Synergy between explicit teaching, ICT integration, and the TaRL approach: structural modeling of learning gains

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program when enriched by the judicious use of Information and Communication Technologies for Education (ICTE), from an explicit teaching perspective. The objective is to identify the factors that promote learning progress when remediation is differentiated according to students' actual skill levels. The experiment involved 1,152 students from public schools in Casablanca (Morocco), grouped by level of proficiency in Arabic, French, and mathematics, according to the TaRL approach. The data were analyzed using ADANCO (PLS-SEM) software to test seven hypotheses linking the students' final positioning to pedagogical, motivational, and technological variables. The results show that the strongest relationships concern techno-pedagogical motivation (β = 0.3803, p < 0.001) and initial skill level (β = 0.3684, p < 0.001). Digital autonomy and frequency of use have a moderate positive effect, while hypotheses related to preference alignment are not significant. These results confirm that the impact of ICT in education depends less on perceived personalization than on didactic consistency and explicit guidance. The study thus proposes an empirical model integrating TaRL, ICT, and explicit teaching, contributing to a more equitable and structured digital pedagogy.