Background: Despite increased enrolments at primary schools in Zambia, more than half of the children in Grades 1–4 are unable to meet the required minimum standards for literacy. Aim: The study set out to examine the effects of using a phone-based mobile literacy game (Graphogame) to improve literacy skills in children and adults in rural family settings. Setting: The study was conducted in the Katete District, a rural town in the eastern province of Zambia. Methods: Participants were 73 Grade 2 learners (52% boys, mean age 9 years and 48% girls, mean age 10 years) and 37 parents (mean age 36 years). Three literacy tests, measuring letter-sound identification, phonological awareness, spelling competence and word recognition, were administered to both the children and parents. Parents also reported on their level of education, familiarity with smart phone use, availability of home reading materials and home literacy activities. Results: The findings showed that children who were exposed to the Graphogame performed better than the control group on all literacy measures. Furthermore, parent’s performance on the tests improved after the intervention. Conclusion: The findings suggest that technology can improve literacy skills in both children and adults in rural areas of Zambia.

中文翻译：

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使用基于电话的学习工具作为非洲农村家庭初始识字学习的教学资源

背景：尽管赞比亚的小学入学人数有所增加，但超过一半的1至4年级儿童无法达到所要求的最低扫盲标准。目的：该研究着手研究使用基于手机的移动扫盲游戏（Graphogame）来提高农村家庭环境中儿童和成人的识字能力的影响。地点：这项研究是在赞比亚东部省的一个乡村小镇卡特特地区进行的。方法：参与者为73名2级学习者（男孩52％，平均年龄9岁，女孩48％，平均年龄10岁）和37名父母（平均年龄36岁）。对孩子和父母进行了三项读写测试，分别测量字母-声音识别，语音意识，拼写能力和单词识别能力。家长们还报告了他们的受教育程度，熟悉智能手机的使用，家庭阅读材料的可用性和家庭扫盲活动。结果：研究结果表明，在所有扫盲措施中，接触Graphogame的儿童的表现均优于对照组。此外，干预后父母的测试成绩有所提高。结论：研究结果表明，技术可以提高赞比亚农村地区儿童和成人的识字能力。