Increasing Instructional Efficiency: A Comparison of Voice Plus Text vs. Text Alone on the Error Rate of Students with Mild Disabilities during CAI

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of synthesized speech as a supplement to written instruction in drill-and-practice lessons used by two young students with mild disabilities. Using a multi-element design to compare student performance across two instructional conditions, i.e., Voice Plus Text vs. Text Alone, students participated in CAI on a daily basis. An analysis of the error rate for each child indicated that both students made fewer errors in the Voice Plus Text than in the Text Alone condition. The implications of this performance pattern for software selection and instructional design are discussed.