Language Comprehension Improvement After Fast ForWord Use

Aug 25, 2011 by Andrew Ostarello

&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This study is a randomized controlled trial that investigated the impact of &lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&quot;/products/fast-forword-language-series/&quot; href=&quot;/products/fast-forword-language-series/&quot;&gt;Fast ForWord Language software&lt;/a&gt;in 9 elementary schools.&nbsp; The analyses that follow include data from 452 students in grades K through 5.&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Students were randomly assigned to be in either the Fast ForWord group or the control group.&nbsp; The randomization was stratified within age and gender.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Students using Fast ForWord trained for 100 minutes per day for an average of 30 school days.&nbsp; Both groups were evaluated using three assessments:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Phonological Awareness Test&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Education Battery&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;The average gains from pre-test to post-test were larger for Fast ForWord participants than for the control group for both Language Comprehension and Phonological Isolation.&nbsp; Both of these results were statistically significant.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In addition, a large subset of students in this study were &lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&quot;/k-12-educators/ell/&quot; href=&quot;/k-12-educators/ell/&quot;&gt;English Language Learners&lt;/a&gt;.&nbsp; A total of 85 students did not speak English as their primary language &ndash; 53 of whom used Fast ForWord, while 32 served as controls.&nbsp; The results for English Language Learners were consistent with those for native English speakers.&nbsp; Both of these results were statistically significant.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In conclusion, Fast ForWord participation led to significantly larger improvements than the control group in a variety of early language skills.&nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The vast majority of students made learning gains; these students averaged 1.8 years of language improvement in only 30 school days.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;These results are consistent for both ELL students and for native English speakers.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Finally, note that this study was conducted on the original version of Fast ForWord Language.&nbsp; Since publication of this study in 2004, a new and enhanced version of Fast ForWord Language has been released (Fast ForWord Language version 2).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Related Reading:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&quot;/blog/fast-forword-reading-assistant-roi.php&quot; href=&quot;/blog/fast-forword-reading-assistant-roi.php&quot;&gt;Forecasting ROI from Fast ForWord&reg; and Reading Assistant&trade; Products&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a data-cke-saved-href=&quot;/blog/lexile-scores-chart-high-school-reading.php&quot; href=&quot;/blog/lexile-scores-chart-high-school-reading.php&quot;&gt;Reading in the Real World&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;

Categories: English Language Learners, Fast ForWord, Reading & Learning, Scientific Learning Research

Tags: academic success, elementary school learning, increased test scores, language learning, literacy, phonological awareness, technology in education, video

Language Skills Increase 1.8 Years After 30 Days Using Fast ForWord

Blog Categories

Blog Archive