Voice Synthesizer Provides Moral Support, Reassurance : Friendly Computer Leads the Way to Adult Literacy

Adults who cannot read or write have a new friend in a talking computer program that can teach them the basics without making them feel ashamed about mistakes, researchers say.

Developers of the program at Penn State University say it is the first computer-learning program designed for relatively inexpensive microcomputers and geared to adults who read below the fourth-grade level or not at all.

The computer talks to students, teaching them 1,000 often-used words or “survival words” that might appear on job applications or insurance forms, such as “spouse,” “occupation” and “address.”

The talking computer is a boon to adults because it is patient, repeating lessons as many times as necessary, and because “the computer doesn’t make value judgments,” said Connie Maclay, a research associate at Penn State’s Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy who wrote the lesson plans.

Computer Messages

With bright orange letters and sound, the computer pats them on the back with, “Good job,” “Great,” or, “Wonderful,” for correct responses and, “Sorry, try again,” for incorrect ones.

It never says, “You’re wrong”--something program developers say the adults have heard too often.

“It’s a real status thing. It sounds really good to say, ‘I’m working on a computer.’ Nobody asks you what you’re doing with it,” Maclay said.

Larger Test Planned

Researchers say the computer program has been successful in pilot studies. The state Education Department plans a larger, yearlong test beginning this fall, spokeswoman Nancy Smeltz said. The department will work with parents of remedial students who have trouble themselves.

“We’re finding that once parents come in and work on the computer their feelings of self-esteem seem to change,” Smeltz said. Adults begin to think, “ ‘If I can use this computer, I can learn to read. I can do anything,’ ” she said.

The state Education Department estimates that 548,000 adults in Pennsylvania are functionally illiterate, unable to read or write well enough to function on a daily basis without help, said spokesman Don Bowie. A 1986 U.S. Department of Education report estimated that 23 million adults nationwide were functionally illiterate.

Uses Voice Synthesizer

The programs, written for an Apple IIe computer, use a voice synthesizer to teach word recognition to adults who may not even know their own name in print, Maclay said.

The program relies on colorful graphics, adult-level stories that place a word in its context, fill-in-the-blanks and games to teach and reinforce the words. Adults progress at their own pace.

“They know if they get something wrong the computer is not going to hold it against them. They know it’s just between them and nobody else,” said Brett Bixler, who helped develop the computer program.

Testing Began at Prison

Researchers began testing prototype lessons last August with a small group of inmates at nearby Rockview state prison. Each participant in the eight-week project showed marked improvement in the time it took to punch in correct responses and the number of correct answers, Maclay said.

In retests two weeks and four months later, everyone retained close to 90% of the words.