Using PoodLL to automate reading fluency tasks
Of the four skills, speaking is most commonly associated with fluency. However, fluency in the remaining three skills is also worth focusing on. Extensive reading does not necessarily result in fluency improvements as some students slowly decode the language, stopping at every second word, rather than reading fluently. For reading fluency specifically, activities such as having students read aloud among each other in class have been used to practice reading fluency, although these activities are limited by how much in-class time can be allocated to them. The ReadAloud activity in PoodLL addresses these problems by allowing the automation of assessment of reading fluency. Using ReadAloud, students are presented with a text that they can optionally hear read by a TTS voice, practice line-by-line, and then record themselves reading and submit the recording for assessment. The recordings are then assessed by an AI and a grade is given based on the number of correctly recognized words and a fluency target of words-per-minute. The teacher can then review the grades and override them if necessary. This presentation will showcase how ReadAloud was implemented at a university to give students more opportunities to improve their reading fluency.