EMBRACE (Enhanced Moved By Reading to Accelerate Comprehension in English) is an iPad application designed to improve the reading comprehension skills of Latino children who are English Language Learners (ELLs).  The application is based on Simulation theory: Comprehension requires simulating (i.e., imagining) the situation being described using neural systems of action, perception, and emotion.  Children use the iPad to read texts that are accompanied by pictures (see Figures 1-3 for examples). When they read a sentence printed in blue font, the child engages in one of two activities. In the physical manipulation (PM) stage, the child moves the pictures to physically simulate the meaning of the sentence.  For example, after reading ?The cow walks to the corral,? the child uses her finger to literally move the image of the cow to the corral. Thus, the child uses her perceptual system to map words to images, and she uses her motor system to simulate the syntax, that is, the who does what to whom. In the imagine manipulation stage (IM), upon reading a sentence in blue font the child imagines moving the images.

EMBRACE incorporates several other features to additionally help ELL children. Spanish support helps the child by having a) key vocabulary words defined in both Spanish and English before each chapter, b) the iPad pronounce the word in English and Spanish (without definition) whenever the child taps on the word, and c) the iPad read aloud the first chapter of each multi-chapter text in Spanish to introduce the child to many of the important themes in the child?s native language.  The intelligent tutoring system (ITS) further supports reading by providing the child with immediate feedback on their manipulation (i.e., is it right or wrong?). The ITS also adjusts features depending on the child?s reading performance.  If a child moves the wrong image (in PM), then that item is added to the pre-chapter vocabulary list. If the child moves the correct images but is otherwise incorrect, then the syntax of the sentence is simplified.

The intellectual merit of the project was conceived as three research questions.  First, will EMBRACE help Latino ELLs comprehend better than when reading on an iPad with non-moveable text and pictures? We report those improvements in published research.  We found that the improvements were mainly for narrative (story-like) texts. For expository (informational texts), EMBRACE mainly helped children who were good decoders, that is, good at pronouncing written words.  We also found that Spanish support helped when children were deficient either in decoding or in English competency. Second, will the ITS improve comprehension? We were able to design and build a simulation-based ITS for early reading comprehension, and that had never been done before. Although we did find some positive benefits (e.g., children with the poorest comprehension tended to use features like tapping on a word to hear the pronunciation), we did not find overall improvement due to the ITS.  Third, will dyadic collaboration using EMBRACE improve comprehension?  We had originally conceived dyadic cooperation as two children reading together, but decided that it would be more valuable to consider a child reading with a parent. We collected pilot data which indicated that parents found EMBRACE a) to be very valuable, b) improved the children?s motivation to read, and c) improved their skill at reading.

The broader impact can be measured at several levels.  First, a total of 14 undergraduates participated in the research through the Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement.  The majority of these students were underrepresented minorities. In addition, seven graduate students were supported at some point during their careers. Second, we had an impact on literally hundreds of Latino ELL children who participated in the studies. Finally, we hope to commercialize the EMBRACE system so that it might have a positive impact on many more children and their families.

Last Modified: 11/19/2018
Modified by: Arthur M Glenberg