System and methods for a reading fluency measure

• US 8,827,713 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2013
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of Minnesota
• Original Assignee: University of Minnesota
• Inventors: Samuels, Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): GEBREMICHAEL, BRUK A
• Application Number:
  US13/778,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20130177880A1
• Time in Patent Office: 559 Days
• Field of Search: 434/322, 434/323, 434/156, 434/157, 434/167
• US Class Current: 434/178
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 17/003 electrically operated apparatus or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

The present invention measures reading fluency, which is simultaneous decoding and comprehension. Whether or not a person is a fluent reader is determined by the size of the visual unit, or sting of letters, used in word recognition. In order to measure the size of the visual unit used in word recognition, a lexical decision task (“LDT”) is used in which short and long words are presented on a display device. The person determines if the string of letters formulates a word. The person enters their response on an input device and the results are recorded. A score is calculated that measures reading fluency. The ability to correctly identify a string of letters as a word using holistic processing, rather than letter-by-letter, is the hallmark of a fluent person.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for determining reading fluency of a participant, comprising the steps of:

(a) presenting, on a display device of a computer, to the participant strings of letters from a database, said presenting comprises displaying a string of letters at a time, wherein the database comprises a plurality of strings of letters including words and non-words, the plurality of strings of letters categorized in the database according to an educational level of the participant or an age of the participant;

(b) receiving, by an input device of the computer, a single button user input corresponding to each of the string of letters displayed, said user input corresponding to the participant evaluation of whether the first string of letters formulates a word or a non-word;

(c) measuring, by a processor of the computer, a latency measure and an accuracy measure of the single button user input corresponding to each string of letters, wherein the accuracy measure is determined according to the participant identifying the string of letters as a word or a non-word and the latency measure is determined according to the time recorded between the presentation of the string of letters and entry of the single button user input and the latency measure is further determined according to a measure of a size of a visual unit recognized by the participant, the size of the visual unit ranging from all letters of the string of letters or a portion of letters of the string of letters;

(d) recording, by the processor of the computer, results based on the latency measure and the accuracy measure corresponding to each string of letters;

(e) repeating, by the processor of the computer, steps (a)-(d) using different strings of letters from the plurality of strings of letters of the database until the results are sufficient to calculate a score, thereby generating latency scores for strings of letters between three and six letter words;

(f) comparing, by the processor of the computer, the latency scores obtained for correctly identified three letter words and six letter words; and

(g) determining, by the processor of the computer, the reading fluency of the participant using the result of step (f), wherein the processor determines the participant is non-fluent when the latency scores of the three letter words are not the same as the latency scores of the six letter words, and the processor determines the participant is fluent when the latency scores of the three letter words are the same as the latency scores of the six letter words.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of administering training on said steps (a)-(g) so that the participant understands the instructions for the method for determining reading fluency of the participant.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the database includes words of the English language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the strings of letters are presented sequentially from the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the strings of letters are presented randomly from the database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the database includes high frequency words and low frequency words.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the strings of letters range from three letters to six letters.

8. An apparatus for administering a lexical decision task to a participant, comprising:

a display device, a database, an input device and a processor;

said apparatus performing the steps of;

(a) presenting, on the display device, to the participant strings of letters from the database, said presenting comprises displaying a string of letters at a time, wherein the database comprises a plurality of strings of letters including words and non-words, the plurality of strings of letters categorized in the database according to an educational level of the participant or an age of the participant;

(b) receiving, by the input device, a single button user input corresponding to each of the string of letters displayed, said user input corresponding to the participant evaluation of whether the string of letters formulates a word or a non-word;

(c) measuring, by the processor, a latency measure and an accuracy measure of the single button user input corresponding to each string of letters, wherein the accuracy measure is determined according to the participant identifying the string of letters as a word or a non-word and the latency measure is determined according to the time recorded between the presentation of the string of letters and entry of the single button user input, and the latency measure is further determined according to a measure of a size of a visual unit recognized by the participant, the size of the visual unit ranging from all letters of the string of letters or a portion of letters of the string of letters;

(d) recording, by the processor, results based on the latency measure and the accuracy measure corresponding to each string of letters;

(e) repeating, by the processor, steps (a)-(d) using different strings of letters from the plurality of strings of letters of the database until the results are sufficient to calculate a score, thereby generating latency scores for strings of letters between three and six letter words;

(f) comparing, by the processor, the latency scores obtained for correctly identified three letter words and six letter words; and

(g) determining, by the processor, the reading fluency of the participant using the result of step (f), wherein the processor determines the participant is non-fluent when the latency scores of the three letter words are not the same as the latency scores of the six letter words, and the processor determines the participant is fluent when the latency scores of the three letter words are the same as the latency scores of the six letter words.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said display device is a computer screen.