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when compared with the control group. The authors further concluded three contributors
to the effectiveness of the
ABRA
intervention. First, technology not only aided reading
acquisition but included the nature of the content such as CV or VC structure of the
program.
Second,
ABRA
provided the training and support with technology-based interventions.
The final issue concerned
ABRA
as an additional resource which could be a significant
contribution to effective English teaching.
Abrami, Comaskey, Erten, Hipps, Lierop and Savage (2010) similarly investigated the
effectiveness of
ABRA
in grade 1 language programs. Sixty first graders from three
schools of an English speaking, suburban school board in Quebec, Canada, were exposed
to
ABRA
activitiestwo hours per week for 8 weeks, whereas a control group received the
regular provincial literacy program. Results suggested that
ABRA
influenced the
participants’ reading ability significantly if being used appropriately by teachers.
Abrami,
Bottrell, Harper, Helmer, Lea, Savage, and Wolgemuth, (2011) further investigated
whether
ABRA
improves Indigenous students’ literacy ability in Australia’s Northern
Territory. One hundred and eighteen participants in the experimental group received 30
minutes of
ABRA
intervention per day, while 48 in the control group received regular
classroom instruction. The result showed that the experimental group had significantly
greater phonological awareness scores than the control group.
To examine how
ABRA
was being implemented across a variety of contexts and how
teachers would use
ABRA
within regular school settings, Chalkiti, et al. (2012) selected a
mix of Indigenous, who were perceived as a largely disadvantaged population, and non-
Indigenous students in four schools in Northern Territory of Australia. After three-year
trials,
the authors found students’ literacy ability greatly enhanced when teachers
confidently integrated
ABRA
in their teaching. Furthermore, the participants found that
ABRA
is easy to deal with.
ABRA
has been shown to be more effective than regular instruction in improving not only
students’ phonological awareness but other skills. Nevertheless, th
ese previous studies
were conducted mostly in ESL contexts, especially in Canada. Consequently, the present
study aims to determine whether
ABRA
can be as effectively when implemented in an
EFL classroom, especially when focusing on blending and segmentation training. The
following research questions will be answered:
1.
Are there any differences among fourth graders receiving teacher-directed web-
based instruction and student-controlled web-based instruction in terms of
decoding learning?
2.
What are EFL fourth-
graders’ attitudinal differences toward English decoding
learning with teacher-directed web-based instruction and student-controlled web-
based instruction ?
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