The core of the project is to develop multilingual training for reading fluency (RF) which aims (1) to foster struggling readers’ reading skills by improving this fluency, as well as their attitudes towards reading, taking a gamified, media-supported approach. Furthermore, we will address two other very important aspects in today’s school practice: (2) to promote multilingualism, and (3) to promote the use of digital media in school, thereby contributing to the development of students’ media literacy. Recent reading performance studies have shown deficiencies for student reading skills at primary and at secondary levels (OECD, 2010; 2016). Reduced reading skills compromise learning in all subject fields resulting in a reduced performance in school and also in work and life. RF is an essential component of efficient reading-comprehension ability (Grabe, 2009: 286). Although the importance of RF instruction in first language (mother language) contexts has gained considerable recognition (NICHD, 2000), more attention in foreign language (L2) settings has just begun. As effective as programs such as repeated reading are, students’ motivation in these activities fades quickly due to their monotony. Therefore, new approaches which longer maintain students’ motivation as well as foster their RF in several languages are necessary. Due to the effects of globalization, such as increased work mobility, the promotion of plurilingualism among learners has been an objective in education in Europe for a while now (Council of Europe, 2007). However, although the EU has launched several initiatives to improve students’ L2 competence, studies like Eurostat indicate that competences are often not yet sufficient and the actual numbers of secondary II students studying two or more foreign languages are declining (Eurostat, 2015). Hence, measures to make L2 learning more attractive and efficient are necessary. Moreover, the effects of digitalization provide a further challenge for education, and ask for enhanced approaches to develop students’ media competencies and information literacy, especially regarding lifelong learning in modern information society. However, recent studies at the European level depict deficits in the development of information literacy and media competency at schools (e.g., Fraillon et al., 2014). Reasons for this are diverse, including the lack of integration of media competence development into curricula. Another important problem is the lack of proven and well-documented approaches for the integration of digital media and the development of media competences in subject fields. In summary, schools and teachers Europe-wide are facing serious challenges with respect to the promotion of RF, multilingualism, and media competence. Thus, the cooperating institutions - PHW (DE), HSRW (DE), UM (P), OUC (CY), MOEC (CY), and three partner schools - aim to improve struggling readers’ RF, to foster their multilingualism, and to contribute to their media literacy based on the comprehensive integration of digital media in trainings. Collaboration between research and practice will - develop a gamified, media-supported and multilingual teaching/learning environment, which increases learners’ willingness to engage in RF training, improves their RF in school, foreign and minority languages, develops their multilingual skills, raises teachers’ and learners’ acceptance to engage in learning processes in gamified and media-supported education settings, - which also includes a methodological design for its use as well as materials that can be transferred to other contexts, allowing for differentiation according to performance levels and the inclusion of multiple languages, - develop with education practitioners, a training module for teachers in order to instruct teachers in GL and to provide them the skills necessary for their implementation, -contribute to the theoretical substantiation of the gamified, media-based, multilingual approach to fostering RF. In order to reach these objectives, technology will play a vital role and will aim at supporting - teachers with the knowledge base necessary for training RF while using a gamified, media-based approach, - teachers to assess learners’ RF and diagnose their reading problems, - teachers in teaching RF effectively: that is motivating students via gamified elements, allowing for individual and cooperative RF practice and differentiation based on languages and students’ skills, helping students in word recognition and decoding, ... The design will be developed with the help of the Design-Based Research (DBR) approach (Van den Akker et al., 2006). Based on close cooperation among researchers and practitioners, the aim of DBR is to generate methodological and pedagogical innovation through systematic design, testing and redesign while working within the school context.
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