COMPUTER:  Windows/MAC/ CD-ROM

SPECIFIC SKILLS: Letter recognition of consonants, their sounds, letter form (upper and lower case), pronunciation, phonics, word patterns, rhyming words, word attack, word comprehension and usage, sight words, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension skills.

DESCRIPTION: New Reader Bookstore includes 20 "books” on five CD-ROMs which
provide instruction on the twenty-one individual consonants.  Each CD disk contains four
consonants with a "book" for each one.  Fourteen lessons are available for each letter. The sixth CD is the  "Must Know Words" disk which focuses on the 100 most frequently used words in English with drills and exercise activities.  The program also features placement tests of beginning and ending sounds, which can be used for pre/post assessment, and a course management system for tracking student progress.  All of the courseware directions and feedback are presented in digital audio.  At the beginning of the program the student has the option of choosing English or Spanish. There are fourteen lessons or chapters for each consonant sound.  In these lessons the student hears and works with an eight- sentence story; focuses on specific letter recognition in the story; types the letter on a virtual keyboard; drills and practices recognizing and identifying
beginning and ending sounds; word patterns and rhyming words; and finally is asked to answer six comprehension questions related to the story.

EVALUATION SUMMARY: :  New Reader Bookstore utilizes multimedia technology to provide a multisensory and interactive reading experience for new adult readers.  The most unique feature is the continuous digital auditory component that is available to the student throughout the program, which allows our beginning readers to use this program independently. Our students felt that hearing, seeing, and typing the letters and words really accelerated their learning.   They also positively commented on the size of the letters and words presented on the screen. Many instructors noted that the "finger pointer", which appears on the screen and moves and points to the word or sound that is being read to the student, definitely helped our students focus and improved their left- to- right eye movement and fluency.   The bookmarking feature allows the student to always pick up wherever they left off and keep track of which chapters they have successfully completed.  The student continuously practices letter sounds and focuses on word recognition and word patterns using the context of a story that is adult-oriented and relevant to their life. The program is quite expensive, so those with limited budgets may want to consider purchasing the "Must Know Words" disk to start with and determine whether this auditory and interactive approach is effective with your beginning readers.  Our students liked working on their "Must Know" words after they learned that these words make up about half of the words found in books, newspapers, and magazines. Since the consonants are taught on five different disks, programs with multiple computer stations could have students working on different letters and disks. Our students also benefited from and enjoyed using the "off-line" workbooks and tapes.  I highly recommend this program to literacy providers and adult education labs who serve beginning readers.  It is an exciting and encouraging program that literacy level students can use to build their basic skills and their self-esteem.