Reading Instruction on YouTube: Insights from Searches on Five Key Reading Topics

• Main Author: Bryant, Katelyn
• Other Authors: Willows, Dale
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: YouTube; Web 2.0; reading instruction; phonics; phonemic awareness; fluency; comprehension; vocabulary; content analysis; 0515
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/33635

The recognition that YouTube, a free-access video sharing website, is being widely used as a source of public information has lead medical researchers to conduct studies on health-related videos. However, it appears that educational researchers have not explored YouTube videos about reading instruction, given that no published studies could be located on this topic. The current study conducted controlled searches related to the “big five” areas of early elementary reading instruction as identified by the National Reading Panel (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension). Search results were recorded and the top 40 “most relevant” videos on each topic were analyzed to determine information about viewership, format, content, and creators of the videos. Results indicated that while YouTube videos addressing all five areas of reading instruction were prolific and highly viewed, users would need to be critical, informed, and tech-savvy in order to find relevant videos from credible sources.