Learning to read using computers: A longitudinal study from grade 1 to grade 3 in four Swedish schools

Abstract

The article is based on a longitudinal study in a municipality that decided to organise a project
including the use of computers and extra remedial education in initial reading and writing instruction
from the first to the third grade. The study may be regarded as quasi-experimental with 110
students in two project schools and 59 students in two control schools. To explore the extent to
which the use of computers in reading instruction made a difference, we followed students in the
four schools from Grade 1 to Grade 3. The students’ language skills were tested regularly with
different test instruments. In addition to the tests, the students answered a questionnaire, and
teachers and principals were interviewed. It was not possible to conclude that the teaching methods
in the control schools yielded better reading and writing development than the project schools or
vice versa. The results were ambiguous, the control schools performed slightly better in one test in
grade 3 and the project schools on another test, when accounting for linguistic awareness in grade
1 and other factors.