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Computer Game boosts children's language skills?
« on: Aug 28th, 2003, 2:15pm » |
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Quote:Computer game boosts children's' language skills
17:42 28 August 03
Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
A simple computer program that teaches children to distinguish between sounds can dramatically boost their listening skills. It can allow them to progress by the equivalent of two years in just a few weeks, the game's creator claims.
The game, called Phonomena, was devised by David Moore of the University of Oxford, UK, as an aid for children with language problems, but he says his latest trials also show that it can help any child. Other experts, however, are reserving judgement until independent tests are carried out.
Phonomena is designed to improve children's ability to distinguish between different phonemes, the basic sounds that form the building blocks of language. Up to a fifth of all children are thought to have problems hearing the differences between some sounds, says Moore, who heads the UK Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research.
In the game, children have to distinguish between pairs of phonemes such as the "i" sound from the word "bit" and the "e" from "bet". They are played one phoneme followed by two more examples, and asked which one matches the first sound. As the game progresses the phonemes are gradually "morphed" to make them more and more similar, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between them.
With 44 phonemes in English, there are potentially more than 1000 different pairs, but the game concentrates on just 22 pairs of the commonest and most similar-sounding phonemes.
Listening ages
In the latest trials, 18 children aged between eight and 10 played the game three times a week for four weeks. Their language abilities were compared before and after exposure to the game using a standard listening test.
The team found a dramatic improvement in their language abilities, with listening ages up by an average 2.4 years compared with 12 children who did not play the game. In earlier trials on children with learning difficulties, the speech and language therapists who tested the game reported similar improvements.
But Ted Wragg, an expert in education at the UK's University of Exeter, warns that such trials can produce misleading results. The improvements could be due to the efforts and attention of teachers and therapists, rather than the game itself. There is a history in education of people and companies making claims about learning products that do not stand up to scrutiny, he says.
Moore says independent tests will be done. But he is convinced that computer games such as Phonomena that are designed to teach key sensory skills could make a big difference in education. Even normal computer games have been shown to improve visual skills, he points out. "In the future, every child's dream of homework consisting of hours spent playing computer games may well become a reality." |
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