Read-alouds can be very useful in the classroom to assist students in gaining knowledge and improving reading skills. Educational research documents that there is a link between reading aloud to children and successful beginning reading experiences. Furthermore, the reading research community has established a link between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. However, the value of “talk” or interaction prompted by read-alouds is an area in need of investigation given, what we know about emergent literacy instruction in the context of school reform mandates. The purpose of this investigation was to provide a baseline description of the nature of reading instruction with regard to teachers’ solicitation practices and congruence of student responses as these interactions occur during read-alouds with Kindergarten, first, and second grade students. The significance of this study was to advance the knowledge base of the nature of read-alouds within the context of teacher solicitations and student responses accounting for the value of interaction in the classroom as a means to enhance the literary experience.

Read-alouds can be very useful in the classroom to assist students in gaining knowledge and improving reading skills. Educational research documents that there is a link between reading aloud to children and successful beginning reading experiences. Furthermore, the reading research community has established a link between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. However, the value of “talk” or interaction prompted by read-alouds is an area in need of investigation given, what we know about emergent literacy instruction in the context of school reform mandates. The purpose of this investigation was to provide a baseline description of the nature of reading instruction with regard to teachers’ solicitation practices and congruence of student responses as these interactions occur during read-alouds with Kindergarten, first, and second grade students. The significance of this study was to advance the knowledge base of the nature of read-alouds within the context of teacher solicitations and student responses accounting for the value of interaction in the classroom as a means to enhance the literary experience.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 452-468).

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1960. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 460-475).

As most classroom teachers primarily select narrative texts for interactive read-alouds, there is a lack of research that explores interactive read-alouds of expository texts. To address the call for greater equity between narrative and expository texts in curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how a seventh-grade English language arts teacher prepared for and engaged students in interactive read-alouds using expository texts. Using a self-study methodology, data were collected in three ways: field notes that captured preparation, video recordings that captured the read-alouds, and post read-aloud reflections that captured impressions following the read-alouds. Findings are organized into two categories—planning read-alouds and engaging in read-alouds. Findings from the first category indicate that the importance of finding enjoyment in expository texts, the balance between entertainer and educator, and charting possible courses are significant parts of preparation for interactive read-alouds. Findings from the second category show that the importance of tapping in and building schemas, cultivating aesthetic experiences in efferent spaces, and engaging as thinkers and knowers are important factors for engaging adolescent readers in expository texts. Though this study highlights only one English Language Arts teacher’s experience preparing for and presenting read-alouds with expository texts, this research suggests that others may wish to embrace the messiness of planning to expand their read-aloud practices, and that read-alouds with expository texts may be particularly beneficial to adolescents because of their unique developmental needs.

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Thesis advisor: Marina Vasilyeva / Book-reading is a common practice among teachers in developed countries; yet, little research has been done on the nature and the role of this activity in predicting children's language outcomes in developing countries with languages other than English. The present study sought to address this gap by examining preschool teachers' speech characteristics and the read-aloud strategies used in Chilean schools serving Spanish-speaking children from low-income families. The investigation expanded previously used methodology by providing a more in-depth analysis of the teachers' strategies used during book reading in preschool classrooms. It examined whether the variability in read-aloud strategies and speech characteristics predicted preschoolers' vocabulary and comprehension growth over a school year. This study was exploratory in nature and it used available Chilean Prekindergarten data from Un Buen Comienzo intervention project. As part of the project, teachers were randomly assigned to either intervention or control group, with teachers in the intervention group participating in workshops designed to improve their instructional methods. Teachers' speech characteristics and read-aloud strategies were coded based on videotaped records of reading activities in classrooms. A final list of 24 read-aloud strategy codes emerged; High and Low level composites were created to reflect different degrees of cognitive stimulation. Descriptive analysis demonstrated substantial variability in the use of read-aloud strategies and speech characteristics across teachers. Teachers in the intervention group, on average, used a greater number of diverse read-aloud strategies than teachers in the control group. Results from Hierarchical Linear Modeling analysis revealed a significant difference in the relation between the use of Read-aloud strategies and the growth of children's vocabulary as a function of condition (intervention vs. control group). Specifically, for the teachers in the intervention group, High-level read-aloud strategies were found to be a statistically significant predictor of children's vocabulary growth scores. In contrast, for teachers in the control group, this relation was not significant. Low-level read-aloud strategies and speech characteristics were not significantly related to children's language outcomes in either intervention or control group. The implications of the findings for further research on classroom linguistic environment and for teaching practices in preschool classrooms are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Stephen Read has done significant work towards clarifying the concepts of harmony, consistency, and conservative extensions as introduced by Prior, Belnap, and Dummett. Read argues that the conservative extension requirement is too stringent. Nonetheless, he develops a formal system in which the negation, though classical, is a conservative extension of the positive fragment, by strengthening the theory of the conditional and allowing multiple conclusions. In this thesis, I will closely examine this system to determine how he achieves this. Read concludes that this result indicates that the true debate between the classicist and the intuitionist is over bivalence. My project is to critically investigate Read’s work on intuitionistic terms, noting the non-intuitionistic moves made to reach this result. If Read’s conclusion is correct, and bivalence is the true source of disagreement between the classicist and intuitionist, then it follows that any disagreement along the way should stem from bivalence. Ultimately I conclude that Read correctly identifies the source of disagreement. With this in mind, I return to Dummett’s philosophy and attempt to show why this conclusion is perfectly in line with the intuitionist’s stance.