I’ve been sent details of a new on-line literacy program aimed at students of any age who are dropping behind the norm with their literacy. Readers of this news service are offered the opportunity to use it for free of charge for one year.   Before describing the program in detail I should stress that there are no costs involved and no requirement to use the program continuously –  you are only asked for a commitment to email the publisher with your comments every 3 weeks.

The program is based on the widely-recognised fact that the faster and more fluently we read, the more we understand and the better we’re able to concentrate. Which therefore suggests that one of the best ways of helping poor readers is to stop them reading one word at a time.

The reason for this is fairly obvious. Given the way the short term memory works, if you are reading one word at a time, then by the time that you have reached, say, the fifth word, you’ve forgotten what the previous words were.  Which means that, apart from being boring, this approach makes it impossible to extract any meaning from what you’ve just read.

As a result, an increase in speed actually improves our comprehension. But a prerequisite for this is to have good, instant word recognition.

The program that works from this premise and uses it to improve literacy quickly is GetFluent.  It is a web-service which is essentially a flashcard program that adapts to the students’ needs.  Students see a word or phrase for a controlled time and then have to identify it from a multiple choice list.

If they succeed, the flash time reduces – if they struggle it slows down. They start with a short assessment to make sure that they are working with suitable words or phrases. They can then progress through a large bank of reading material until they are speed-reading lengthy sentences.

Ideally, students should spend about 10 minutes a day on GetFluent. They can do this anywhere and anytime that they have access to a browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Experience with a Windows-based prototype of GetFluent has shown that students like trying to ‘beat the computer’. They (and their teachers) are also pleased by the improvement in their reading ability.

If you would like to use this program for up to a year without any payment then all you have to do is commit to let the developers, Maia Learning Systems, know what you think of it.

You will need to enter the names of your students who will be using the program.  After that your students will be able to use GetFluent without any further intervention, and you will be able to get reports on their progress as and when you see fit.

You can see more on GetFluent, including references to the research that underpins it, on their website at http://www.getfluent.com.

If you would like to take part in a free trial of GetFluent next term or if you need any further information, send an email to steve@maia.co.uk, preferably by the end of July.