Relay Reader is a mobile and web app that supports learners in increasing their reading fluency and comprehension skills. Start with an introductory tutorial, which tests your device’s audio and microphone input, and also select the number of words (from 70 to 200) that the user and narrator will read. Listen to the narrator read from The Adventures of Pinocchio and follow along with the highlighted sections. Once it’s time for student’s to read, an icon appears next to their paragraph. After the user and narrator read several passages, a comprehension quiz pops up to check understanding. Check the progress tab to see the number of minutes read, questions answered correctly, and percent of the chapter and book completed. Learners can also revisit passages and hear themselves read, which can help them identify errors and tricky words or passages.

Teachers, parents and interventionists can use Relay Reader with their learners to practice increasing reading fluency and reading comprehension skills. Teachers could use this as part of a station rotation; learners will benefit from hearing the recording of themselves reading the passage and then also see their progress as they increase their total reading time and questions answered correctly. Educators could also use this as a large-group read-aloud activity and read passages themselves or select volunteers who wish to read to the whole class. Learners can also partner-read, share one device, and switch off narrating.

Oral reading fluency and comprehension could be enhanced with Relay Reader, which allows for repeated reading and assisted reading strategies such as highlighted text and the ability to listen to personal recordings. It offers a lot of promise in terms of how it helps learners increase their prosody and fluency, as well as comprehension skills. However, a few updates would make this app better. It would be nice if this app synced between the web app and iOS devices so that learners could continue their progress between those platforms. Additionally, since at the time of review there’s only one classic book available, the content is lacking and can’t be differentiated effectively. Once the developers add more literary works, this app will have more appeal as a supplement reading activity in the classroom.

Website: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1478453360?uo=4&at=10laCG&ct=website

Overall User Consensus About the App

Student Engagement

The highlighted sections of oral narration in real time help learners follow along, but the small library and inability to import texts will limit kids’ interest.

Curriculum and Instruction

The lack of content makes it hard to select stories for appropriate reading levels, but the turn-taking between listening and reading and comprehension questions can build skills.

Customer Support

The tutorial and customizable settings make using the interface intuitive.