PROGRAM DESIGN

• Whole phonics means that the student never has to guess . No deductive reasoning expected.
• Implicit phonics - highly structured. Each lesson is based upon previous success.
• Groups of words are introduced based upon their phonetic structure.
• Student practices vocabulary words a minimum of three times, more if needed.
• A copyrighted technique called Uncover to Discover used with polysyllabic words.
• Copyrighted technique teaches blending.
• Comprehension is checked using a modified Clozure technique..
• User rewarded by a Congratulatory telegram , music and graphics.
• Every lesson ends with success even if user does not reach appointed goal.
• Upon successful completion of a lesson user joins Leo, the Literacy Lion, in a game where they earn points.
• The user climbs the Word Jungle ladder earning status as larger and larger creatures in a multi-cultural jungle.
• Paper Story Booklets reinforces the computer Clozure story for the child to save as their own. (School testing booklets are available.)

  Pictures (more to be added.)

  RELEVANT RESEARCH

The program design is based upon learning theories the designer validated while teaching more than 5,000 people to read. Dr. Edwin Ray Guthrie at the University of Washington postulated that we tend to continue doing what we did last. Our corollary is: "We learn best when the learning experience ends in success." Simple, yet elegant! (Dr. Pournelle was Dr. Guthrie's last graduate student.) This central theory embraced by The Literacy Connection approach shows the learner his success at the end of EVERY lesson. Then the user is eager to return to the task.

One of the most difficult skills to teach and to learn in reading is called blending . This program uses the full power of the computer to simulate what many neuroscientists believe happens in the human brain during successful blending. Close research led to the development of a copyrighted technique called Uncover to Discover .

The comprehension check uses a modified version of Dr. W. Taylor's highly acclaimed Clozure technique. The Management System in the software tracks the student's progress and you can adjust each individual student's expected accuracy rate.

Early in our R&D we looked closely at optimal screen design . Varying our screen we videotaped students using the tutorial. We discovered that including any graphics on screens where we wanted the student focus on text lowered student accuracy by as much as 50%! All graphics are separate from study text.

 All the research aside, this program works!