Abstract The aim of this study is to explore how some teachers work with reading comprehension of factualtexts in grade two. The study also analyzes how these teachers teach reading strategies and how theymotivate their students to read factual texts. The data were collected through observations andinterviews and the findings shows that the socio-cultural perspective is the basis of the teachers´classroom. The teachers use reading comprehension strategies in their teaching but the students arenot aware of these strategies when they read and understand a text on their own. The teachers use avariety of activities, e.g. videos, photos and texts, to motivate their students to read factual texts.

I föreliggande examensarbete har fem historielärares uppfattningar kring elevers läsförståelse, läsande av historiska texter, dess påverkan av undervisningen och ämnet undersökts. Syftet med examensarbetet är att belysa sambandet mellan elevers läsförståelse och deras utvecklande av historiemedvetande. En kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts för att generera data, som har genomgått en analys med metoden grounded theory. För att besvara examensarbetets syfte har arbetet två forskningsfrågor, nämligen hur historielärare arbetar med elevers läsande av historiska texter samt hur historielärarna upplever att elevernas svårigheter med textläsningen påverkar historieundervisningen. Historielärarna har ett antal strategier som de använde sig av när eleverna skulle läsa historiska texter i historieundervisningen. Strategierna kan kategoriseras som begrepp och elevers ordförråd, högläsning, diskussion, förkunskap och att anpassa och tydliggöra för eleverna. Historielärarna upplevde att elevers svårigheter med textläsningen påverkar historieundervisningen, vilket har genererat att lärare undviker och minskar omfånget text och att det finns ett behov av strategier när historiska texter ska läsas. Resultatet visade utifrån undersökningen, dess teoretiska ramverk och forskningsläge, att historiska texter kan främja för elevers utvecklande av historiemedvetande, men på grund av deras bristande läsförståelse behöver de få stöd av strategier. Strategierna som lärarna använde sig av är betydelsefulla för elevers läsförståelse, läsande av historiska texter och utvecklande av historiemedvetande. Detta resultat har även kunnat stärkas med vetenskaplig forskning som berör historiemedvetande och läsförståelse. / Five history teachers’ perceptions of students reading comprehension, reading of historical texts, the influence of education and the subject has been examined in this article. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the relationship between students' reading comprehension and their development of historical consciousness. A qualitative method of semi-structured interviews was used to generate data that has undergone analysis method grounded theory. To answer the article purpose this article has two research questions, namely how history teachers work with students reading of historical texts and how the history teachers feel that students' difficulties with the text reading affects the teaching of history. History teachers have a number of strategies that they use when students would read historical texts in history teaching. The strategies can be categorized as concept and students' vocabulary, reading aloud, discussion, qualifications, and to adapt and make clear to the students. History teachers felt that students' difficulties with the text reading affects the teaching of history, which has generated that the teacher avoids and reduces the scope of the text and there for there is a need of strategies when historical texts are to be read. The results showed on the basis of the study, its theoretical framework and research location, the historical texts can promote the students' development of historical consciousness, but because out of their lack of reading skills they need to get the support of strategies. The strategies that the teachers made use of is important for students' reading comprehension, reading of historical texts and development of historical consciousness. This result has also been strengthened with scientific research relating to historical awareness and reading comprehension.

·   Denna undersökning behandlar lärares inställning till och användning av läsförståelsestrategier i undervisningen. För att elever ska utveckla sin läsförmåga räcker det inte att endast läsa mycket. Eleverna behöver också en explicit undervisning i lässtrategier. Utifrån ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv  är syftet att undersöka lärares inställning till olika typer av läsförståelsestrategier och deras mål med användningen av dessa i undervisningen för förskoleklass till årskurs 3.   För att besvara undersökningens syfte används följande frågeställningar:      · Vilka olika typer av läsförståelsestrategier används av tillfrågade lärarna och i vilket syfte?       ·   Vad har lärarna sett i praktiken att läsförståelsestrategier kan bidra med för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse?        · Vilken roll anser de tillfrågade lärarna att de har under textsamtal och i relation till undervisning av läsförståelsestrategier?           Material för undersökningen består av kvalitativa intervjuer av nio lärare verksamma i förskoleklass till årskurs 3. Resultatet visar att de intervjuade lärarna ser läsförståelsestrategier dels som redskap för läraren för att kunna ge eleverna en explicit undervisning i läsförståelse och dels som verktyg till eleverna för att de genom användning av strategierna ska kunna skapa en förståelse av texten på flera olika plan. / This study deals with teachers' attitude to reading comprehension strategies and its use in teaching. It is not enough to read a lot for students to develop their reading skills. Students also need explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies. From a social- constructivist perspective, the aim is to explore teachers' attitudes to different types of reading comprehension strategies and their goal of using these in teaching for preschool to grade 3. In order to answer the aim of this study following questions is being used:   What kinds of reading comprehension strategies do the surveyed teachers use and for what purpose?   What have teachers seen in practice that reading comprehension strategies can contribute with in order to develop students reading comprehension?   What role considers the surveyed teachers that they have during text talks and in relation to the teaching of reading comprehension strategies?   Materials for the study consists of qualitative interviews with nine teachers working in preschool up to third grade. The results show that the interviewed teachers see reading comprehension strategies as implements for the teacher to be able to give students an explicit instruction in reading comprehension and as tools for the students to be able to create an understanding of text on several different levels.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The construction of macro-structures. Four reading-improvement courses were offered to grade ten pupils in an attempt to improve their general reading skills and more specifically their ability to abstract the gist (macrostructure - Van Dijk and Kintsch, 1983) of texts as well as their ability to recall detail about texts. The macro-structures that learners constructed and the number of propositions recalled from a specific section of the text during a pre-test were compared to the macrostructures they formulated and the number of propositions that they recalled during a post-test. The courses were presented in Afrikaans to four of the five grade 10 classes in a Western Cape school. (The course was also presented in English to the fifth class but that course was not taken into consideration.) The courses were conducted over eight periods of approximately 40 minutes. The content of the first three periods were the same for all four courses. During the first period the learners did a reading exercise in order to determine their reading speed and reading index. During the second and third periods they were taught skimming and study skills respectively. The first course focused on questioning skills in the last five sessions. The second course was presented in order to improve learners' structuring skills. The third course was a combination of the first two courses. A conventional speed reading course was presented to learners who did the fourth course. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether (1) the construction of macro-structures and (2) the recall of propositions from the texts could be ascribed to questioning skills, structuring skills or the combination of those skills. This was done after variance in the dependant variables brought about by differences in intelligence was controlled statistically. The results of this study indicate a statistically significant improvement to construct macro-structures for the learners who completed the courses aimed at improving structuring and questioning/structuring abilities. This improvement can be ascribed to the skills that they acquired during the courses. Traditional schema theories regard schemas or schemata as pre-fabricated structures that need only to be activated by readers. In these courses, however the emphasis was placed on the formation of a structure by the reader; on the activity performed by the reader. Hence it was referred to as a structuring course. During the courses the learners were encouraged not only to "chunk" the content of the texts, but to generalize and to construct the structure of the texts. They were encouraged to use their own words or categories. Several studies indicated that an improvement in the ability to structure texts lead to an improvement in text comprehension. There are five other reasons why structuring the content of texts will facilitate the construction of macro-structures. The first is that when subjects are given the task to remember unorganized material they structure the material to be remembered spontaneously. The second is that the semantic organization of material facilitate recall and the third that normal perception is highly structured. The fourth argument is that experts make effective use of schemes. The fifth argument is that the activity of structuring forces the reader to process the text at a deeper level of processmg. Since it was assumed that top achievers are good readers who have mastered the ability to construct macro-structures efficiently, it was argued that they would benefit more from a course that aimed at improving their question-generating skills. Thus, the fact that there was not a statistically significant improvement in their ability to construct macrostructures can be attributed to the fact that they have already mastered that ability sufficiently. It is also possible to attribute the fact that there was not a statistically significant improvement to the fact that they did not master the question-generating activities. The results of this study also indicated that learners who did the structuring, questioning and questioning/structuring courses improved their ability to recall propositions from the texts in a pre-test to a post-test. Their improved ability to recall propositions, can be ascribed to the fact that detail can be inferred from a hierarchical structure since detail facts are subsumed under thematic propositions. Put differently, micro-propositions can be inferred from macro-propositions. The improvement in the ability of subjects who did the questioning course can be ascribed to the fact that questioning helps to focus attention and that the activity of questioning leads to deeper levels of processing. Three assumptions concerning macro-structures were made in this study. It was assumed that the construction of macro-structures is an automatic and integral part of the (normal) reading process. Readers do not construct macro-structures only when they are required to do so. Good readers construct better macro-structures than poor readers. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konstruksie van makrostrukture. Vier leesverbeteringskursusse is vir graad 10-leerders aangebied ten einde hul leesvaardighede te probeer verbeter; meer spesifiek, hul vermoe om die kern (die makrostrukture - Van Dijk en Kintsch, 1983) van tekste te kan konstrueer en ook om proposisies van die tekste te kan herroep. Die makrostrukture wat leerders gevorrn het en die getal proposisies wat hulle kon herroep oor 'n spesifieke teksgedeelte nadat 'n leeskursus vir hulle aangebied is, is vergelyk met die makrostrukture wat hulle gevorrn het en getal proposisies wat hulle kon herroep, voordat die kursus vir hulle aangebied is. Die kursusse is in Afrikaans aangebied vir vier van die vyf graad 10-klasse van 'n skiereilandse skool. (Die kursus is ook in Engels aangebied vir die vyfde klas, maar hul resultate is nie in berekening gebring nie, aangesien die inhoud van die tekste verskil het.) Die kursusse het bestaan uit agt lesure van 40 minute. Die inhoud van die eerste drie ·lesure was dieselfde vir al vier kursusse. Tydens die eerste lesuur het die leerders 'n leesoefening gedoen en daarna het hulle hul leesspoed en leesindeks uitgewerk. Tydens die tweede en derde lesuur is vlugleesvaardighede vir die leerders aangeleer. In die eerste kursus IS die klem tydens die laaste vyf lesure geplaas op vraagstellingsvaardighede bene wens vlugleesvaardighede en studievaardighede. Leerders is geleer om kemvrae en detailvrae te forrnuleer. Tydens die tweede kursus is struktureringsvaardighede vir leerders aangeleer in die laaste vyf lesure. Die derde kursus was 'n kombinasie van die eerste twee kursusse. Tydens die vierde kursus is 'n konvensionele spoedleeskursus vir die leerders aangebied. Deur middel van meervoudige regressie-ontledings is vasgestel of vraagstelling, strukturering of die interaksie tussen vraagstelling en strukturering variansie in (1) die konstruksie van rnakrostrukture en (2) die herroep van proposisies of feite verklaar. Dit is gedoen nadat daar statisties gekontroleer is vir die variansie in die afhanklike veranderlikes wat opgewek is deur verskille in intelligensie. Uit die resultate het dit geblyk dat daar 'n statisties beduidende verbetering was by die leerders wat die strukturering-kursus gevolg het en ook by die leerders wat die vraagstelling/strukturering-kursus gevolg het om makrostrukture te konstrueer. Hierdie verbetering sou toegeskryf kon word aan die vaardighede wat hulle tydens die kursus aangeleer het. In teenstelling met skema-teoriee wat van die veronderstelling uitgaan dat skemas vaste strukture is wat slegs deur lesers geaktiveer word, is die klem in hierdie ondersoek geplaas op die aktiewe strukturering van teksinhoude. Dit is die rede waarom na die kursus verwys word as die "strukturering' -kursus. Tydens die kursus is die leerders aangemoedig om nie net die afdelings van die tekste te groepeer nie, maar om te veralgemeen; om die teksinhoude self te struktureer deur hul eie woorde te gebruik. Benewens die feit dat dit uit verskeie ander ondersoeke geblyk het dat die strukturering van tekste deur lesers hulle leesbegrip verbeter het en hulle gehelp het om meer proposisies van 'n teks te kon herroep, sou nog vyf ander argumente ook aangevoer word waarom strukturering die vorming van makrostrukture vergemaklik. Die eerste is dat toetslinge ongestruktureerde geheuemateriaal spontaan struktureer; die tweede dat semantiese organisasie die herroep daarvan vergemaklik; die derde dat ("alledaagse") persepsie hoogs gestruktureerd is en die vierde dat deskundiges skemas effektiewer benut as beginners. Die vyfde argument is dat die aktiwiteit van strukturering dieper prosessering van leesinhoude sal meebring as gewoonlees; wanneer lesers tekste struktureer, word hulle verplig om dit uitvoerig te prosesseer. Die vraagstelling-kursus is aangebied vir die leerders in die klas wat die beste presteer het, aangesien daar van die veronderstelling uitgegaan is dat hulle goeie lesers is en dat goeie lesers alreeds daartoe in staat is om goeie makrostrukture te kan konstrueer. Die feit dat diegene wat die vraagstelling-kursus gevolg het, se vermoe om rnakrostrukture te vorm, nie 'n statisties beduidende verbetering getoon het nie, sou dus moontlik daaraan toegeskryf kon word dat hulle die vaardigheid om goeie makrostrukture te vorm, alreeds in 'n groot mate bemeester het. 'n Ander moontlikheid waarom hul vermoe om makrostrukture te konstrueer, nie 'n statisties beduidende verbetering getoon het nie, is dat hulle nie die vraagstelling-aktiwiteite deeglik bemeester het rue. Uit die resultate van hierdie ondersoek het dit ook geblyk -dat daar 'n statisties beduidende verbetering was in die vermoe van leerders wat die vraagstelling-, strukturering-, asook die vraagstellinglstruktureringkursus gevolg het om na afloop van die leeskursusse meer proposisies oor die betrokke tekste te kon herroep. Die rede waarom die strukturering-kursus effektiewer herroepprestasie in die hand gewerk het, sou toegeskryf kon word aan die feit dat iemand wat 'n struktuur gekonstrueer het, detail kan herroep na aanleiding van die gekonstrueerde raarnwerk. Anders gestel, mikroproposisies sou afgelei kon word van makroproposisies. Die rede waarom die vraagstelling-kursus 'n verbetering van leerders se herroepvermoens meegebring het, sou waarskynlik daaraan toegeskryf kon word dat vraagstelling 'n leser se aandag fokus of rig. Daarby verplig die vraagstelling-aktiwiteit lesers om tekste uitvoerig te prosesseer. Hierdie vraagstelling-aktiwiteit verplig dieper prosessering van leesinhoude as die meer oppervlakkige prosessering wat tydens gewoonlees plaasvind. In hierdie ondersoek is van die verondersteIling uitgegaan dat die vorrmng van makrostrukture 'n outomatiese en integrale deel van die leesproses is. Lesers konstrueer nie net makrostrukture wanneer die leestaak dit vereis nie. Hoewel aIle lesers makrostrukture konstrueer, vorrn goeie lesers beter rnakrostrukture as swak lesers.

This thesis is a single case study of the introduction and evaluation of new resources and new technologies in higher education; in which e-Proof was chosen as a single case. E-proofs are a multimedia representation of proofs, were created by Alcock (2009), and aimed to help undergraduates to read proofs for better proof comprehension. My thesis aimed to investigate whether the impact of reading such technology-based resource, e-Proofs, on undergraduates proof comprehension was better compared to reading written textbook proofs and if so, then why (or why not). To evaluate the effectiveness of e-Proofs, I used both qualitative and quantitative methods. First I measured undergraduates satisfaction, which is a most common research practice in evaluation studies, by using self-reporting methods such as web-based survey and interviews. A web-based survey and focus-group interviews showed that undergraduates liked to have e-Proofs and they believed that e-Proofs had positive impact on their proof comprehension. However, their positive views on e-Proofs did not evidence the educational impact of e-Proofs. I conducted an interview with Alcock for better understanding of her intentions of creating e-Proof and her expectations from it. Next, I conducted the first experiment which compared the impact of reading an e-Proof with a written textbook proof on undergraduates proof comprehension. Their comprehension was measured with an open-ended comprehension test twice immediately after reading the proof and after two weeks. I found that the immediate impact of reading an e-Proof and a textbook proof were essentially the same, however the long term impact of reading an e-Proof was worse than reading a textbook proof (for both high and low achieving undergraduates). This leads to the second experiment in which I investigated how undergraduates read e-Proofs and textbook proofs. In the second experiment, participants eye-movements were recorded while read- ing proofs, to explore their reading comprehension processes. This eye-tracking experiment showed that undergraduates had a sense of understanding of how to read a proof without any additional help. Rather, additional help allowed them to take a back seat and to devote less cognitive effort than they would otherwise. Moreover, e-Proofs altered undergraduates reading behaviours in a way which can harm learning. In sum, this thesis contributes knowledge into the area of reading and compre- hending proofs at undergraduate level and presents a methodology for evaluation studies of new pedagogical tools.

This study aims at generating an understanding of today’s reading education concerning reading comprehension and reading strategies. Taking previous research as the point of departure, the study examines how reading education takes place in grades 4-6 from a teacher perspective. The study examines teachers’ views on reading development and reading comprehension, how teachers work with reading comprehension and reading strategies and also which problems they see with this teaching. The study’s empirical material consists of qualitative interviews and classroom observations and the teacher participants come from different generations of teachers and from two different schools. The study shows that all teachers look upon reading development and reading comprehension as an important and crucial part of their pupils’ future education and lives in society at large. The study also shows that the teachers are working continuously with reading comprehension and reading strategies in their teaching, but that they lack some knowledge in how to highlight the various reading comprehension processes that are crucial to the development of the pupils’ reading comprehension. In the study, the teachers also indicate some difficulties regarding this teaching and its development in practice. / Denna studie syftar till att generera en uppfattning om dagens läsundervisning beträffande läsförståelse och lässtrategier. Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning undersöker studien hur läsundervisning kan gestalta sig i årkurs 4-6 ur ett lärarperspektiv. Studien undersöker lärares syn på läsutveckling och läsförståelse, hur lärare arbetar med läsförståelse och lässtrategier samt vilka svårigheter de ser med denna undervisning. Studiens empiriska material utgörs av kvalitativa intervjuer samt klassrumsobservationer. Lärarna som deltagit tillhör skilda generationer som har varit verksamma som lärare olika länge samt arbetar på två olika skolor. Studien visar att samtliga deltagande lärare betraktar läsutveckling och läsförståelse som en både viktig och avgörande del för elevernas fortsatta skolgång och samhällsliv. Studien visar också att lärarna arbetar kontinuerligt med läsförståelse och lässtrategier i undervisningen men att de delvis saknar kunskap om hur de ska kunna synliggöra de olika läsförståelseprocesserna för eleverna, som i förlängningen är avgörande för utvecklingen av deras läsförståelse. I studien framkom det även att lärarna upplevde vissa svårigheter med denna undervisning och med dess utformning i praktiken.

The association between receptive language skills and reading comprehension has been established in the research literature. Even when the importance of receptive skills for reading comprehension has been strongly supported, in practice lower levels of skills tend to go unnoticed in typically developing children. A potentially more visible modality of language, expressive skills using speech samples, has been rarely examined despite the longitudinal links between speech and later reading development, and the connections between language and reading impairments. Even fewer reading studies have examined expressive skills using a subgroup of speech samples – narrative samples – which are closer to the kind of language practitioners can observe in their classrooms, and are also a rich source of linguistic and discourse-level data in school-aged children. This thesis presents a study examining the relationship between expressive language skills in narrative samples and reading comprehension after the first two years of formal reading instruction, with considerable attention given to methodological and developmental issues. In order to address the main methodological issues surrounding the identification of the optimal linguistic indices in terms of reliability and the existence of developmental patterns, two studies of language development in oral narratives were carried out. The first of the narrative language studies drew data from an existing corpus, while the other analysed primary data, collected specifically for this purpose. Having identified the optimal narrative indices in two different samples, the main study examined the relationships between these expressive narrative measures along with receptive standardised measures, and reading comprehension in a monolingual sample of eighty 7- and 8-year-old children attending Year 3 in the UK. Both receptive and expressive oral language skills were assessed at three different levels: vocabulary, grammar and discourse. Regression analyses indicated that, when considering expressive narrative variables on their own, expressive grammar and vocabulary, in that order, contributed to explain over a fifth of reading comprehension variance in typically developing children. When controlling for receptive language however, expressive skills were not able to account for significant unique variance in the outcome measure. Nonetheless, mediation analyses revealed that receptive vocabulary and grammar played a mediating role in the relationship between expressive skills from narratives and reading comprehension. Results and further research directions are discussed in the context of this study’s methodological considerations.

published_or_final_version / Curriculum and Educational Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education