Texthelp builds literacy skills of UK's future workforce at BETT 2011
Texthelp Systems Ltd to showcase its latest enhanced solutions to improve pupils' literacy levels at BETT 2011.
- (1888PressRelease) October 07, 2010 - At BETT 2011, Texthelp Systems Ltd (Stand SN70) will showcase its latest enhanced solutions to improve pupils' literacy levels. The latest Key Stage 2 test results reveal that one in five pupils are still not reaching the expected level in English; the Government has emphasised that being able to read and write fluently is crucial to a child's success in secondary education and throughout their life. Texthelp will launch Read&Write 10 - the next generation of its flagship solution to help pupils improve their reading, writing and literacy skills. It will also showcase Fluency Tutor V2 - its latest web-based software to develop pupils' reading and comprehension. Experts will be on stand to show teachers how to effectively use this technology in the classroom.
Invaluable for pupils with learning difficulties or English as a second language, Read&Write 10 works discreetly with all mainstream Windows applications. At school, pupils might be expected to proof-read work before submission, however, dyslexic children often struggle to formulate their work, organise it and check spelling and punctuation. This resource takes all these problems away and makes reviewing work much easier. Helping to improve study skills, the new Vocabulary tool allows pupils to create a vocabulary list with definitions and the new Picture Dictionary brings up images for any selected word. Pupils can now improve their writing skills using a Verb Checker to view verb conjugations listing all the various verb forms and select the most appropriate one.
The improved Speech Maker functionality converts text to audio files and allows pupils to alter the voice speed. An enhanced Screenshot Reader turns inaccessible text such as logos into speech and a freehand selection tool ensures only the text the user wishes to hear is read out. These enhanced features are ideal for revising work at the end of the day on the way home from school. Due to customer demand, Screen Masking has been incorporated to allow pupils to tint any part of the screen, choosing from a range of colours and transparencies. This is a valuable concentration aid, reducing the glare and improving tracking and focus for those with dyslexia. An updated Daisy Reader reads out maths equations in Daisy books by integrating with Design Science's MathPlayer - a free online tool that enables Microsoft Internet Explorer to display mathematical notation in web pages. It also includes support for books created using the 'Save as Daisy' plug-in from the Daisy Consortium.
Fluency Tutor V2 is Texthelp's latest online software solution designed to assess and improve pupils' reading and comprehension levels. Pupils can log on at school or home to practise their reading and listen to passages being read aloud. They can record themselves reading and submit assessments to their teacher for marking. Every passage comes with a comprehension quiz to test their understanding of a reading exercise. Themed character illustrations help maintain the pupil's interest whilst they are developing their reading skills. Content is now paginated to avoid the need to scroll. An improved speech-enabled dictionary and translator reads aloud a learner's corrections and assists with checking understanding and pronunciation.
Teachers can match exercises to each pupil according to their reading ability by setting the right lexile level which can be measured using Fluency Tutor. Teachers can access a number of reports and graphs within this resource to view pupils' progress over time. They can evaluate the fluency errors made, words correct per minute score and level of prosody (expression of reading) for every pupil. A new group settings function has been developed to enable the teacher to apply settings to all pupils in a group with ease. This provides a quick means to change target words correct per minute, target date and recommended difficulty levels.
Jackie Funnell, Headteacher at Cardenden Primary School, Fife, comments: "Fluency Tutor is a great way to support oral reading fluency and has helped to develop our pupils' confidence. They can listen to stories being read aloud to them before they record themselves reading and submit the results to us for marking. It also gives them immediate feedback through a series of easy to understand and colourful graphical displays."
Mark McCusker, CEO, Texthelp Systems concludes: "We must equip all pupils with the literacy skills they need to continue their education, succeed in the workplace and everyday life. We are dedicated to supporting teaching and learning with cost-effective enhanced solutions that are continually developed according to valuable feedback from schools. We also believe it is imperative to provide pupils with access both in school and at home to encourage independent learning."
For further information about Texthelp, please contact Elaine Emerson, Texthelp Systems, on Tel: 028 9442 8105, Email: e.emerson ( @ ) texthelp dot com or visit: www.texthelp.com.
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