Improving child literacy in Africa: Experiments with an automated reading tutor

• Published in: 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development pp. 129 - 138
• Main Authors: Mills-Tettey, G.A., Mostow, J., Dias, M.B., Sweet, T.M., Belousov, S.M., Dias, M.F., Haijun Gong
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2009
• Subjects: Africa; Automatic control; Context; Developing Regions; Education; Educational institutions; Educational technology; Humans; Lifting equipment; Literacy; Natural languages; Paper technology; Robots
• ISBN: 1424446627; 9781424446629
• DOI: 10.1109/ICTD.2009.5426715

This paper describes a research endeavor aimed at exploring the role that technology can play in improving child literacy in developing communities. An initial pilot study and subsequent four-month-long controlled field study in Ghana investigated the viability and effectiveness of an automated reading tutor in helping urban children enhance their reading skills in English. In addition to quantitative data suggesting that automated tutoring can be useful for some children in this setting, these studies and an additional preliminary pilot study in Zambia yielded useful qualitative observations regarding the feasibility of applying technology solutions to the challenge of enhancing child literacy in developing communities. This paper presents the findings, observations and lessons learned from the field studies.