Abstract My curiosity of students' use of images for reading led me to seek knowledge of the students view on the text illustrations in the literature and through interviews. This study is about how pupils in the school year 2 experience reading, especially with images. The purpose is to investigate the significance of illustrations in reading for students in school year 2. I also want to find out how students see themselves as readers and how the survey material believes that the students comprehend reading. Eight children, both girls and boys have participated in the interview. They had to read from three books in different formats with the same approach and questions. Interview and reading aloud were recorded and analyzed. The results suggest that the students are not always aware of their own development of reading process and the importances of the images are not considered as high among students. Notably, many of them used the images to get the information they needed to answer questions. Those who read other than books at home believe that they do not read, even if reading is about decoding information and messages. ´The broadens the concept of text´, which means that the text also includes the message that is mediated by other than through the written word, seems unfamiliar to the students. You can see that it is of importance for their reading comprehension among the students who read a lot at home. / Sammanfattning Min nyfikenhet över elevernas användande av bilder vid läsning ledde mig till att söka kunskap om elevernas syn på textillustrationer, i litteratur och genom intervjuer. Den här studien handlar om hur elever i skolår 2 upplever läsning, och då främst med bilder. Syftet består i att undersöka vad illustrationer kan ha för betydelse vid läsförståelse för elever i skolår 2. Jag vill också ta reda på hur eleverna ser sig själva som läsare och var eleverna befinner sig enligt olika kartläggningsmaterial om läsförståelse. Åtta barn, både tjejer och killar har deltagit i intervjun. De fick läsa högt ur tre böcker i olika format med samma tillvägagångssätt och frågor. Intervju och högläsning har spelats in och analyserats. Resultatet tyder på att eleverna inte alltid är medvetna om sin egen läsutvecklingsprocess och att betydelsen av bilder inte anses så stor bland eleverna. Noterbart är att många av dem använde sig av bilderna för att få den information de behövde för att svara på frågorna. De som läser annat än böcker hemma anser sig inte läsa, även om det innebär att avläsa information och meddelanden. Det vidgade textbegreppet, som innebär att text också innefattar budskap som medieras på annat sätt än genom det skrivna ordet, verkar obekant för eleverna. Det märks att det är av betydelse för deras läsförståelse bland de elever som läser mycket hemma.

<p>Speciallärarprogrammet med inriktning mot utvecklingsstörning</p>

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本研究旨在探討融入知識翻新（knowledge building）教學能否提升國小學生的閱讀理解和閱讀動機。研究對象為新北市某國小兩班三年級學生：其中一班為實驗組（n=24人），另一班則為控制組(n=27)。前者採用知識翻新原則進行教學，並輔以知識論壇（Knowledge Forum）線上學習平台；後者則採傳統講述教學。實驗時間共計18週。 本研究的研究目的在瞭解經過二種不同教學方式後，兩組學生的閱讀動機和閱讀理解表現是否具有差異。資料來源包含：（1）PIRLS閱讀測驗前後測成績；（2）平台討論貼文內容；（3）平台參與活動量（包括貼文數、回文數等量化資料）；及（4）閱讀動機量表前後測分數。資料分析採質性內容分析、單因子共變數分析、相依樣本t檢定、卡方檢定等方式。除探討二種教學之不同外，本研究並進一步探討實驗組學生在平台上的活動情形。 研究結果顯示：（1）基於知識翻新教學的平台討論活動，有助於提升學生高層次閱讀理解想法的討論，但討論內容缺乏深度；（2）知識翻新教學有助於提升學生閱讀理解能力；（3）學生參與閱讀理解討論之程度和品質皆與閱讀理解進步程度有正相關；（4）知識翻新教學對於學生閱讀動機並無顯著提升，但其閱讀動機提升程度與平台活動的參與程度具有正相關。根據研究結果，本研究提出相關討論與建議，以供後續閱讀教學及研究之參考。 / The aim of the study was to investigate whether engaging students in a computer supported collaborative knowledge building environment can help them improve their reading comprehension and reading motivation. Participants in this study were 51 third-grade students from two classes in an elementary school in New Taipei City. Of the two classes, the experimental class has 24 students, and the control class has 27 students. The students taking part in the experimental course received knowledge building pedagogy with Knowledge Forum (an online multimedia platform) being used for students to collaboratively construct their reading comprehension of the textbook articles online. The duration of the study was 18 weeks. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the differences of the instructional effects between the two classes in terms of the reading comprehension and motivation. Data mainly came from: (1) pre-post PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) test that investigated students’ reading comprehension; (2) the idea and discussion content contributed to Knowledge Forum; (3) participants’ interaction records automatically documented in the Knowledge Forum data (e.g., number of students’ notes contributed or built on); and (4) the pre-post MRQ (i.e., the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire) scores that measured students’ reading motivation. Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were conducted. For quantitative data, one-way ANCOVA, paired t-test and chi-square were used to examine students’ reading comprehension and reading motivation; for qualitative data, content analysis was used to evaluate the quality of students’ ideas and discussion. The main findings were as follows: (1) knowledge building pedagogy were conducive to promoting the kind of online discussion that supports higher-level reading comprehension, but were unable to deepen the depth of discussion; (2) knowledge building pedagogy was conducive to enhancing reading comprehension; (3) both the degree of participation and the quality of discussion were found correlated with the degree of students’ advancement in reading comprehension; and (4) knowledge building pedagogy did not enhance students’ reading motivation; however, there was a correlation between pre-post change scores in reading motivation and the degree of online participation. Based on the results, some suggestions and implications were discussed.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This thesis investigates learners’ reading practices and especially the processing of cross-linguistic similarities at the lexical level. The aim is to determine how learners proceed in order to understand text in French (L3). Data were collected using various reading comprehension tasks in combination with the think-aloud method. Reading comprehension was mainly assessed through a translation task while the reading practices were observed in think-aloud protocols. According to a reading comprehension score, 20 learners were divided into high level and low level groups. The majority of participants were Swedish learners who are also proficient in English L2. Another group of 10 Swedish learners and 10 French native speakers participated in a cross-linguistic word association task. Reading practices were defined as including skills, strategies and readers’ reactions to the text, the tasks and their own capacities. A typology of twelve reading practices was established including three categories based on intralingual and interlingual similarities. Results from the translation task and the think-aloud protocols show that interlingual processing is more important when learners have difficulties in understanding text content. The more learners in the low level groups relied on intralingual and especially interlingual similarities the less they understood the text content. The high level groups on the other hand used reading practices such as reformulation or translation procedures. The think-aloud protocols also show that learners believe that they compare words in the French text (L3) with English similar words (L2) although their interlingual processing during translation actually confirms the dominance of Swedish (L1). Moreover, results from a cross-linguistic word association task suggest that French Swedish/English cognates and false friends activate this type of words more often than French control words. Cross-linguistic stimuli actually triggered patterns of potential interlingual similarities, for example sacrifice (stimulus) – religion (response), even more than words that are similar to the stimulus diplomate – diplom ‘diploma’.

Research conducted in South Africa indicates that many South African students who register for undergraduate study each year are under-prepared for university education and that many of these English Second Language students also have low levels of reading ability. This has an adverse effect on their chances of academic success. These students very often become part of the "revolving door syndrome". In order to meet the reading needs of students in the 21" century, educators are pressed to develop effective instructional means for teaching strategic reading at tertiary level. In order to help students acquire the strategic reading abilities deemed necessary for a successful academic experience, the Department of English at Potchefstroom University implemented a content-based strategic reading module. This module was offered to students via Varsite (technology-enhanced aspect of the module); a learning content management system developed at Potchefstroom University. This system provides an integrated environment for developing, managing and delivering learning content. The purpose of this study was to: discuss the structure and format of the content-based strategic reading module as developed and implemented for delivery within a distributed learning environment; determine what the reading comprehension and reading strategy use profile of first-year students at Potchefstroom University looks like; determine whether the students in the experimental group, who completed the strategic reading component of the English for Professional Purposes course in a technology-enhanced environment, attained statistically as well as practically significantly higher mean scores on their end-of-semester English, Communication Studies, and TOEFL reading comprehension tests, than did the students in the control group, who were not exposed to the technology-enhanced environment; determine whether the students in the experimental group differed statistically as well as practically significantly from the students in the control group in terms of their reading strategy use; determine the scope of the reading problem among the first-year students participating in this study; identify the strengths and weaknesses in the reading assessment profiles of one efficient and one inefficient student; make recommendations in terms of the reading support needed by these students; identify the factors that can affect first-year English Second Language (ESL) students' acceptance and use of the technology-enhanced component of a strategic reading module offered via mixed mode delivery; determine which factors can be considered as statistically significant predictors of technology acceptance and use by first-year ESL students; and discuss the implications of the above-mentioned results for the designing of technology-enhanced courses as well as the support that should be given to ESL learners who must use the technology. In this study a combined qualitative and quantitative research method was used. A Dominant-Less Dominant design was used. The qualitative research approach was consistent with naturalistic case study methodology. For the quantitative research component a quasi-experimental non-randomised pre-test post-test control group design was used. The participants in this study included the entire population of one hundred and thirty-one students taking the English for Professional Purposes module. The students included speakers of Afrikaans and Setswana. These students majored in Communication Studies and Psychology. Ten paper-and-pencil instruments were used in this study. In addition to the paper-and- pencil instruments, various qualitative data collection methods were also used, namely semi-structured interviews, e-mail messages, informal conversations and the researcher's field notes. The data were analysed by means of descriptive (i.e., means, standard deviations) as well as multivariate statistics (i.e., Pearson product moment correlations; t-tests; factor analyses; and stepwise multiple regression). The results of the study can be summarised as follows: The strategic reading module of the English for Professional Purposes course was designed for mixed mode delivery. The structure and format of the strategic reading module consisted of an interactive study guide, contact sessions, and Varsite (i.e., a learning content management system). The results indicated that the students who received strategic reading instruction in the technology-enhanced environment received both statistically and practically significantly higher marks on three reading comprehension measures than did the students in the control group. This was true for successful students, as well as for those considered to be at-risk. The post-test results indicated that the students in the experimental group used certain strategies statistically (p<0.05), as well as practically significantly (small to large effect sizes), more often than the students in the control group. An analysis of the reading assessment profiles of the students participating in this study indicated that they experienced problems across all aspects of the reading components assessed (vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension and reading strategies). An analysis of the successful student's reading assessment profile indicated that his/her profile was far flatter than that of the at-risk student; the successful student had far fewer ups and downs in his/her profile than the at-risk student (i.e., the majority of the successful student's mean reading assessment scores were scattered around or above the norm/guidelines for first-year students). The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated that computer self-efficacy, ease of use, enjoyment, outcome expectations, usefulness, and quality of resources were major factors affecting ESL students' acceptance and use of the technology-enhanced component of a strategic reading module. In addition, the results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that approximately 71% of the total variance of Varsite acceptance and use was explained by computer self-efficacy, ease of use, enjoyment, and outcome expectations. Usefulness and the quality of the resources also contributed to the total variance, but the contribution was not statistically significant. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The ability to extract meaning from text is an important skill. Yet many students struggle with effectively comprehending what they read. In comparison with research carried out with younger students, there is a lack of research in the reading comprehension of adolescents (Grades 4 – 12). The goal of this dissertation was to increase our understanding of the factors that underlie the poor reading comprehension abilities of this older group of students. This dissertation includes two studies drawn from a sample of 137 age 15 year old high school students. Study One utilized archival data from government mandated tests of reading achievement of 78 students administered in Grades 3, 6, and 10, and results from a commercially available test of reading comprehension administered in Grade 10. This longitudinal study examined the prevalence of the stability, cumulative growth, and compensatory models in reading comprehension development. Probabilities of later-grade reading achievement categorization conditioned on earlier-grade reading achievement were computed, the prevalence of developmental paths was estimated, and tests of regression to the mean were conducted. Overall findings suggest considerable stability across time. Study Two examined the specificity of the comprehension weaknesses of 15 year old readers whose comprehension skills are below those expected from their skill in word reading and nonverbal ability (unexpected poor comprehenders). Regression analyses identified unexpected poor comprehenders, and two contrast groups (expected average and unexpected good comprehenders). Characteristics of unexpected poor comprehenders are examined after controlling for word-reading accuracy, phonological decoding, reading rate, nonverbal ability, and vocabulary. Findings indicate a critical disadvantage of unexpected poor comprehenders lies in their weakness in vocabulary and that comprehension difficulties related to the identification of details and main ideas in summary writing remain when vocabulary is controlled. Implications for interpreting previous and informing future research are discussed. Results of both studies are discussed with respect to the nature of the reading comprehension construct, identification and remediation of reading comprehension difficulties, and the assessment of reading comprehension. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-28 13:32:25.641

Sammanfattning Mitt examensarbete strävar efter att ta reda på högläsningens betydelse för barns framtida läsinlärning och läslust. Genom litteratur och forskning inom ämnet belyser jag olika effekter som högläsning kan ge. Forskning inom området visar att föräldrar läser mindre för sina barn idag än tidigare, en trend som verkar hålla i sig För att se hur högläsningsvanorna ser ut i en helt vanlig klass, där eleverna är 6-8 år, innehåller arbetet en föräldraenkät där frågor angående högläsningsvanor återfinns för att sedan redovisas i resultatdelen. Även eleverna har deltagit i en enkätundersökning med syftet att ta reda på vad de tycker om högläsning samt om någon läser för dem hemma.   Arbetet innehåller även två intervjuer med lärare där deras tankar och arbetssätt redovisas, lärarnas åsikter och arbetssätt kopplas sedan till litteratur inom ämnet i en diskussion.        Resultatet av min undersökning visar att högläsning är så mycket mer än bara mysigt. Litteraturen och framför allt de intervjuade lärarna visar på många positiva effekter som högläsning kan ge. Lärarna berättar att syftet med deras högläsning är att ge eleverna en skön stund, där de kan varva ner och bara njuta. De talar också om att målet med högläsning är att väcka elevernas läslust samtidigt som eleverna får en chans att utveckla sina tankar och sin fantasi. I slutändan hoppas lärarna att högläsningen inspirerar eleverna att vilja läsa själva.    I arbetet belyser jag ett bokprojekt, som innebär att barn i förskoleåldern får gratisböcker av kommunen. Projektet bekostas av Bildningsnämnden i kommunen och har pågått i snart 20 år. Via föräldraenkäten har jag samlat in fakta om hur vanligt det är att hämta sin gratisbok samt vad föräldrarna har för tankar och åsikter om bokprojektet. Resultatet av min undersökning överensstämmer inte riktigt med bibliotekets resultat när det gäller andelen barn, som hämtar ut sina böcker. Enligt biblioteket hämtar 80 % sina böcker medan min undersökning visar att 65 %.hämtar sina gratisböcker. Föräldrar, som inte hämtat ut sina barns böcker gav flera orsaker till detta, det vanligaste svaret var dock att de helt enkelt glömt det De föräldrar som hämtat sina barn böcker uttalade sig positivt om bokprojektet, där tonvikten låg på hur viktigt det är med böcker för barn. / Abstract  The purpose with my thesis work is to provide information about the importance of reading aloud for children’s future reading comprehension and inclination to read. Thru literature and resurge within the subject I highlight different effects that reading aloud can accomplish. Resurge within the subject shows that parents today read less to their children than earlier, a trend that seems to continue. To see how the reading aloud habits look like in an ordinary class my work contains a parent survey where these issues are to be accounted for in the results section. Even the pupils has participated in a survey with the aim to find out what they think about reading aloud and if someone read to them at home.     The work also includes two interviews with teachers where their thoughts and practices are presented, teachers’ opinions and practices are then connected to the literature on the subject in a discussion. The results of my survey show that reading aloud is so much more than just cozy. The literature and the interviewed teachers say that the purpose shows the many positive effects that reading aloud can provide. Teachers tell us that the purpose of their reading aloud is to give the students an enjoyable time, where they can unwind and just enjoy. They also talk about the goal of reading aloud is to arouse students' love of reading while the students get a chance to develop their thoughts and imagination. In the end, the teachers hope that reading aloud will inspire students to read to themselves.    The work highlights a book project, which means that preschool children receive free books from the municipality. The project is paid for by the educational board of the municipality and has been going on for almost 20 years. Through the parent survey, I have gathered facts about how common it is to collect the free book and what the parents think about the book project. The results of my study do not match properly with the library results in the proportion of children who pick up their free books. According to the library fetches 80% their books while my survey shows that 65% pick up their free books. Parents who have not picked out their children's books gave several reasons for this; the most common answer was that they simply forgot it. The parents who picked their children books spoke positively about the book project, stressing the need on the importance of books for children.