Abstract:

Purpose:
EMBRACE teaches simulation during reading using an iPad-based technology: After reading an action sentence, the child moves pictures on the iPad to illustrate sentence content. Will EMBRACE be effective for English language learning children in Chile? Will working in dyads increase its effectiveness? Does additional Spanish support (SS) in the form of presenting background knowledge in Spanish also increase its effectiveness?

Method:
Participants were 47 8th-grade Chilean students who were learning English as a second language as part of their curriculum. For this research, students read texts in English using EMBRACE or Control (reading on the iPad but without moving pictures), working individually or in dyads, and some students had additional SS. Also, students attended a public school or a semi-private school.

Preliminary Results:
A significant School by Condition interaction demonstrated that EMBRACE was generally effective for children in the semi-private school. EMBRACE was not effective for children in the public school who performed poorly in all conditions. For children in the semi-private school, reading in dyads resulted in better comprehension than reading alone. Reading with SS slightly decreased comprehension.

Tentative Conclusions:
Learning a simulation strategy for English reading comprehension using EMBRACE was effective for Spanish-speaking students with more-than-basic English. EMBRACE conjoined with reading in dyads was particularly effective. Surprisingly, presenting background knowledge in Spanish slightly reduced comprehension, perhaps because of difficulties in code-switching. Additional data are being collected to investigate both the dyad and background knowledge effects.

Keywords:

iPad-based technology, English as a second language, Reading comprehension, Middle School, EMBRACE.