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Introduction
In ELA, social studies, science, and math classes, adolescents are increasingly required to read electronic versions of texts. These texts can take the form, for example, of textbooks, literature, stories, articles, and websites. The very nature of having texts in electronic form means that students can have access different types of “supports.” These supports might include, for example, live links to definitions, images, and additional information. Providing texts electronically also has implications for the way in which text is presented; for example, the font size can change, different background colors can be added, or texts might be restructured (e.g., parsed) to accommodate a reader's needs. All of these embedded supports can promote better understanding of what the author intended to communicate.
The concept of “supported electronic text (e-text)” was first developed by Anderson-Inman and Horney (1998; 1999) at the University of Oregon. This term is now widely applied to describe electronic text that is modified or enhanced in ways that support student comprehension and extend student learning. This section of Literacy Matters focuses on supported electronic texts. It draws content and material from The National Center for Supported eText (NCSeT), directed by Lynne Anderson-Inman, Mark Horney, and Judith Zorfass. Funded by the federal government (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs) the Center is investigating the impact of supported e-text on adolescents' reading comprehension of content area material.
View the Executive Summary (June, 2007) of EDC's research, which
focused on helping middle-grades students improve reading comprehension in social studies by building word knowledge through the use of a web-based tool, Visual Thesaurus (VT).
More about EDC's role with NCSeT, including additional reports.
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