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Reading English literature can help learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to develop their reading ability as well as other language skills. Reading can also have other benefits for EFL students such as learning about the target language’s culture or learn about an English variety in written form. This present study investigates what types of literature are used in Swedish upper secondary school, the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards short stories compared to simplified novels/graded readers and their preferred assessment methods associated with literature teaching. The majority of the teachers that took part in this survey have a positive attitude towards short stories and use them in their EFL classes. The results also show that after the students have completed reading a short story, most of the teachers that participated in this survey preferred to combine examination methods such as a group discussion with a written test. The title of this paper comes from one of the informants’ comments when asked if she would rather use a short story or a graded reader in her English class. This informant had used graded readers in her English language classroom, but she and everyone that took part in this survey chose short stories over graded readers.

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Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / Improving reading comprehension for middle school students with disabilities and others who struggle with reading, referred to here as striving readers, is challenging. Formal reading instruction typically shifts from skills acquisition to application in middle and high school, providing inadequate support in the skills for comprehension (Chall, 1983; Klingner et al., 2007). Further, both students with disabilities and striving readers can have negative school experiences which impact their reader identities and cause them to become disengaged from learning. It is increasingly challenging for secondary teachers to provide interventions which explicitly teach and reinforce critical comprehension skills while sustaining student engagement. An experimental screenplay intervention designed by the researcher to increase visualization and promote reading comprehension was used. The intervention was based on research by Snyder (2005) identifying elements of a screenplay, similar to story grammar. Movies were used first as a novel way to engage learners; visual supports were gradually reduced as students transferred visualizing skills to texts of increasing complexity. The readers used plot diagrams to organize the elements graphically in support of their comprehension. Seven middle school students with high incidence disabilities and striving readers learned to identify seven elements of a screenplay in a 3-week online researcher-developed intervention. A mixed-methods case study design was used to identify reading-related outcomes and students’ experiences (attitudes and behaviors) of reading as they learned the intervention. Data were collected for reading comprehension, recognition of screenplay elements, and visualization skills. Reading behaviors, attitudes, identities, and motivation for reading were also assessed. Findings revealed whole-class mean score gains in passage and sentence level comprehension, pre-to-post. Students also learned the screenplay elements and were proficient in finding examples within a text. Further, the students reported greater details at post-test when reporting their visualizations and when describing elements. Case studies of three students representing three reading proficiency levels upon entrance to the study revealed distinct experiences for each. Implications for reading instruction are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

(in English) The thesis deals with a support of reading with aim effort to offered service, organizing cultural and educational actions in the Municipal Library of Prague. The first part solves theoretical definition and the meaning of reading. There are briefly explained some terms that relate to - reading, the reader, reading socialization, reading literacy, etc. Factors that influence reading process and education for reading are monitored, as well. Furthermore, national representative projects supporting reading primarily in libraries are presented at my work, too. The second part of my work is focused on the Municipal Library of Prague and its role in supporting reading. It describes the library from the view of its mission, the way of financing (funding) and organization structure. The essential part pays attention to the presentation of specialized sections and services, which are provided in the library. It describes different actions supporting reading or providing propagation of the library. Last but not least, the different sections of the Municipal Library of Prague are depicted here with attention to organizing cultural and educational actions, which contributes to supporting reading. In conclusion, acquired pieces of knowledge are summarized and the future of the Municipal Library of...

This master thesis focuses on social networks and websites for readers. The first part includes an introduction to the topic, it also presents several typologies of users of social networks coupled with the characteristics specific to the users of readers networks, including structure of these sites in general. A detailed analysis of selected Czech and foreign networks and websites follows, while special attention was paid to the projects Goodreads and Databáze knih. The research section includes processed data and the results of the questionnaire survey and structured interviews with users of Goodreads. Preferences and opinions of the respondents sample of users were analyzed during the survey in order to outline the characteristics of the reader network, which will meet the user's requirements and expectations. Key words: social networks, websites for readers, reading

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