quantitative
quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design using the
probes AIMSweb Letter Name Fluency (LNF), AIMSweb Letter Sound Fluency
(LSF), MAP K-2 Early Literacy, as well as a questionnaire regarding teacher
perceptions of Core5 and its implementation in the classroom. This study used
convenience sampling instead of probability sampling since many schools already
use Core5. Fifteen schools in the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District was
the target population. The sample group comprised of 751 kindergartners, aged
five to six-year-olds divided into the treatment group, the partial treatment group,
and the control group. Posttest analysis of LNF and LSF data confirmed all three
groups made gains from the pretest, but an ANOVA indicated there was a
significant difference between the three groups. A Bonferroni post hoc test
determined the treatment group and the partial treatment group were significantly
different from the control group. The posttest analysis of MAP K-2 Early Literacy
data indicated that all three groups made gains from the pretest. An ANOVA
suggested there was no significant difference between the three groups. Lastly, the end-of-year Core5 levels were correlated to the benchmark scores on LNF,
LSF and MAP K-2 Early Literacy probes using Pearson’s r. The teacher
questionnaire indicated that a majority of teachers have a favourable view of
Core5, which is vital to the implementation of Core5 because their attitude is also
a significant predictor of student use in the classroom. The findings indicate that
Core5 is an effective CAI program to use as part of the kindergarten ELA
curriculum. The findings also add to the volume of research on Core5, CAI
programmes and blended learning. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/26802 |
| Date | 01 1900 |
| Creators | Owens, Joy |
| Contributors | Chaka, C. P. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (173 leaves) : illustrations, some color, application/pdf |
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