Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 8:2 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
Empirical Article |
Computer-Assisted Vocabulary Acquisition: The CSLU Vocabulary Tutor in Oral-Deaf Education
University of Colorado
Deficits in vocabulary have a negative impact on literacy and interpersonal interaction for deaf children. As part of an evaluation, an outcomes assessment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a computer-based vocabulary tutor in an elementary auditory/oral program. Participants were 19 children, 16 profoundly deaf and 3 hearing. The vocabulary tutor displays line drawings or photographs of the words to be learned while a computer-generated avatar of a "talking head" provides synthesized audiovisual speech driven from text. The computer system also generates printed words corresponding to the imaged items. Through audiovisual reception, children memorized up to 218 new words for everyday household items. After 4 weeks, their receptive vocabulary was tested, using the avatar to speak the name of each item. Most of the students retained more than half of the new words. The freely available vocabulary tutor, whose characteristics can be tailored to individual need, can provide a language-intensive, independent learning environment to supplement classroom teaching in content areas.
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (9996246 and 9996075). Special thanks to Pamela Connors, who played a significant role in planning the study and capturing the data. This study would not have been possible without the interest and contributions of Dr. Patrick Stone, Christine Soland, Alice Davis, George Fortier, Kerry Gilley, Linda Goodwin, and, especially, the children. Correspondence should be sent to Lecia J. Barker, Alliance for Technology, Learning, and Society Evaluation and Research Group, University of Colorado, UCB 320, Boulder, CO 80309-0320 (e-mail:lecia.barker{at}colorado.edu
Received March 12, 2001; revised December 29, 2001; accepted January 14, 2002
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