Mobile Technology Bridges the 30 Million Word Gap

Abstract

Education has been traditionally viewed as an equalizer for the poor to gain access to a better life. With the advent of the skills premium paired with rapid technological advances, the stratification and changing nature of education has ironically become one of the main causes of the income achievement gap. Research confirms that by the age of 3, children from low-income homes hear 30 million less words than children from more affluent families. Research has even revealed that the gap begins as early as 18 months of age. Children who enter school at higher levels of readiness have higher earnings throughout their lives. They are also healthier and less likely to become involved with the criminal justice system. These positive spillovers suggest that investments in early childhood can benefit society as a whole. Without intervention, the trend will certainly persist and further income inequality will lead to more social instability. Anger and frustration from the lower income classes may result as they continue to struggle with no real hope that it will make a difference to their lives in the long run. This paper traces the causes of the income achievement gap and proposes how mobile technology and the corresponding apps can potentially mitigate these factors by gaining access into the homes of the low income families. Indeed, it is critical to examine the causes of the gaps in order to propose relevant possible solutions. Mobile learning devices now have the potential to achieve a large-scale impact due to their portability, affordability, high memory capacity and ease of use. With the ability to personalize and adapt to the learning needs of the child as well as guide the parent or teacher with scaffolding, tablets can help to fill these damaging gaps and allow each child the chance to learn and succeed.

Keywords: early childhood education, inequality, socioeconomic status (SES), vocabulary acquisition, literacy, mobile apps, tablet computers, word gap, digital divide, income achievement gap