The effects of closed-captioned television on the oral reading fluency of low socioeconomic 2nd grade students

Research into the use of closed-captioning has provided exciting evidence into the possibilities of its usefulness as a literacy tool. Although previous studies have shown the efficacy of closed-captioning as a tool that can assist the deaf and hard-of-hearing, those learning a second language, and hearing students, the existing scholarship lacks important information regarding closed-captioning and its impact on oral reading fluency. Previous scholars have proven that CC can assist all students on word recognition, vocabulary, and reading comprehension; however, there is a dearth of new research focusing on low socioeconomic students from rural communities. This quantitative, quasi-experimental, comparative study explores this missing research by examining the effects that closed-captioning television could have on the oral reading fluency of elementary children living in poverty. 2nd grade students from a Title I school in the Mississippi Delta were assigned to two different groups: the treatment group participated in viewing the Arthur video series with captions, while the control group participated in viewing the same videos without captions. Pretests and posttests were given using Reading Curriculum Based Measures from Aimsweb. The results of the ANCOVA showed no statistical differences between the two groups; however, the study did uncover a specific need for further studies on how closed-captioning can impact the literacy of children living in poverty.