Supporting Early Literacy and Reading Skills Development in Grade 1: Findings From a Randomized Control Trial With GraphoLearn ‐Rime and Teacher‐Led Phonics Instruction

This randomized control trial examined the contribution of teacher‐led phonics instruction and GraphoLearn‐Rime (GL‐Rime) to the development of English literacy and reading skills of Grade 1 level children in a low‐income context. Students ( N = 234) were randomly allocated into three groups. The Phonics only group ( n = 83) received phonics instruction from trained teachers. The Phonics+GL group ( n = 89) received GL‐Rime (computer‐assisted reading instruction) along with teacher‐led phonics instruction. Both groups received respective interventions for 5 months. The control group ( n = 62) received business‐as‐usual instruction. Phonics‐only and Phonics+GL groups improved more than the control group on all measures of phonological awareness and reading skills. Intervention group students at the bottom 25th percentile at baseline scored better than the control group in oral‐ and paper‐based measures of phonological awareness, Grade 1 word reading, and in‐game letter‐sound knowledge measure. Furthermore, the Phonics+GL group performed better than the Phonics‐only group on paper‐based measure of letter‐sound knowledge. Amount of attendance to teacher‐led phonics instruction predicted intervention groups' paper‐based letter‐sound knowledge gains. In the Phonics+GL group, in‐game progress predicted gains in phonological awareness and word reading skills outside the game, but in‐game duration did not. In‐game progress mediated the effects of students' amount of attendance to teacher‐led phonics instruction and their pre‐test emergent literacy and word reading skills on post‐intervention learning outcomes. English‐as‐a‐second‐language learners and struggling readers who participated in teacher‐led phonics instruction more, developed better foundational literacy skills and progressed faster in GL‐Rime. Integrating a computer‐assisted reading instruction technology into classroom instruction supported learning transfer from digital to real‐world medium.