Computer Love

[Andre Cramblit]

Computer game boosts children's' language skills

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994093

A simple computer program that teaches children to distinguish between
sounds can dramatically boost their listening skills. It can allow them to
progress by the equivalent of two years in just a few weeks, the game's
creator claims.

The game, called Phonomena, was devised by David Moore of the University of
Oxford, UK, as an aid for children with language problems, but he says his
latest trials also show that it can help any child. Other experts, however,
are reserving judgement until independent tests are carried out.

Phonomena is designed to improve children's ability to distinguish between
different phonemes, the basic sounds that form the building blocks of
language. Up to a fifth of all children are thought to have problems
hearing the differences between some sounds, says Moore, who heads the UK
Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research.

In the game, children have to distinguish between pairs of phonemes such as
the "i" sound from the word "bit" and the "e" from "bet". They are played
one phoneme followed by two more examples, and asked which one matches the
first sound. As the game progresses the phonemes are gradually "morphed" to
make them more and more similar, making it increasingly difficult to
distinguish between them.

With 44 phonemes in English, there are potentially more than 1000 different
pairs, but the game concentrates on just 22 pairs of the commonest and most
similar-sounding phonemes.

 Listening ages

In the latest trials, 18 children aged between eight and 10 played the game
three times a week for four weeks. Their language abilities were compared
before and after exposure to the game using a standard listening test.

The team found a dramatic improvement in their language abilities, with
listening ages up by an average 2.4 years compared with 12 children who did
not play the game. In earlier trials on children with learning
difficulties, the speech and language therapists who tested the game
reported similar improvements.

But Ted Wragg, an expert in education at the UK's University of Exeter,
warns that such trials can produce misleading results. The improvements
could be due to the efforts and attention of teachers and therapists,
rather than the game itself. There is a history in education of people and
companies making claims about learning products that do not stand up to
scrutiny, he says.

Moore says independent tests will be done. But he is convinced that
computer games such as Phonomena that are designed to teach key sensory
skills could make a big difference in education. Even normal computer games
have been shown to improve visual skills, he points out. "In the future,
every child's dream of homework consisting of hours spent playing computer
games may well become a reality."

 Catching a ball

It is a bit like teaching someone to catch a ball, Moore adds. "Sensory
performance is no different from motor performance. As far as we know, the
neural processes driving them both are the same." And just as playing catch
improves hand-eye coordination in other tasks, Moore thinks the phoneme
training boosts children's general language skills.

The advantage of using computers, he says, is each game can be tailored to
a child's abilities. An Oxford-based company called MindWeavers has been
set up to commercialise the game.

Similar computer-based language tools already exist, such as those
developed by Scientific Learning of Oakland, California. But these are
geared exclusively towards children with speech and language problems and
involve intensive training.

"We don't believe you need to do this draconian amount of training for it
to do good," says Moore. He is also exploring the use of phoneme training
as an aid to adults learning a foreign language.

Duncan Graham-Rowe