<p>This essay, called <em>Motivation and reading comprehension</em>, is a study of the correlation between the motivation to read and the reading comprehension of Swedish students in their final year of school before university level, meaning that they are eighteen or nineteen years old, sometimes more.</p><p>The relation between the identity of the individual and the learning process has been a matter of scientific interest for some time, and this essay works in that tradition by investigating the connection between how pupils regard reading and how well developed their ability to decode text is.</p><p>The reading comprehension is measured through a test that consists of a text from the Swedish epic by Vilhelm Moberg, <em>Invandrarna</em>,<strong> </strong>where the reader at certain intervals throughout the text is asked to<strong> </strong>mark the correct word from a choice of three. This test has been used and evaluated extensively by Per Fröjd, who has found that the results are reliable and useful.</p><p>To measure the motivation to read I’ve constructed a survey to be answered before taking the reading test. It focuses on three different parts of reading motivation that are noted as the most important ones by Ivar Bråten. These are the feeling of joy and interest for reading, the goal to acquire knowledge of a specific subject, and the expectations that you have on yourself as a reader.</p><p>Results show a weak or non-existent correlation between the two factors for the whole of the subjects, but once those who have a first language other than Swedish are removed the correlation becomes significant. There does not appear to be any difference based on gender, at least none that can be divined from these results.</p><p>The analysis does not give any reason to question previous research, and together with earlier studies of compulsory school this means that we can assume that the relation between motivation and reading comprehension is relevant throughout all the stages of schooling.</p><p>Regarding further studies a possible fruitful area of inquiry could be the significance of motivation for the students who are studying at a different language than their first.</p>

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> my aim was to explore ways that teachers can support students with dyslexia and what/ which tools some teachers / special education teachers use to facilitate students.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> I used a quantitative method by interviewing some regular teachers and special education teachers</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> In my study, I learned how some teachers can support students by reading loud to them; a main task for the teachers could be to create the love of reading for the students. That task was reinforced by students' self-image.</p>

<p>Syftet med det här arbetet är att lyfta fram och bidra med erfarenheter och kunskaper inom läraryrket och undervisningen i skolan, utifrån en lärares livs - och yrkesberättelse. Som redskap har jag använt mig av livsberättelsemetoden, vilket är en kvalitativ intervjumetod där det främst handlar om att lyfta fram berättaren. I det här arbetet får vi ta del av en engagerad och flexibel lärare som har arbetat i 25 år. Hon beskriver hur hon arbetar med Kiwimetoden i åldersblandade klasser, för att främja elevers läs- och skrivutveckling. I undervisningen använder sig läraren av både helhetsmetoden och ljudmetoden. Lärandet sker i sociala samspel och undervisningen individanpassas utifrån elevernas nivå, erfarenheter och intressen. Arbetet tar upp begreppen, arbetslag, traditionell undervisning, åldersblandade klasser och Kiwimetoden.</p><p> </p><p>I intervjuerna förmedlar läraren en positiv bild av barn och lärande, samt vikten av att underlätta läs- och skrivundervisningen för alla barn. Dessutom ska man inte vara rädd för att prova nya arbetssätt och metoder.</p><p> </p> / <p>The purpose of this project is to raise and contribute with experience and knowledge within the profession as a teacher and the education in school, seen from the point of view of a teacher´s lives- and profession story. As a tool I have used the lifehistory method, which is a qualitative method of interviews wich most is about to bring out the story teller. In this work we take part of an engaging and flexible teacher whom has working for 25 years as a professional teacher. She describes how she is working whit the Kiwi method in mixed ageing classes, to promote the pupils reading and writing development. In the education program the teachers use both the entirety method and the sound method. The teaching happens in social teamwork and the education is individually adapted from outside the pupil´s level of experience and interestes. The work bring up the conceptions of teamwork, traditional education, mixed ageing classes and the Kiwi method.</p><p> </p><p>In the interviews the teacher mediate a positive picture of children and their learning, the important of facilitate the reading- and writing education for all the children. Beside, you shouldn´t be afraid to try new ways of working manners and methods.</p>

Syftet med det här arbetet är att lyfta fram och bidra med erfarenheter och kunskaper inom läraryrket och undervisningen i skolan, utifrån en lärares livs - och yrkesberättelse. Som redskap har jag använt mig av livsberättelsemetoden, vilket är en kvalitativ intervjumetod där det främst handlar om att lyfta fram berättaren. I det här arbetet får vi ta del av en engagerad och flexibel lärare som har arbetat i 25 år. Hon beskriver hur hon arbetar med Kiwimetoden i åldersblandade klasser, för att främja elevers läs- och skrivutveckling. I undervisningen använder sig läraren av både helhetsmetoden och ljudmetoden. Lärandet sker i sociala samspel och undervisningen individanpassas utifrån elevernas nivå, erfarenheter och intressen. Arbetet tar upp begreppen, arbetslag, traditionell undervisning, åldersblandade klasser och Kiwimetoden.   I intervjuerna förmedlar läraren en positiv bild av barn och lärande, samt vikten av att underlätta läs- och skrivundervisningen för alla barn. Dessutom ska man inte vara rädd för att prova nya arbetssätt och metoder. / The purpose of this project is to raise and contribute with experience and knowledge within the profession as a teacher and the education in school, seen from the point of view of a teacher´s lives- and profession story. As a tool I have used the lifehistory method, which is a qualitative method of interviews wich most is about to bring out the story teller. In this work we take part of an engaging and flexible teacher whom has working for 25 years as a professional teacher. She describes how she is working whit the Kiwi method in mixed ageing classes, to promote the pupils reading and writing development. In the education program the teachers use both the entirety method and the sound method. The teaching happens in social teamwork and the education is individually adapted from outside the pupil´s level of experience and interestes. The work bring up the conceptions of teamwork, traditional education, mixed ageing classes and the Kiwi method.   In the interviews the teacher mediate a positive picture of children and their learning, the important of facilitate the reading- and writing education for all the children. Beside, you shouldn´t be afraid to try new ways of working manners and methods.

Uppsatsens titel: Lättläst – för alla? Key words: Easy-to-Read (Lättläst), Printed matter (Trycksak), Readability (Läsbarhet), Legibility (Läslighet), Reading value (Läsvärde). Syfte: Vårt syfte med examensarbetet var att med text och layout framställa ett lättläst material, i tryckt form, anpassat till målgruppen. Frågeställningar: Går det att framställa ett lättläst och tydligt informationsmaterial som fungerar för alla? Om det inte går att framställa ett informationsmaterial som fungerar för alla, behövs i stället olika versioner för att alla ska förstå? I så fall hur många versioner? Hur ska materialet anpassas till målgruppen när det gäller språkutformning och layout? Teori:   Vårt arbetssätt följde den hermeneutiska spiralen. Vi gick från förförståelse och tolkning genom litteratursökning, tidigare forskning och analysering av material och målgrupp, till erfarenheter genom utprovningar. Därefter reviderade vi materialet och vidgade förståelsen genom nya utprovningar och fick återigen ny erfarenhet. Vi fick på så sätt påtaglig kunskap om målgruppens krav och behov. Metod: Vi valde att arbeta både kvantitativt och kvalitativt, genom att utföra enkätundersökning samt intervju. Vi använde oss av båda tillvägagångssätten eftersom de kompletterade varandra. De metoder som vi använde oss av var litteratursökning, analysering av material samt målgruppsanalys (intervju- och enkätmetodik). Vi arbetade efter en iterativ metod, det vill säga fortlöpande utprovningar. Under utprovningarna använde vi "tänka högt"-metoden, prestationstest samt synpunkter från experter. Slutsats: Vår slutsats var att det gick att framställa ett lättläst och tydligt informationsmaterial som fungerade för alla i vår målgrupp, oavsett ålder, kön och bakgrund. Genom utprovningarna framkom det att samtliga av testpersonerna föredrog vår lättlästa version och ingen ansåg att texten var för lätt. Tvärtom var alla positiva till förändringarna i materialet eftersom de förstod informationen och tyckte att innehållet var relevant. Vi skapade ett lättläst material genom att till exempel använda konkreta ord, korta meningar utan bisatser, ordförklaringar, luftig layout samt överskådligt innehåll med tydliga och kortfattade rubriker.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a controversial test administration alteration, the read-aloud alteration, in which text (passages and questions) is read aloud to the student on a reading comprehension test. For students whose disabilities impair their skill in decoding text and reading fluently, accessing text to demonstrate their comprehension can be significantly impeded. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study examined whether the comprehension scores for students with disabilities with certain characteristics improved with the read-aloud alteration. Participants were fourth-grade Georgia public school students (N=664) enrolled during the 2005-2006 school year, with and without disabilities, who were administered the third-grade Reading Criterion-Referenced Competency Test under either the read-aloud or standard administration condition. A 20-question survey was completed for each special education student who participated by the educator most familiar with the student’s educational program. Several moderator variables, such as reading achievement as measured by an external criterion (the reading comprehension subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills), the degree of the student’s disability, as rated by the teacher, and individualized educational program features such as the presence of a decoding objective and time spent in the general education classroom, were investigated. These moderator variables were hypothesized to help better identify students with disabilities who might need and benefit from the read-aloud alteration. Students given the read-aloud alteration achieved higher raw score gains on the posttest than those assessed under the standard condition regardless of their disability status (students with or without disabilities). No interactions were identified between the moderator variables studied and test condition, with the exception of testing condition (standard / read loud) and reading skill (below average, average, or above average). Regardless of disability status, students who were provided the read-aloud alteration and were classified as having below average reading skills on the norm-reference ITBS had higher gain scores than their peers.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a high-speed read-access STT MRAM. The proposed design includes a 2T1MTJ cell topology, along with two different read schemes: current-based and voltage-based. Compared to the conventional read scheme with 1T1MTJ cells, the proposed design is capable of reducing the loading on the read circuit to minimize the read access time. A complete STT MRAM test chip including the proposed and the conventional schemes was fabricated in 90nm CMOS technology. The 16kb test chip's measurement results confirm a read access time of 6ns and a write access time of 10ns. The read time is 25% faster than other works of similar array size published thus far, while the write time is able to match the fastest result.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a high-speed read-access STT MRAM. The proposed design includes a 2T1MTJ cell topology, along with two different read schemes: current-based and voltage-based. Compared to the conventional read scheme with 1T1MTJ cells, the proposed design is capable of reducing the loading on the read circuit to minimize the read access time. A complete STT MRAM test chip including the proposed and the conventional schemes was fabricated in 90nm CMOS technology. The 16kb test chip's measurement results confirm a read access time of 6ns and a write access time of 10ns. The read time is 25% faster than other works of similar array size published thus far, while the write time is able to match the fastest result.

The modern automobile is a complex electromechanical system controlled by control systems which consist of several interdependent electronic control units (ECUs). Analysis of the data generated by these modules is very important in order to observe the interesting patterns among data. At Volvo Cars Corporation today, diagnostic read-out data is retrieved from client machines installed at workshops in different countries around the world. The problem with this data is that it does not show a clear picture as what is causing what i.e. tracking the problem. Diagnostic engineers at Volvo Cars Corporation perform routine based statistical analysis of diagnostic read-out data manually, which is time consuming and tedious work. Moreover, this analysis is restricted to basic level mainly statistical analysis of diagnostic readout data. We present an approach based on statistical analysis and cluster analysis. Our approach focused on analysing the data from a pure statistical stand-point to isolate the problem in diagnostic read-out data, thereby helping to visualize and analyse the nature of the problem at hand. Different general statistical formulae were applied to get meaningful information from large amount of DRO data. Cluster analysis was carried out to get clusters consisting of similar trouble codes. Different methods and techniques were considered for the purpose of cluster analysis. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical clusters were extracted by applying appropriate algorithms. The results obtained from the thesis work show that the diagnostic read-out data consist of independent and interdependent fault codes. Groups were generated which consist of similar trouble codes. Furthermore, corresponding factors from freeze frame data which shows significant variation for these groups were also extracted. These faults, groups of faults and factors were later interpreted and validated by diagnostic engineers.

Purpose: my aim was to explore ways that teachers can support students with dyslexia and what/ which tools some teachers / special education teachers use to facilitate students. Method: I used a quantitative method by interviewing some regular teachers and special education teachers Results: In my study, I learned how some teachers can support students by reading loud to them; a main task for the teachers could be to create the love of reading for the students. That task was reinforced by students' self-image.