New Instructional Tool for ELL -- Grant Application Due September 30, 2011

The Florida Literacy Coalition is partnering with IBM again to offer up to ten Reading Companion grants to eligible ABE, Literacy and Family Literacy programs throughout the state of Florida. Here are last year's grant winners. This grant (valued at $10,000) provides free access to IBM’s Reading Companion software.

Reading Companion uses innovative speech recognition technology that "listens" and provides individualized feedback to the user, enabling emerging readers to practice their pronunciation as they acquire fundamental reading speaking skills.English Language Learners really like the program.  You need higher level equipment and band width to use the program.  Because of that libraries and schools may be better positioned to apply for the grant.  The actual specs are below.

For more information on the Reading Companion Program, and to view a 4-minute video demonstrating this software, visit http://www.readingcompanion.org and click on “explore”. For more information about using technologies for adult literacy go to this report published last year.  To get the application:



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The grant seems to be open to all literacy programs, but it does require certain technologies.  Thus public libraries or those who partner with libraries may be the most likely to be able to take advantage of this learning resource.

Computer equipment required: :
• Windows 2000, Windows XP , Windows Vista or Windows 7
• A high-speed Internet connection (DSL or higher)
• Audio capabilities
• Access to the Internet via Internet Explorer (version 6 or higher) or Firefox

According to the report, Emerging Technologies in Adult Literacy and Language Education, an evaluation study  found that Reading Companion was especially effective for helping ESL learners develop their language skills at a school or community organization.

Students liked it because it helps them with their pronunciation (often requested by ELL).  For example, when adults encounter a false negative (i.e., when the program fails to tell them about mispronouncing a word), they are unlikely to notice. When they encounter a false positive (i.e., when the program stops them and diagnoses an error even though they read the word correctly), they assume that the program is correcting their pronunciation and they appreciate it. These learners like the self-paced nature of the program and appreciate the opportunities for repetition. Many of them, especially recent immigrants, like the specific content (e.g., information about citizenship) and feel it is helpful to them.