Typescript. Bibliography: in v. 3.

<p>The aim of this two years master’s thesis in library and information science is to study how children and librarians recommend books through the website Barnens bibliotek. In the scope of this aim it also tries to answer the following questions: What qualities in books do children and librarians respectively emphasize when they write book recommendations? How do they formulate the recommendations? And finally, how do their respective recommendations differ?</p><p>To examine these aspects a total of 50 book recommendations were chosen and analysed through an hermeneutic approach. Out of these 50, 30 were written by children and 20 were written by librarians. The recommendations were analysed through Louise Rosenblatt's theoretical framework concerning literary responses combined with Alan C. Purves' och Victoria Rippere's model of literary elements. The theoretical workings of Aidan Chambers were also used for drawing conclusions about how to connect the results of literary responses to everyday library work whether it is in a library or on the Internet.</p><p>The main results were that children turn inwards referring to themselves and their personal feelings when communicating a literary experience, while librarians turn outward communicating a literary content. Both parts do seem clearly aware that they are mediating a literary experience to a third part, which of course is expected of the librarians but a bit unexpected in the case of the children. Both parts refer basically to the same qualities when recommending books, even though they do it in different ways. And finally regarding the formula of writing a book recommendation, librarians tend to keep to a set structure of literary responses while children are more likely to mix the set of literary responses. The results also point to how important it is for library workers to understand the readers to better develop collections and programs that adress and respond to reader’s interests.</p>

This two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science examines book reviews and articles aboutbooks and authorship in media directed to children between the ages of 8 and 14. The aim is to increase knowledgeof children’s reading choices and view of reading. This is motivated by the decrease in literacy and sparetime reading among Swedish children and adolescents. The thesis’ methodology is based upon critical discourseanalysis developed by Norman Fairclough, and as complement to his theory John Tomlinsons sociologicaltheory of the condition of immediacy is used. Book reviews and articles from the Swedish magazine ”Kamratposten”were chosen to be the material for this study.The analyses revealed four different discourses about what constituted reading: a discourse of fiction, a discourseof speed, a discourse of excitement, and a discourse of originality. These were then discussed in the contextof social practice, drawing upon Tomlinsons theory of immediacy and several articles about children’s andadolescent’s relationships to new electronic medias. The major conclusion of the thesis’ study is that althoughthe reading habits among children and adolescents are changing, this do not need to be the cause of a nonreadingattitude but a result of a change in the way kids read and process information, caused by the emergenceof electronic media.

The aim of this two years master’s thesis in library and information science is to study how children and librarians recommend books through the website Barnens bibliotek. In the scope of this aim it also tries to answer the following questions: What qualities in books do children and librarians respectively emphasize when they write book recommendations? How do they formulate the recommendations? And finally, how do their respective recommendations differ? To examine these aspects a total of 50 book recommendations were chosen and analysed through an hermeneutic approach. Out of these 50, 30 were written by children and 20 were written by librarians. The recommendations were analysed through Louise Rosenblatt's theoretical framework concerning literary responses combined with Alan C. Purves' och Victoria Rippere's model of literary elements. The theoretical workings of Aidan Chambers were also used for drawing conclusions about how to connect the results of literary responses to everyday library work whether it is in a library or on the Internet. The main results were that children turn inwards referring to themselves and their personal feelings when communicating a literary experience, while librarians turn outward communicating a literary content. Both parts do seem clearly aware that they are mediating a literary experience to a third part, which of course is expected of the librarians but a bit unexpected in the case of the children. Both parts refer basically to the same qualities when recommending books, even though they do it in different ways. And finally regarding the formula of writing a book recommendation, librarians tend to keep to a set structure of literary responses while children are more likely to mix the set of literary responses. The results also point to how important it is for library workers to understand the readers to better develop collections and programs that adress and respond to reader’s interests.

Introduction: Alice in Wonderland is perhaps the most renowned fantasy book for children. Over and above this though, it has relevance for adults. People too often dismiss it as purely escapist reading, a means to escape from the monotony of everyday realism by delving into the realms of fantasy. Many critics propose that it operates on more than one level and I would have to agree - it is a pioneer of children's literature as well as a product and critique of the Victorian age. It is a story that has captured the world's imagination, with vivid characters and exciting adventures. The sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, although not as well known, equally offers an insight into the late nineteenth-century. I intend to explore the many layers found in these stories, and hope to expose them as being more than mere narratives, but as pieces of literature that thrive because they are so cleverly constructed Perhaps also their success lies in that they deal with the universal theme (for children and adults alike) of making sense of the seemingly nonsensical aspects of life and society. The stories, as well as the strange characters and happenings, are reminiscent of the Absurdist genre in drama, in which the objective is to turn the world upside down, so to speak, in order to understand people and society. My dissertation will begin by exploring the literary trends of children's books prior to 1865, in other words, before Alice in Wonderland was published. I intend to present an overview of Victorian and pre-Victorian children's fiction, tracing the development of the story for teaching and religious instruction, up until the time when the story was liberated to be simply the vehicle for pleasurable recreational purposes. Thus my opening chapter is an exploration of the didactic children's literature that dominated the early nineteenth century, examining the educationalists that helped expand the genre of children's literature. Next, I will include a brief biography of Lewis Carroll. It is important to my overall theme in that a biography sums up, in one human centre, the forces at play in Victorian sensibility. As a modern audience, we seem to seize upon the idea of his 'character', desperately attempting to understand what motivated him to write such tour de force stories. The interest for me at this point is to examine how academics have portrayed Carroll's 'character'. The motive behind this section is to beg the question of whether his complex personality affects our reading of the texts, or whether they can be seen as entirely separate from a life to which some scandal has been attributed. In the remainder of my dissertation, I shall focus on how the texts are a reflection of a typical Victorian child's experiences, and discuss how Alice 'grows' as a character, and what she reveals about her society in the process of discovering how she should define herself. Alice is the vehicle for Carroll's subversive commentary about his society, and her experiences in Wonderland and Looking-Glass land are often rooted in the undermining of conventional behaviour and traditions. Lastly, I will examine Carroll's stylistic organization of the narratives, paying particular attention to his treatment of time, dreams and language in the texts. I will discuss what his intentions are in creating 'nonsense that makes sense', as well as what this 'nonsense' discloses about the society he lived in and the values he seems to object to. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This thesis is a qualitative study of six full day childcare centres. The purpose of this study was to identify the print literature resources that are present within a representative sample of urban childcare centres. Data were collected using field notes and manager interviews. A further analysis of the resources present allowed to the researcher to evaluate the quality of the resources and to discern whether the early childhood educators sampled have the resources to provide the foundation for a quality literature program. The books were analysed using five elements, including; literary merit, age and accuracy, physical condition, genre and developmental appropriateness, and quantity and accessibility. A total of 2774 resources were present in the six childcare centres. Overall the centres did not satisfy the elements for quality resources. Only 1% of the resources were found to have been judged worthy of recognition through nomination or award. The average age of the resources was 16 years, with an age span of 102 years, causing concern for accuracy, especially for information literature. The physical condition of the print literature resources did conform to quality guidelines, and it was discovered that physical condition was the only reason for discarding a book. There were a variety of genres present within the childcare centres, with the largest genre being information books. The second largest genre was surprising, as TV/Toy books represented 19.5% of the total collections. None of the centres met International Reading Association guidelines for quantity or accessibility for classroom libraries. It was clear that quantity and cost were the most important factors influencing the print literature collections in these childcare centres. / Arts, Faculty of / Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of / Graduate

Thesis (M. Ed. (Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The purpose of this study was to investigate reading challenges experienced by Intermediate Phase learners at Mamothibi Lower Primary school and Molemole Lower primary school at Sekgosese West Circuit, Limpopo province. The study used qualitative research method investigate reading challenges experienced by Intermediate Phase learners. The population consisted of 42 Intermediate Phase learners and four English First Additional Language teachers. Non-probability and probability sampling procedures were used to generate the sample as well as purposive and convenient sampling due to the qualities respondents possess. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and class observation. Data was analysed thematically. The findings of the study indicate that there are various factors that cause poor reading among learners such as poor command of vocabulary because learners do not practice extensive reading; no interest to learn creativity in reading but the goal to pass examination; lack of confidence to practice how to read in class; poor motivation and interest from teachers and parents to help develop the interest in learners; learners lack knowledge of reading strategies and teachers‘ inadequate knowledge on using reading strategies to teach reading skill. The study recommends that the Department of Basic Education should arrange on-going training on reading strategies for teachers and subject Advisors should continuously give teachers support on reading strategies.

Standardization has been part of teaching and learning in the United States since the late 19th century. This technocratic approach has gained more traction in the past two decades beginning with the passage of the landmark No Child Left Behind law in 2001and continuing through the recent standardization movement to restrict content and pedagogical autonomy. These efforts have one thing in common: The knowledge and expertise of teachers are not considered. In contrast, this study positioned teachers as experts. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how middle school teachers conceptualize themselves as readers, engage in reading for justice, and envision these concepts in their own classrooms as they participate in a young adult (YA) literature book club. This work brings together two often separate scholarly approaches to reading: reading lives (reading as pleasure) and social justice literature (reading as political) to see how teachers inform or reimagine literacy (reading as pedagogical) in their classrooms. This study was grounded on the notion that theory and practice are not separate endeavors. Critical sociocultural theory undergirds this collaborative teacher inquiry group. Teachers take a critical stance as they read YA titles that center social justice issues. Through semi-structured interviews, teachers reflected on their own reading histories and lives as well as their ideas about literacy in their classrooms. This study adds to the existing scholarship on literacy and teacher learning. Methodologically, the researcher utilized a practice (book clubs) that is used academically in school settings and socially among friends. The book club exists in a liminal space between the academic and the social, suggesting it is an alternative space for teacher learning. This study has the potential to contribute to a greater emphasis on the value and importance of teacher-centered learning communities.

This study was designed to investigate the impact of family cultural capital on reading motivation and reading behavior among new immigrant children and non-immigrant children. This research used Chang and Wang's family cultural capital, reading motivation, and reading behavior questionnaire to conduct the survey. The target population of this study was students enrolled in fifth grade and sixth grade in elementary school in the fall of 2017 in Tainan, Taiwan. The sample include 414 students from new immigrant families and 422 students from non-immigrant families; the total number of individuals was 837. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analytical procedures were performed to test the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that the seven latent variables were related to each other directly or indirectly. The main findings of this study are as follows: 1) family socioeconomic status significantly affects students' acquisition of family cultural capital; 2) family reading habits significantly affect students' reading motivation; 3) intrinsic reading motivation significantly affects students' reading behavior; and 4) external reading motivation shows no direct significant effect on reading time or the number of items read.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the literacy environment at home, at school and in the community and the development of voluntary reading and thus a reading habit. This research is relevant as there is an alarming drop out rate, poor matriculation results and low scores in reading performance tests in South African schools. Many factors and possible causes can contribute to this, but a major problem is the lack of a reading habit, low literacy levels and an environment that is not supportive of literacy. As a result, many children are still leaving school functionally illiterate. In order to develop a reading habit, learners must get maximum support and encouragement from their literacy environment, as children learn from what is going on around them. The major role players in the learner's literacy environment, are the home and family (microstructure), the school and teachers, and his community which includes libraries (macrostructure). A literature study on the foundations, contexts and practices of literacy, voluntary reading and environmental factors that affect reading provides the theoretical basis and a conceptual framework for this study. The research method used is a case study with the focus on a sample of learners from Grade 3 - 7 from schools in the Highveld Ridge and Gauteng East area. Due to budgetary and logistical constraints, rural areas are not included. The empirical survey investigates various aspects of the literacy environment. The survey method, with questionnaires for learners, teachers and headmasters, was used. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to generate data. The findings are that many learners experience difficulties which hinder the development of a reading habit, for example: schools and communities do not have libraries, or access to them is limited; appropriate reading materials are not available; or learners do not have access to them; multilingualism is a major problem in a country with eleven official languages, as many learners have to learn and teachers have to teach in a language other than their mother tongue; parents are not literate and cannot help their children; socio-economic conditions are not conductive to reading; there is a lack of support from governmental at various levels. Although findings in a case study cannot be generalised, certain conclusions and suggestions can guide teachers, parents and librarians to create a more supportive literacy environment to encourage voluntary reading. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)