Denna kvalitativa intervjustudie hade som syfte att synliggöra hur verksamma lärare i årskurs 4–6 motiverar sina val av läsinlärningsmetoder. Det var fem lärare som intervjuades via telefon eller genom personligt möte. Lärarnas svar transkriberades och sammanställdes med hjälp av färgkodning för att på detta sätt kunna se likheter och skillnader mellan lärarnas svar på de olika frågorna. Det som framkom av dessa intervjuer och i analysen var att lärare i första hand använder sig av beprövad erfarenhet och sin egen tysta kunskap om sina elever när de väljer undervisningsmetod. / <p>Svenska</p>

Explicit metacognitive instruction is hypothesised to have positive consequences for the cognitive processing skills of learners, resulting in improved academic performance. Such instruction is likely to be beneficial across the curriculum, but particularly for reading, as low literacy levels are reported in South Africa. A paradigm shift in instruction appears necessary to enhance the current literacy levels in South African schools. This study examined the impact of a Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA), metacognitive intervention on reading comprehension in 83 Grade six learners in two mainstream government schools in Gauteng. Its theoretical and conceptual basis was informed by Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development and Feuerstein’s theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability. The study utilised a pre-and post-test, mixed methods, quasi-experimental and cross-lagged research design. The metacognitive intervention was presented to two groups within the experimental school, each with 28 learners, who received the intervention over two phases in the school year (Group one in Term 1 and Group 2 in Term 2). The control school received only regular classroom teaching and served as a comparison against which the experimental school could be measured. Standardised quantitative data was collected from the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) and the Joint Education Trust (JET) reading comprehension test. Qualitative data was collected from semi-structured interviews, sentence completion tasks, focus groups and feedback from the teacher and parents, pre- and post-intervention. The results indicated that the learners in the experimental school did not show any statistically significant differences in their reading comprehension or CAS scores following the intervention, when compared to the control school. However, the qualitative data revealed increased awareness of the effects of the metacognitive instruction on reading in particular and on learning in general. The intervention also provided opportunities for the learners to reflect on their thinking processes through group discussions, as well as individual tasks. Transfer of skills taught in the intervention could not be confirmed, as post-test results may reflect application when assessed immediately following the intervention, but may not necessarily indicate precise or sustained transfer. Nevertheless, increased learner, parent and teacher metacognitive awareness was evident in the qualitative responses following the intervention and this provides an indication for how educational pedagogy in South Africa could be adjusted. Metacognitive instruction promotes reflection, evaluation and monitoring of thinking and learning processes which may not be observed on the quantitative measures over the duration of this study, but may need a longer period to become consolidated and transfer to other areas. This study contributed to the knowledge base regarding cognitive education, by demonstrating the qualitative value of explicit metacognitive instruction in reading comprehension.

The field of psychometrics in South Africa faces many challenges. Among these are, that practitioners in the field of psychology do not always have access to standardised assessments for the South African context. Imported assessments pose various biases to South Africa’s multilingual and multicultural situations, hence the need for test adaptation. The Suffolk Reading Scale (2) (SRS2) is an English proficiency assessment that measures reading comprehension. English, being the language of learning and teaching in most South African schools, makes the SRS2 a significant gain to practitioners and the field of psychometrics. Consequently, this research aimed to narrow the gaps in this area of knowledge and contribute to it by evaluating the applicability of the SRS2 as a measure of reading comprehension for South African learners. Primary school learners in Kwa-Zulu Natal were administered the SRS2. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the degree of reliability of the SRS2. Of the 338 participants, 51.9 percent (n=140) of the sample were female, and 48.1 percent (n=130) were male. Sixty-six percent (n=164) of the participants spoke English as an Additional Language (EAL), while thirty-four percent (n=83) spoke English as a first language (EFL). Results indicated a significant difference in performance between EFL and EAL learners, whereby EAL learners performed lower than EFL learners. However there was no difference in performance between female learners and their male counterparts on individual items of the SRS2. The SRS2 proved to have a suitable internal consistency; however questions of bias do arise.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / Students' with moderate special needs learning difficulties often manifest as reading struggles. These students commonly struggle with decoding words because of weak phonics skills, limited automatic recognition of high frequency words and/or limited vocabulary. A further challenge for the struggling readers is to focus on comprehension while decoding. Given that these students reading comprehension and fluency generally do not improve commensurate with reading demands as they move through school, exploring other possibilities such as the use of theatre arts techniques to teach English/Language Arts may identify an alternative intervention that builds comprehension and fluency in academic reading. Through my experience as a teacher I have used theatre in the classroom as a teaching and motivational tool. This study was conducted using a multiple case study design accompanied by the teacher researcher's perspective on the impact of the theatre infused curriculum. This dissertation focuses on the effect of a reading comprehension and fluency curriculum infused with theatre techniques on students' with moderate special needs literacy engagement, fluency, and comprehension. Informing this study is empirical research on teaching reading comprehension and fluency to students with moderate disabilities, as well as empirical research on the use of theatre techniques in curriculum. Data included reading performances and outcomes, observations of students, a teacher reflection journal, and student interviews. Thematic analysis was used to develop codes to inform the study's major themes. The study has four main findings: study participants who put in the most effort increased their comprehension score, all study participants, regardless of their reading levels or reading rates on the pre-test, made improvements on both by the end of the nine week study, writing assignments in the character analysis and skit writing activities require longer periods of exposure for the study participants to master them, and performing builds confidence over time, in a supportive environment. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

陈启山. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-129). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Chen Qishan.

伍惠章. / 論文(碩士) -- 香港中文大學硏究院敎育學部,1995. / 參考文獻: leaves 72-83. / Wu Huizhang. / Chapter 第一章 --- 前言 / Chapter 第一節 --- 硏究動機 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二節 --- 硏究意義 --- p.2 / Chapter 第三節 --- 硏究問題及目的 --- p.3-5 / Chapter 第二章 --- 文獻及理論 / Chapter 第一節 --- 閱讀速度的界說 / Chapter (一） --- 影響閱讀速度的早期看法 --- p.6-8 / Chapter (二） --- 閱讀速度的認知觀念 --- p.9-10 / Chapter (三） --- 「速讀」與「讀聽」的界說 --- p.11-12 / Chapter 第二節 --- 閱讀速度與閱讀準確度的關係 / Chapter (一） --- 認知速度與閱讀速度關係的硏究 --- p.13-15 / Chapter (二） --- 認知能力與閱讀準確度關係的硏究 --- p.16-17 / Chapter (三） --- 閱讀速度與閱讀準確度關係的硏究 18- --- p.20. / Chapter (四） --- 訓練對改善閱讀速度的硏究 --- p.21-23 / Chapter 第三節 --- 讀聽理論 / Chapter (一） --- 閱讀理解過程 --- p.24-26 / Chapter (二） --- 讀聽理論I& II及其操作定義 --- p.26-36 / Chapter 第三章 --- 硏究方法 / Chapter (一） --- 假設 --- p.37 / Chapter (二） --- 樣本 --- p.37-39 / Chapter (三） --- 材料 --- p.40 / Chapter (四） --- 工具 --- p.40-44 / Chapter (五） --- 訓練方法 --- p.44-45 / Chapter (六） --- 實驗程序 --- p.45-46 / Chapter (七） --- 資料分析 --- p.46 / Chapter 第四章 --- 結果與討論 / Chapter (一） --- 閱讀速度的硏究 --- p.47-50 / Chapter (二） --- 閱讀理解準確度硏究 --- p.50-57 / Chapter (三） --- 閱讀速度與閱讀準確度的關係硏究 --- p.58-65 / Chapter (四） --- 閱讀速度與閱讀效能的關係 --- p.65-66 / Chapter 第五章 --- 摘要、結論與建議 / Chapter (一） --- 摘要 --- p.67-68 / Chapter (二） --- 結論 --- p.69-70 / Chapter (三） --- 建議 --- p.71 / 參考文獻 --- p.72-83 / 附錄 一.中二學生閱讀速度常態測驗 (塡充題測驗） --- p.84 / Chapter 二. --- 中二學生閱讀速度常態測驗 --- p.85 / Chapter 三. --- 中二學生閱讀速度常態是非題 及答案 --- p.86 / Chapter 四. --- 擴闊視域訓練字串卡 --- p.87 / Chapter 五. --- 讀速訓練上課時間表 --- p.88 / Chapter 六. --- 速讀練習登記表 --- p.89 / Chapter 七. --- 控制組及實驗組學生的閱讀 速度常態測驗(塡充題測驗） --- p.90 / Chapter 八. --- 控制組及實驗組學生的閱讀 速度常態測驗 --- p.92 / Chapter 九. --- 控制組及實驗組前測的匹個 閱讀理解準確度測驗及答案 --- p.94 / Chapter 十. --- 控制組及實驗組後測速度測 試及答案 --- p.100 / Chapter 十一. --- 控制組及實驗組後測的匹個 閱讀理解準確度測驗及答案 --- p.102

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of mental imagery to reading comprehension of third grade children. The paragraphs used for the imagery study were taken from the stories tested for reading comprehension. Throughout this study, mental imagery shall be considered to be an image which a child reports after hearing the paragraphs read to him by the examiner. During the testing period there is an opportunity for the child to report the images he perceives, whether it be of a visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, or kinaesthetic nature.

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The purpose of this study was to confirm and extend previous findings on the direct instruction of expository text structure using social studies content for second-grade students. A total of 16 classrooms (N = 258) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Text Structure (TS) Program, Content-Only (CO) Program, or No Treatment (Control) group. The TS Program consisted of five units, with each unit focusing on one text structure (sequence, compare-contrast, cause-effect, description, and problem-solution) and on one historical community (Native Americans, Colonists, Pioneers, Immigrants, modern urban residents). Students in TS learned strategies for reading and closely analyzing well-structured text: clue words, strategy questions, and graphic organizers. Other activities included trade book reading and summary writing. Students in the CO Program studied the same five historical communities, read the same trade books, closely read the same well-structured texts, and also wrote summaries, but did not explicitly learn about the text structure or its related strategies. Results from two-level hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that students in TS significantly outperformed the other two groups in Comprehension Written Summary measures (main idea, structure statements) in both the end-of-unit tests given immediately after each unit and in the posttest given at the very end of the year-long program. Students in TS also significantly outperformed the other two groups in some Comprehension Transfer measures (sentence completion, main idea questions and paragraph structure identification questions). Students in TS also showed some transfer to comprehending authentic text. TS outperformed the control group in structure-related comprehension questions, but did not outperform the CO group, although the overall pattern of results across the three conditions was the same as that of the other measures. Additional analyses showed some potential benefits of the program for students with initially low reading comprehension skills. Results also suggest that text structure lessons can be simultaneously taught within social studies without reducing acquisition of content knowledge, since there were no significant differences between TS and CO on content outcome measures, and both groups outperformed the control group.

This study examined how three different pre-reading (or relevance) instructions led to different learning outcomes for middle school students reading science texts on the topic of sweetness. The first was a generic instruction to read for understanding. The second prompted students to form a holistic explanation of the topic of sweetness, and the third instruction prompted students to focus on the core scientific principle of the relationship between structure and function. The latter two were specifically designed to align with science disciplinary goals. A comparison of the three treatments found that the generic instruction and the structure-function instruction led to better learning outcomes, measured by recall, short-answer performance questions, and a traditional multiple-choice/short-answer assessment. A qualitative analysis of the data also revealed some small yet notable differences in the recall pattern of students, such as an increased recall of key ideas for the structure-function instruction. This effect was seen predominantly for higher-skilled readers. The results suggest the possibility that relevance instructions targeting core ideas may help to orient students to the key ideas and explanations in scientific text, especially for higher-skilled readers, and indirectly highlights some of the challenges for students with less reading competencies. Overall, this study provides greater insight into how middle-school students read science texts, the effectiveness of instructor-provided relevance instructions in promoting (higher-level) comprehension of science texts, and implications for teachers on how to use texts in science instruction.