MYReaders Literacy App

A mobile app integrating offline-accessible, differentiated modules with remote monitoring and feedback for students to build literacy.

We commit to solving the problem of low literacy among underserved students who face barriers in accessing literacy support suited to their level of need. These students lack resources and support to meet essential literacy development milestones at home; in school and society, they lack one-on-one remediation and devices/connectivity to benefit from differentiated support.

As a mobile app, our solution utilises hardware with widespread and familiar usage (in Malaysia, 98.6% of society use mobile phones). It provides offline access to differentiated English literacy modules - structured for remedial literacy, written for the Southeast Asian context, and designed with Science of Learning principles for students’ self-paced learning. 

Our solution includes functions which support the central role of mediators around the child, based on the understanding that literacy is a social practice. It includes intuitive accessible guides for caregivers on facilitating their child’s participation in literacy practices regardless of their own literacy levels. Data synchronisation mechanisms allow volunteer tutors and/or stakeholders to monitor students’ reading data and provide remote targeted feedback. Training and support are also provided to help teachers and caregivers build digital skills to access the full potential of the technology. 

We focus on leveraging existing partnerships among public school teachers, parents/caregivers, and community-based volunteers, to bridge the pillars of school, home, and community. Our solution could change lives by enabling underserved students across Southeast Asia to attain functional literacy, a prerequisite for pursuing lifelong learning outcomes and increasing their capabilities to live a life they value.

Our solution addresses the issue of illiteracy. All Southeast Asian countries perform below the OECD average in PISA reading tests, apart from Vietnam. In Malaysia, 46% of students are unable to read on the minimum level required to be functionally literate.

The need for basic literacy is most acute among those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Across all countries, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to be able to read compared to their peers. Underserved students in Malaysia scored 89 points less in reading compared to those from advantaged groups in PISA 2018. Wealth disparity, lack of infrastructure, and unequal access to quality education are compounding factors with intergenerational effects. From their early years, children are reliant on adults at home to help them mitigate encounters with text. However, disadvantaged children do not have the same opportunity to build early literacy skills due to low educational attainment among the adults and lack of access to materials. 

At school, these children do not receive the level of literacy support required for them to close their literacy skills gap. Large teacher to student ratios and lack of skills training hinders teachers from differentiating teaching to support the reading needs of all students. Remedial reading is not provided in the public school systems. 

Without a means to engage with differentiated reading materials, practise literacy skills, and receive feedback from literate adults, these children are then highly likely to miss out on the opportunity to engage meaningfully in society.

Our solution serves K-12 children who are unable to decode texts in the world around them.  They live in the bottom 40% income group - in Malaysia, this ‘B40’ group comprises 2.91 million households. 68% of adults in this group have limited primary or no formal education. Without a literate role model at home, they have minimal opportunity to meet early years’ literacy milestones. If they are in school, they start with a literacy gap which accumulates year on year without remediation. Many suffer from poor belief in their own intelligence, a mindset which we know from Science of Learning is key in learner motivation.

Our team has worked among underserved students for the last 8 years, first as teachers within the public school system where we experienced firsthand the problem of illiteracy among students and the challenges for teachers to cater to their needs. The current iteration of our literacy programme’s content and structure is a product of years of working closely with communities. During school closures in the last eighteen months, we pivoted to WhatsApp-based literacy support for 80 children from underserved communities. We continuously engage with families through surveys and interviews to include their specific accessibility needs in our solution design, and provide access to literacy support at a larger scale.

Our proposed solution provides students the opportunity to engage with differentiated reading materials, practise literacy skills, and receive feedback, alongside empowering caregivers & teachers to support reading practices at home and in school.

The problem of illiteracy among underserved children is one that an affordable and accessible EdTech solution, as called for by the Challenge, is uniquely positioned to address. Addressing the root causes of this problem, including lack of differentiated materials and opportunities for practice within crowded classrooms, requires a solution which is accessible, engaging for learners, and provides opportunities for one-on-one support. Our EdTech solution would complement the role of teachers and/or caregivers to meet the literacy needs of underserved children, at scale. 

Our solution is well-aligned to meet this Challenge. We are committed to providing an affordable solution that does not require cost-prohibitive hardware or materials, through ensuring that our modules are accessible on mobile phones and free of charge for underserved communities. We understand the barriers faced by our target population and include specific features to increase accessibility for users with low literacy. For example, audiovisual guides, accessible in multiple local languages, will help learners and caregivers navigate the app and build digital skills. 

Our core modules are based on evidence on children’s literacy development process, aligned with curriculum outcomes. Our delivery mechanisms and materials are based on current literacy research and Science of Learning principles. For example, we train teachers and volunteer tutors to give effective feedback, and our app allows learners to receive feedback, even remotely. Our supplementary modules promote learners’ participation in hands-on activities along with family members/peers, to connect the ideas in the text to meaningful social practice in their daily lives and homes. 

Rachael Francis, current Director of Training and Programmes and incoming CEO

Our innovation is in providing a shared tool that bridges a students’ self-paced learning together with the support of teachers, parents, and volunteers in society. Many EdTech platforms for literacy do not sufficiently integrate the central role of caregivers and teachers in the literacy development of a child. We see tremendous value and opportunity in providing a platform that includes and guides caregivers and teachers in facilitating the process of modelling reading skills / behaviours and giving feedback, both in school and at home. With the training and support our solution provides, our tool supports caregivers and teachers in their role as a child’s closest mediator for sustainable change in mindset, behaviours and skills.  

Our solution’s data synchronisation mechanisms allow for remote monitoring and support, which improves upon the difficulties of monitoring and providing follow up support when providing EdTech in contexts with low resources. With this mechanism, users are prompted to sync their app every two to four weeks - either by going to a local community internet center, or by house visits from community-based facilitators with a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. This mechanism allows stakeholders to monitor usage and students’ reading progress, and provides a platform where volunteers from society can provide remote feedback to students. 

Our solution enables broader impact by providing a platform where stakeholders in the public school system, including government, teachers, parents, as well as private stakeholders and volunteers from wider society, may collaborate towards the literacy growth of our children. 

Our literacy programme modules and structure have been used by more than 6000 underserved students, and have shown positive impact in improving reading skills. We’ve tested an intuitively structured learning management system with 100 students for self-paced learning with parental monitoring and found that parents are able to support their child in using our digital modules, even if they are not proficient in reading English. We’ve implemented the approach of providing remote tutoring by volunteers using WhatsApp with 80 students, and found that one-to-one support by facilitators enables positive outcomes in student engagement. 

For the function of capturing reading data, we tested the form builder, Jotform. We built a form with exercises from our modules and integrated audio capturing and spreadsheet widgets. This form was sent to several testers. We found that we were able to capture audio recordings of readings remotely, and store them using integrated software for analysis.

We use Jotform’s form creator software for the development of offline-accessible forms with audio recording capacity to capture our users’ reading. This enables the diagnostics function of our platform, where students will be presented a series of texts and evaluated through captured data of their audio recordings. We use smart form tools to integrate conditional logic in our assessment forms, enabling adaptiveness in the difficulty level of questions shown to students based on the questions they can attempt. Responses are synced toa spreadsheet software and evaluated by batch. 

Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) &  Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Narrow artificial intelligence, specifically NLP, will give immediate feedback to the students on their reading and pronunciation by utilising ASR. ASR converts audio streams of speech into written text, which is then evaluated by the AI, hence saving substantial time and human interference. Students may practice their reading through the app, reinforced by close or remote feedback and support by teachers, parents, or volunteer tutors.

Tracking device/ application usage

We  utilise existing app usage monitoring tools to monitor app usage and the time students spend on each module or test. These analytics will provide useful insights into learner progress and enable us to be responsive in providing support as and when necessary. 

Providing learners offline access to guided reading materials expands their opportunity to practise literacy skills. This increased practice over time enables them to increase their reading proficiency. The use of EdTech to expand opportunities for practise has shown positive outcomes in improving literacy especially among students with poor reading ability and English Language Learners. 

Our solution allows learners to receive additional effective feedback through interactions with volunteer tutors. Science of Learning principles have shown effective feedback to be essential in increasing skills acquisition, thus the opportunity to receive more clear and specific feedback enables learners to increase their attainment of reading skills. Studies have shown that quality of instruction, level-appropriate instruction, and time for practice and feedback contribute to effective learning outcomes. The improvement of learners’ literacy skills will lead to outcomes of better quality learning attainment in their school years and more positive post-school opportunities. 

Our solution provides diagnostics to match learners with appropriately leveled modules. This enables learners who do not meet grade-level expectations to receive differentiated learning support. In interviews with parents from our target population, we found that access to suitably leveled materials in a structured progression contributes to learner engagement. 

Providing clear guides on the use of the modules through an intuitive user interface also increases opportunities for student engagement. This is consistent with studies that found that EdTech increases ELL students’ engagement, motivation to learn and achievement. Studies have found that self-paced digital literacy interventions led to improvements in phonetic discrimination compared to students who did not receive the digital intervention. Similarly, students who learn reading through self-paced mobile devices performed better in reading tests and are more satisfied with the learning process than their peers who learned in traditional classroom settings. Increased engagement in the learning process contributes to the outcome of increased learner belief in their intelligence and capacity for learning.

These outcomes contribute toward our aim that learners from underserved communities will attain functional literacy and live lives of agency. 

Progress toward our goals is measured through the number of learners using the app, average frequency and time spent on usage, number of learners showing improvement in reading skills, and average improvement in reading skills of learners based on diagnostic scores over time

Integration of app usage tracking functions record frequency and time length of usage. Information on learner engagement is gathered through the in-app “click on done” function. On each learning page, after the audiovisual guide accompanying the text is played for a certain amount of time, users are presented with a “done” button. Tracking of users’ progress through the modules is recorded through this interaction. For learners to monitor their own learning, an overall visual of read and accessed modules, tests and stories will be displayed on the top right corner of the screen. These progress tracking data will be uploaded to our central monitoring drive for analysis when the app is synced to internet connection every four to six weeks. 

Data on reading improvement is gathered through quarterly assessments measuring learners’ Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension skills. Individual assessment of a student’s reading is based on their audio recording of reading leveled texts. Students using MYReaders reading programme show significant positive improvement in reading proficiency; for example in 2020 our students attained: 

• 42 hours of extra reading time per child with one-to-one support by trained volunteer tutors

• Significant reading growth of up to 81% increase in word recognition and 4 years of growth in reading fluency 

Next Year: 2000 underserved students in Malaysia will receive remedial literacy through our platform. 2000 parents, 500 teachers, and 1600 volunteers equipped through existing strategic partnerships with private entities and the Ministry of Education.

3 Years: Solution delivered through all 16 state education offices in Malaysia reaching 6000 sponsored underserved students in the public school system. Our community network expands to target 200 communities (benefitting estimated 4000 families with sponsored literacy support) across MY, TH, VN, IND & PH by equipping partner organisations and/or government agencies to replicate our proven delivery mechanisms. We will acquire 5000 paying users from middle-upper income families needing literacy solutions, through partner marketing initiatives. Quantitative and qualitative literacy data from our user base of 15,000 students are made available to public, private, and social impact sectors to raise regional literacy initiatives.

5 Years: Our solution is distributed to all district education offices in Malaysia to reach a cumulative 10,000 public school students. Our community approach will reach a cumulative 500 communities (10,000 families) across Southeast Asia.10,000 paying users will be onboarded.

Our solution will shift the education landscape by providing a comprehensive platform for public/private entities to support improving literacy among children, while making available meaningful data to inform and adapt long term approaches. Our solution will impact the conventional face-to-face teaching of reading and create shifts towards a student-focused self-learning system, supported by an ecosystem of sponsors and learning facilitators. Additionally, our solution will facilitate increased collaboration between home and schools. 

Technology: A challenge is optimising our solution for high accessibility in contexts with low bandwidth/internet connectivity. We are pursuing the use of technology that allows for pre-downloaded materials, configured into devices for offline accessibility; where data is stored on the device’s local storage and online syncing is done to validate data on our backend.

Product: Building digital literacy amongst our target group is a key focus for us. This calls for an app interface design which is friendly to users with low literacy. While we've learned about evidence-based mobile features that work for our target community, we lack connections with technology experts or software developers that could partner with us to integrate the best fit of technology in our application. 

Financing: Our solution requires finances for resources such as application development. Our current source of revenue is garnered from sales of our literacy toolkits, government grants and partnerships, but this income is also used to carry out existing programmes such as our school and community-based literacy programmes. Thus, we seek avenues for financing which does not disrupt our existing operations.

Market entry: Our existing network connects us to underserved communities all across Malaysia. However, we lack the network or support system necessary to venture into new markets in TH, PH, IND and VN. We are seeking experienced mentor(s) and network partners who are able to work with us to expand into new markets, and advise on the business and marketing strategies for market fit.

MYReaders was founded in 2015. Our mission is to empower children, through communities, by providing structured reading programmes so that one day, every child will be able to read.

It was started by four teachers, Teach For Malaysia alumni who were teaching in high-need schools in different parts of the country. As public school teachers, we were faced by the scale of illiteracy among students. Together, we developed literacy modules based on the Southeast Asian context, structured to guide learners to develop literacy skills step-by-step. Over 2 years of piloting, our modules helped learners attain measurable outcomes in reading. This was our motivation to start our organisation - to share our modules and methods with school teachers and communities and help more disadvantaged children close their literacy gap. Since then, MYReaders' flagship reading programme, along with our teacher capacity building and modules development efforts, has impacted more than 31,000 learners.

From our experiences, we’ve learned that while targeted support is key in remedial reading, it is difficult to provide at scale, especially in contexts where learners do not have access to literate adults, and device/internet connectivity to receive remote support. Covid-19 presented the critical need to overcome these barriers. During this period, we mobilised volunteer tutors to provide one-on-one support to underserved students from a distance using Whatsapp. Our motivation to develop our solution is to use our knowledge and lessons gained throughout the years to meet the scale of need for literacy support among underserved communities in this region. 

Team Lead:1 full time

Partnership & Marketing: 1 full time, 1 part time, 1 intern

Solution & Training: 2 full time, 1 intern

Product & Content development: 1 full time, 2 part time, 5 contractors

Volunteer tutors: More than 800 have been trained to use our programmes

Our team lead is Rachael Francis, our current Director of Programmes and Training, a former English teacher and Teach For Malaysia alumni who holds a BA (Hons) in English Language from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from Universiti Utara Malaysia. Currently the Vice President of the Teach For Malaysia Alumni Network, Rachael has a cumulative 8 years of experience in the education field encompassing teaching, programme management, content development, teacher training and coaching. 

Pioneering the development of MYReaders' solution is Charis Ding, co-founder and Director of Learning and Development. She holds a BA in English from the National University of Malaysia and has 8 years of experience in education including teaching, literacy support, content development and teacher training. She holds an MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford, with a research focus on literacy and learning. 

The MYReaders literacy modules were developed with input from teachers and included illustrations by teachers and students. Our co-founders tested out the initial modules by running reading programmes in their respective schools in 2014 before partnering with the Ministry of Education to pilot our programme in more schools in 2016. 

We are a grassroots organisation that works closely with partners, teachers, funders as well as communities to reach children through our tailored solutions informed by stakeholders’ input. In recent times, we have been intentionally adopting a participatory approach in programme design from the inception stage and continuously iterating our solution based on feedback gathered.

In March 2020, due to nationwide school closures, our school programmes in 10 schools involving peer mentors were disrupted. Although we had found a way for volunteer tutors to read with students over WhatsApp using the voice note feature, it wasn’t as easily rolled out in schools due to an unavailability of enough volunteer tutors to meet the scale. 

Using a participatory approach with input from a roundtable discussion with parents and teachers in June 2020; and input from school leaders and teachers at the start of 2021, Rachael designed our very first parent reading programme in under a month. The programme collects feedback from parents on a weekly basis to inform programme implementation tweaks. 

Starting with 7 schools, we’ve equipped 109 families as their child’s first teachers regardless of their own literacy levels with the support of 24 teachers. The model requires the presence of a caregiver or older sibling as a facilitator as the child accesses MYReaders’ digital resources curated in Google Classroom. Through the model, which involves parent briefings and upskilling webinars for home literacy practices, we were able to build the capacity and confidence of parents that they are indeed capable of supporting learning at home.

We have been partnering with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center (MaGIC) as part of their Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator and Scale up (PUSH) programme to increase our social impact by strengthening our business model and financial sustainability. We are also accredited as a Social Enterprise by the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (MED) and MaGIC in 2020. Recently, through the MaGIC Social Impact Matching Grant, we are training 8 partner organisations that work locally in their various communities to impact 200 (B40) children through our solution.

Our other long-term partners, the Malaysian Collective Impact Initiative and Hong Leong Foundation have been supporting and funding us in bringing our solutions to children and parents through our school programmes since 2019. This year we are serving 109 families through this partnership.

Our community partners are non-profit societies, children welfare homes, charitable organizations and learning centers that seek to use our solution as part of their curriculum in reaching out and empowering the various communities that they serve. We train both the community managers and volunteer teachers to use our modules and reading assessments as well as provide support that gradually allow our partners to run the programmes on their own.

After eight years of working closely with thousands of students, teachers and caregivers to provide literacy solutions through schools and communities, we’ve gained valuable insight on the approaches, methods, and materials that work to enable underserved learners attain literacy. We’ve built strong partnerships with public and private agencies, and meaningful cooperation with community groups. We have continuously learned, adapted, and grown from our beginnings as teachers to achieving sustainability as a full-fledged social enterprise at the cusp of further expansion. 

Our Literacy App solution culminates from our applied research and practise through these years - we believe it has the potential to bring positive impact to thousands of underserved students in the region. We are applying to the Challenge because a partnership with Octava and MIT Solve could make this goal attainable. We currently face barriers of technology to develop the full features of our app and ensure that it may be deployed affordably and accessibly in underserved communities. Being able to access your network of technology partners and mentors will be invaluable in helping us address the challenge of integrating the right underlying technology to deploy our app on basic mobile phones and ensure a seamless user experience. We also seek your help with learning and development opportunities to allow us to further shape our business model and plans for scaling. We seek support from your network to enable us to expand into the broader Southeast Asian market beyond our current scope within Malaysia.

We aim to strengthen our organization capacity and the service we provide to our beneficiaries through partnerships especially in terms of technology and technical support, in particular software development, testing, data analysis and maintenance. For instance, working with Google Analytics for Firebase under Google Education for NGO to set up an efficient analytics system for our app. We aim to make the app as automated and sustainable as possible through technology, without neglecting the personalized user experience. For this, we target to secure partnership with organisations such as Elek, an app development company whose CSR initiative aims for education for all.  

Mentorships or partnerships to advise us on our business and marketing strategy will also greatly strengthen our organization in order to be able to grow and sustain the work that we do. We would like to prioritize getting our solutions to the neediest children through various grants and funding, but also recognize that our solutions are equally applicable to paying clients. We seek experienced professionals and partners who are able to mentor and journey along with us as we explore a new market and position our brand.