The Effects of Technology on Students’ Retention of Letters and Sounds

This action research was conducted to determine if the use of technology, specifically the interactive SMART board, would lead to higher student assessment scores on the district tests for letter identification and letter sound recognition. The research was completed in a full-day traditional public school transitional kindergarten (TK) class. Data was collected using district-wide alphabet assessments, teacher observation journals, student conferences, and student checklists used by a classroom instructional assistant. Letters of the alphabet were divided into two equal groups based on letter formation and level of difficulty identified through research. One group of letters and sounds was taught using only lessons using technology, and the other group of letters and sounds was taught using only lessons with classroom materials and no technology. For most students, final assessment data showed the teacher driven lessons using classroom educational materials produced an overall higher growth rate than the technology driven lessons using the SMART board. It is possible that the use of technology as a teaching tool stimulated interest to the point that teacher driven lessons were more effective than in previous years when used alone. Therefore, results suggest that a combination of technology driven lessons and teacher driven lessons could be the best course of action for future practice. Further research could measure the effect on learning when presenting all the letters using both teaching methods