It’s International Literacy Week! Grab a book, read it with or assign it to your class, and give them a fun topic to write about!
Every September 8th, since 1967, International Literacy Day is observed globally to celebrate the wonders of reading and writing and to raise awareness about the millions of children worldwide who lack basic literacy skills and don’t have access to the resources needed to attain them. According to UNESCO “about 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills, one in five adults are still not literate…, [and] about 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.”
Unlike those countries where literacy may be unreachable, here we have the luxury of Reading and Writing being standard subjects to be taught, so, more than the possibility of studying them, the focus is on finding ways to maximize students’ literacy for future academic and professional success. Research has proven the connection between the spoken word and the ability for students to learn and improve upon reading.
What does sound have to do with literacy? Phonemic awareness — the ability to distinguish individual speech sounds — is a basic requirement for developing young skillful readers. It’s hard to be aware of phonemes if you’re not consistently and clearly hearing them. Because FrontRow classroom audio systems increase speech clarity and phonemic awareness, they can significantly enhance the effectiveness of reading and spelling instruction.
For example: In a five-month study of 85 research and 81 control first-graders in the Broward County Public School System (Florida), students in classrooms using FrontRow achieved significantly greater IRI-measured literacy gains and were twice as likely to jump seven or more reading levels.
Similarly, in research from five schools in Rotorua (New Zealand) nearly 630 Kindergarten through fifth-grade students were studied in classrooms with and without FrontRow sound systems. Children in FrontRow classrooms showed significantly better listening comprehension, reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, and even math scores on Progressive Achievement Tests.
Now that you know FrontRow’s K-12 classroom audio solutions are a powerful way to help increase K-12 literacy, let us be your partner in helping you take your students to the next level(s)!
Ready to learn more or to sign up for a free trial? Contact FrontRow today!
Source: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/international-literacy-day
