Engstrom, Ellen Urguhart. "Reading, Writing, And Assistive Technology: An Integrated
Developmental Curriculum For College
Students." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 49.1
(2005): 30-39. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.
Ellen Urquhart Engstrom demonstrates an effective approach for teaching developmental reading and writing that prepares students for college-level coursework.
Urquhart Engstrom begins by making a case for reading instruction, which she claims ends at middle school and leaves many students unprepared “to solve complex and specific problems” (30). She identifies several failures: the end of reading instruction, tests that do not identify a student’s reading challenges, a student’s lack of background knowledge due to not reading or not reading well, and a student’s lack of reading experiences that impedes their ability to engage in academic writing (30-31).
Landmark, a college for “students with learning disabilities and attentional disorders” developed a small pilot program of just eight students. Faculty combined several assistive technologies that encouraged active reading. Computer programs allowed students to convert text to speech and word process along with voice-recognition software and a program students used to outline and organize ideas (31).
One benefit Urquhart Engstrom mentions is that students who struggled with writing but had strong oral skills could succeed with the assistance from software (31). She later shows how these technologies allow students to keep up with and work with other students who face fewer challenges (34). In addition, students’ abilities varied and these technologies allowed students to work in their own weaknesses, which varied (38).
Urquhart Engstrom provides two case studies to demonstrate her research although she does acknowledge the size of her study (just eight students) is limited. She emphasizses “the importance of combining reading and writing strategy instruction with assistive technology support and word-level instruction in a way that scaffolds the students’ total written language development" (36).
My first observation is that assistive technologies allow students to take advantage of their own learning styles. In particular, auditory learners could listen or speak to the software and visual learners could use the outlining program to visually represent the texts they were working with. Rather than continue to separate these developmental students from their peers, these technologies appear to help students work at the level of their peers.
One reason I chose this article was to see how instructors can effectively integrate reading and writing alongside technology. My institution allows me to teach composition with an attached lab, but we only have access to word processing software. I wanted some models for other ways to utilize time in a computer lab, in particular as our institution is in the process of a developmental redesign. Students who would have normally tested into developmental reading and writing courses are now placing into composition. As a result, instructors need to provide additional writing and reading instruction.
In contrast to Urguhart Engstrom’s discussion, recent articles I have read in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed indicate that students placed in developmental courses may be better served if placed in gateway courses like college composition with an attached lab. I hope to continue to explore how we can make this lab time effective.
