The objective of this study was to determine whether gender stereotypes are present in elementary reading, textbooks published during the 1980s, and how the extent of stereotyping compares with textbooks published during the last two decades. Both manifest and latent content analyses were performed on a random sample of stories drawn from 4th and 5th grade reading textbooks. Chi-square analyses were performed to determine whether significant changes have occurred with regard to gender stereotypes over the last three decades, controlling for publishing company and sex of author. Five different publishing companies, randomly selected from a list of thirteen publishers approved for use by the Virginia Board of Education in 1988, were represented in the sample. The manifest content, was analyzed by comparing the number of male and female characters, number of female and male main characters, types of occupations held by male and female characters, number of females and males in illustrations, and the race of characters. The latent content was analyzed by comparing the sex of characters most likely to exhibit each of seven different gender,stereotyped traits.. The latent content was further analyzed by looking for gender stereotyped themes and quotes, and non-traditional themes and quotes in stories. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a whole language reading strategy using two different types of texts, regular text and language experience text in teaching adults to read. The participants were four prison inmates between the ages of twenty-six and twenty-eight. Data were collected during an eight-week period, which included thirty-two private sessions with each participant. These private sessions were composed of lessons using whole-language texts in which participants read aloud both regular (published) and language-experience texts in a single-subject Alternating Treatments Design. The dependent measures were sight words learned, miscues, and achievement in word recognition and comprehension. The results indicated that, under the treatments, each participant achieved modest gains in general word recognition and comprehension. Sight word acquisition occurred under the treatment conditions, and miscue patterns were influenced by the type of materials used. Additionally, each participant reflected a growth in a positive attitude towards reading. / Ed. D.

This group of lessons is intended to help the child who does not speak Spanish to learn the language. The text is based on the interests of a child; in his dramatic attempts; in his love of the beautiful and the natural. It is not entirely complete, but the author hopes that it serves to give an idea how these materials can be used.

The present study is an analysis of six primers adopted for use in the public schools of Texas with the idea of comparing word-meanings used in the six books in order to find out possible sequences for the use of the books.

For almost a century Shakespeare’s work has been viewed primarily under a supremacy of performance with an insistence that Shakespeare wrote his work to be staged, not read. This prevailing view has ensured that most responses in Shakespearean research fit within this line of enquiry. The recent argument that Shakespeare was a literary dramatist who wrote for readers—as well as audiences—has met with resistance. This thesis first exposes the very literate world Shakespeare lived in and his own perception of that world, which embraces a writer who wrote for readers. The material evidence of readers begins in Shakespeare’s own lifetime and grows steadily, evidenced by the editorial methods used to facilitate reading, the profusion of books specifically for readers of general interest, and the thousands of lay reading circles formed to enjoy and study the plays. Readers of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries are shown to have spontaneously responded to the works as literature, as reading Shakespeare aloud within a family or social circle has a tenacious history. For three hundred years after Shakespeare’s death it was readers and Shakespeare reading groups who created and maintained Shakespeare’s legacy as a literary icon and national hero. The history of millions of lay readers reading aloud in community was engulfed by the transition of the texts into academia and performance criticism until by the 1940s Shakespeare reading groups were virtually non-existent. A new genre of editorial practice can support a re-emergence of community reading and point toward a greater acceptance of Shakespeare as a literary dramatist, enlarging the field of Shakespearean scholarship and criticism. A prototype of a Readers’ Edition of a Shakespearean play specifically edited and designed for reading aloud in groups is included with this thesis.

Early readers are defined as students that are able to read fluently before beginning year 1. In this study, I have investigated some teachers' perceptions of early readers and the teaching of early readers from a phenomenographic research approach. The empirical evidence of the study consists of six recorded and semi-structured interviews with primary school teachers from three public schools. All participants have been involved in teaching students that are early readers. The inductive and phenomenographic inspired analysis generated eight different categories based on the participants' perceptions of early readers, and the other four categories addressed the perceptions of the teaching of early readers. Early readers are in general perceived to be strong, alternatively to be affected by factors at home, to have a strong motivation, or to have gained input from the pre-school and pre-school classes. The perceptions about the teaching of early readers are either based on their specific needs and the need of challenges that should be provided by the teacher, or the inclusion of the early readers in groups, in order to increase the involvement in a group learning process. Other perceptions are that the early reader should learn based on the current possessed level of knowledge, or that the early reader can be a resource for other students. The result of this study can be related to previous research, suggesting that the development of reading can occur in several different ways and that the teacher's own knowledge, attitude, and willingness in meeting with early readers, is significant for the student's motivation and future reading development. The findings in this study suggest that teaching of early readers requires reflection and presence from the teachers, and reflections of what, how, and why the teaching is performed in a certain way, and how it can benefit early readers.

The purpose of this project was to prepare a group interpretation script based upon the life of Sinclair Lewis and to direct a production of the script. Major sources for the script are Mark Schorer, Sinclair Lewis: An American Life; Grace Hegger Lewis, With Love From Gracie; and Vincent Sheean, Dorothy and Red. The script employs five readers and has a performance time of approximately fifty-five minutes. The thesis includes a biography of Lewis, a justification for the project, the purpose and procedures followed, as well as discussions of the production concept, adapting material for group interpretation, direction, rehearsal procedures, and evaluations of the script and the performance. The complete script is also included in the thesis.

The objective of this thesis is to clarify the term efective reading and what belongs to this topic, also to explore how the meaning of this term changes in the field of the electronic documents. This work also examines the reader's options of working with text and his view in this matter. Eye movements are analysed in first chapter. The term efective reading and its related concepts are analysed in chapter two. Third chapter is dealing with efective screen reading and characteristics of electronic texts. The possibilities of user work with texts on e- book readers and software e-book readers are examined in fourth chapter. Fifth chapter assesses online e-book readers. Questionnaire survey concerning reading of electronic documents is evaluated in chapter six.

This study includes an analysis of the autobiographies of William A. Owens, a contemporary writer, educator, and Texas folklorist; a discussion of Owens' educational experiences and attitudes; an explanation of Readers Theatre requirements; and a fifty to fifty-five minute Readers Theatre script, "Lighting the Lamp: William A. Owens' School Days in Pin Hook." The script portrays Owens as a Texas schoolboy and country schoolteacher and it conveys some of Owens' attitudes about education. The script was adapted from Owens' two autobiographies, This Stubborn Soil and A Season of Weathering, to be performed by junior and senior high school students.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Elementary Education / Marjorie Hancock / A portion of the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), Response to Intervention (RtI), aims to prevent unnecessary student placement in special education. The intent of RtI is to provide all students with effective classroom instruction first and afford low-performing students with increasingly intensive, individualized interventions (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Vaughn,2008). Although there is considerable information available in regard to the effectiveness of the multi-tiered model of the Response to Intervention approach to deliver intervention services to struggling readers (Speece & Walker, 2007), very little is known about implementing RtI in the schools (Allington, 2009). This qualitative, exploratory, collective case study was conducted during the fall/spring semesters of the 2009/2010 school year between November 16, 2009 and February 26, 2010. This study investigated how three kindergarten classroom teachers, located in two elementary schools, delivered Tier 2 literacy instruction to kindergarten struggling readers within the Response to Intervention model in the classroom setting. Multiple data sources were gathered from interviews with administrators and teachers, guided conversations with students, classroom observations and field notes, and documents/artifacts. Data were collected and analyzed during three phases of the study. This study’s findings established that in the new era of Response to Intervention (RtI), teachers were able to apply literacy instructional approaches and pedagogy based on their teaching philosophy to address the needs of at-risk struggling readers within the kindergarten classroom environment. However, data analysis revealed dissimilar perceptions of the three case study teachers regarding their roles and responsibilities teaching literacy within the Response to Intervention approach which influenced how they delivered Tier 2 intervention instruction. The three classroom teachers utilized the modeled, shared, and guided approaches to literacy instruction and provided lessons in phonemic awareness and phonics during Tier 2 small group literacy interventions. In addition, the data collection and analysis identified three pedagogies which occurred during Tier 2 instruction: 1) monitoring of learning; 2) encouraging and supportive learning environments; and 3) feedback and reinforcement. Data analysis also revealed the student participant benefits included positive attitudes towards reading, students’ perception of themselves as self-confident and motivated readers, development of an emerging love of reading, and enjoyment of practicing their reading skills in small groups.