Within a Southwestern school system, deficits in early literacy skills exist as is illustrated by kindergarten students not meeting the requirements on the Phonological Awareness and Phonics Inventory (PAPI). To address this deficit in early literacy skills, the school system instituted the use of the Guided Reading Approach (GR); however, it was unknown how the kindergarten teachers were implementing GR. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences and challenges of kindergarten teachers who implement GR. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning and constructivist theory provided the conceptual framework. Research questions explored the thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs teachers hold about GR as well as the challenges teachers face when incorporating GR. A case study methodology was used to investigate 6 kindergarten teachers' experiences with implementing GR through the use of interviews and document analysis. Analysis of data revealed that teachers believed that GR was a necessary component of teaching and increased student success. However, teachers did not have enough training, collaboration, or time to invest in GR. A professional training was developed for teachers as a result. The 3-day training will provide teachers with an overview of GR, opportunities for the participants to collaborate with colleagues, and time for the development of GR lesson plans that can immediately be transferred to the classroom. Positive social change may result by helping teachers better understand GR (components and implementation), which may result in an improved reading program, higher student performance, and information to influence others to improve reading programs.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo primeiro investigar as transformações nos textos literários para crianças e jovens, oriundos de mudanças nas relações sociais, e verificar em que medida a literatura infantil e mesmo a juvenil tem exteriorizado no seu universo textual novas maneiras de percepção sobre as narrativas primordiais ou clássicas, consolidadas como tal a partir do século XVII. Na contemporaneidade, sobretudo a partir da segunda metade do século XX no Brasil da releitura do novo texto infantil, observou-se que tais narrativas e seus valores outrora marcados pela presença de uma pedagogia altamente moralizante e excludente, agora reorganizam as estratégias de captação para retomar não só os clássicos ou histórias que caíram no gosto da criança e do jovem, no passado, mas ainda para atualizar narrativas capazes de fazer parecer serem outras, dado o novo arranjo da vestimenta destas novas histórias que intencionam, de modo significativo, evidenciar uma literatura com mais recursos de visualidade e plasticidade, bem como um modo de ser e de estar dessa nova criança e também do jovem num mundo de valores diversos, cujos reflexos corroboram um universo literário de atualizadas prescrições. Assim, tomou-se como corpora as obras Chapeuzinho Amarelo (2006), de Chico Buarque, ilustração de Ziraldo, Chapeuzinho Vermelho (1996), de Charles Perrault, Chapeuzinho Vermelho, dos Grimm (2009), Sapato de salto (2011), de Lygia Bojunga, Antecedentes de uma famosa história (2010), de Carolina Alonso, ilustração de Mariana Massarani, conto publicado em Não era uma vez: contos clássicos recontados coletânea de autores latino-americanos, A outra história de Chapeuzinho Vermelho (2016), de Jean-Claude R. Alphen, ilustrada pelo próprio autor e as intersecções forjadas no texto Preciosidade (1991), de Clarice Lispector, conto publicado em Laços de família. Para tal investigação, foram utilizados como fundamentação teórica elementos dos Estudos Comparados de Literatura, bem como de outras ciências da linguagem afins, além de estudos sobre a gênese e a História da Literatura Infantil e, posteriormente, a Juvenil. Com base em estudos já desenvolvidos sobre essa modalidade de textos, busca-se adentrar mais um pouco nessa floresta ainda vasta de textos que refletem valores humanos e sociais. / This research aims at investigating the transformations in literary texts for children and young people from social relations changes and at verifing the extent to which children\'s and still youth literature has externalized in their textual universe new ways of perception about primordial or classical narratives, consolidated as such from the seventeenth century. In contemporary times, the re-reading of the new children\'s text, especially since the second half of the twentieth century in Brazil, was observed that such narratives and their values were once marked by the presence of a highly moralizing and excluding pedagogy, now reorganize the capture strategies to resume not only the classics or stories that have fallen in the taste of the child and the youth in the past, but still to update narratives capable of making appear to be others, given the new arrangement of the \"clothing\" of these new stories that intend, in a significant way, a literature with more visuality features and plasticity, as well as a way of being of this new child and youth in a world of diverse values, whose reflections corroborate a literary universe of up-to-date prescriptions. Thus, it was taken as corpora the works Chapeuzinho Amarelo (2006), by Chico Buarque and illustrated by Ziraldo, Chapeuzinho Vermelho (1996), by Charles Perrault, Chapeuzinho Vermelho, by Grimm (2009), Sapato de salto (2011), by Lygia Bojunga, Antecedentes de uma famosa história (2010), by Carolina Alonso with illustration by Mariana Massarani, short story published in Não era uma vez: contos clássicos recontados - a collection of latin american authors, A outra história de Chapeuzinho Vermelho (2016), by Jean-Claude R. Alphen, illustrated by the author himself and the intersections forged in the text Preciosidade (1991), by Clarice Lispector, a tale published in Laços de Família. For this investigation, elements of Comparative Literature Studies, as well as other related language sciences and studies on the genesis and History of Children\'s and Juvenile Literature were used as theoretical basis. Based on studies already developed on this modality of texts, it aims at penetrating a little more in the still vast forest of texts that reflect human and social values.

<p>When children encounter new subjects in school, they are also faced with new ways of using language. Learning science thus means learning the language of science, and writing is one of the ways this is accomplished. The present study investigates writing in natural sciences in grades 5 and 8 in Swedish schools. Major theoretical influences for these investigations are found within the socio-cultural, dialogical and social semiotic perspectives on language use.</p><p>The study is based on texts written by 97 students, interviews around these texts and observations from 16 different classroom practices. Writing is seen as a situated practice; therefore analysis is carried out of the activities surrounding the texts. The student texts are analysed in terms of genre and in relation to their abstraction, density and use of expansions. This analysis shows among other things that the texts show increasing abstraction and density with increasing age, whereas the text structure and the use of expansions do not increase.</p><p>It is also argued that a central point in school writing must be the students’ way of talking about their texts. Analysis of interviews with the students is thus carried out in terms of text movability. The results from this analysis indicate that students find it difficult to talk about their texts. They find it hard to express the main content of the text, as well as to discuss it’s function and potential readers.</p><p>Previous studies argue that writing constitutes a potential for learning. In the material studied in this thesis, this potential learning tool is not used to any large extent. To be able to participate in natural sciences in higher levels, students need to take part in practices where the specialized language of natural science is used in writing as well as in speech.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-339).

Despite the vast amount of research that has been devoted separately to the topics of browsing and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) aggregation architecture, little is known about how end-users engage with RSS feeds and how they browse while using a feed aggregate. This study explores the browsing behaviors end-users exhibit when using RSS and Atom feeds. The researcher analyzed end-users’ browsing experiences and discusses browsing variations. The researcher observed, tested, and interviewed eighteen (N=18) undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee to determine how end-users engage with RSS feeds. This study evaluates browsing using two variations of tasks, (1) an implicit task with no final goal and (2) an explicit task with a final goal. The researcher observed the participants complete the two tasks and conducted exit interviews, which addressed the end-users’ experiences with Google Reader and provided further explanation of browsing behaviors. The researcher analyzed the browsing behaviors based upon Bates’ (2007) definitions and characteristics of browsing. The results of this exploratory research provide insights into end-user interaction with RSS feeds.

When children encounter new subjects in school, they are also faced with new ways of using language. Learning science thus means learning the language of science, and writing is one of the ways this is accomplished. The present study investigates writing in natural sciences in grades 5 and 8 in Swedish schools. Major theoretical influences for these investigations are found within the socio-cultural, dialogical and social semiotic perspectives on language use. The study is based on texts written by 97 students, interviews around these texts and observations from 16 different classroom practices. Writing is seen as a situated practice; therefore analysis is carried out of the activities surrounding the texts. The student texts are analysed in terms of genre and in relation to their abstraction, density and use of expansions. This analysis shows among other things that the texts show increasing abstraction and density with increasing age, whereas the text structure and the use of expansions do not increase. It is also argued that a central point in school writing must be the students’ way of talking about their texts. Analysis of interviews with the students is thus carried out in terms of text movability. The results from this analysis indicate that students find it difficult to talk about their texts. They find it hard to express the main content of the text, as well as to discuss it’s function and potential readers. Previous studies argue that writing constitutes a potential for learning. In the material studied in this thesis, this potential learning tool is not used to any large extent. To be able to participate in natural sciences in higher levels, students need to take part in practices where the specialized language of natural science is used in writing as well as in speech.

Denna studie jämför hur kommentarer till nätartiklar på Aftonbladet.se har förändrats från 2010 till 2011 vad gäller innehåll, språk och ton. Mellan dessa år har systemet för kommentering ändrats på Aftonbladet.se, från att det 2010 krävdes registrering och att kommentatorn fick välja ett valfritt alias, till att kommentering sker via ett redan registrerat Facebook-konto med kommentatorns riktiga namn. Studiens syfte är att ta reda på hur diskussionerna och språket i kommentarsfälten påverkas när kommentatorn inte längre får vara anonym. Med kvantitativ innehållsanalys undersöks två artiklars kommentarer per dag under en vecka, 14 till 20 oktober 2010 och 2011, 14 artiklar från varje år. Urvalet av artiklar utgår från vilka artiklar som topplacerats i Aftonbladets pappersupplaga samma dag. Totalt har 1452 kommentarer undersökts med 28 variabler. Variablerna berör bland annat huruvida kommentaren är kritisk, om den svarar på en annan kommentar och om den innehåller stavfel eller andra språkliga misstag. Efter att kodningen genomförts gjordes ett reliabilitetstest där 30 redan undersökta kommentarer analyserades en gång till för att stärka resultatets validitet. Huvudresultatet visar att det 2011 pågår en mer aktiv diskussion mellan de som kommenterar och att kvinnorna har tagit mer plats i kommentarsfälten än tidigare. Detta kan ha sin förklaring i att det är mer lättillgängligt att kommentera via ett Facebook-konto förutsatt att man redan har ett registrerat konto. Språkbruket är i princip det samma båda åren, men kommentarerna har blivit längre och mer sakliga. / This study compares reader comments on articles displayed on Aftonbladet.se, in terms of content and language. Between these years the system for commenting on Aftonbladet.se has changed from a registration, when the user could choose their own alias, to commenting using their already existing Facebook-account with the user’s real name. This study answers the question how and if the reader comments change when the option of being anonymous disappears. This study analyses readers’ comments of two articles every day during two weeks, October 14th to October 20th 2010 and 2011, with a total of 14 articles each year. The selection of articles was based on the articles placement in the printed newspaper Aftonbladet the same day. 1452 comments have been studied through 28 variables. Some of the most important variables were; whether the comment is critical, whether the comment answers another comment and if it contains spelling mistakes. In order to strengthen the validity of the study a test of the reliability was made and 30 comments were re-analysed one more time. The main results of the study indicates that the debate was more active between the users in 2011 than in 2010 and that women to a higher extent started to take place in the commenting area. These results are probably an effect of using the Facebook account for commenting, which is accessible and easy to use.

The present study examines typical features of internet language found in user-generated comments collected from commenting groups from four online magazines aimed at different readerships: (1) adult women (Working Mother and Mothering), (2) adult men (Esquire), (3) young women (Seventeen) and (4) young men (Gameinformer). Approximately 5,000 words from each commenting group were collected, creating a 21,087 word corpus which was analyzed with regard to typographic (emoticons, nonstandard typography of and, personal pronouns you and I) and orthographic features (abbreviations, acronyms) as well as syntactic and stylistic features resembling spoken language (contracted forms, ellipsis of subject and/or verb and commenting tone). The results show that adult men wrote the longest comments, followed by adult women, young men and young women in descending order. Furthermore, as for the typical features regarding typography and orthography, it was found that among the four commenting groups, adult men and adult women used them very sparsely, young men used them occasionally and young women used the features most frequently. The analysis of tone showed that adult men mostly used an aggressive or neutral tone, while adult women, young women and young men mostly used a friendly or neutral tone. Young women used an aggressive tone more often than adult women and young men. Moreover, regarding the syntactic and stylistic features, results revealed that the young men were the most frequent users of ellipsis of subject and/or verb, followed by adult women, young women and adult men. Contracted forms were used extensively in the potential places of contractions, regardless of commenting group. Since young men used the ellipsis of subject and/or verb most frequently of all commenting groups and also used the contracted forms in all potential places of contractions, the conclusion is that the young men used a style that is closer to spoken English than the three other commenting groups. / Den här studien undersöker språkdrag som är typiska för språk på internet. Det material som har undersöks har hämtats från användarkommentarer i nättidningar som är riktade till fyra olika läsargrupper: (1) kvinnor (Working Mother, Mothering), (2) män (Esquire), (3) unga kvinnor (Seventeen) och (4) unga män (Gameinformer). Cirka 5 000 ord hämtades från kommentarsfälten för varje tidning, vilket resulterade i en korpus som omfattade 21 087 ord totalt. Korpusen analyserades med hänsyn till typografiska språkdrag (smileys, ickestandardiserad stavning av personliga pronomen I och you samt and) och ortografiska språkdrag (förkortningar, akronymer) samt syntaktiska och stilistiska språkdrag som påminner om talspråk (sammandragningar, ellips av subjekt och/eller predikatsverb, tonläge). Resultaten visade att män skrev de längsta kommentarerna, följda av kvinnor, unga män och unga kvinnor i fallande ordning. Vad gäller typiska typografiska och ortografiska språkdrag visar resultatet att de återfanns mycket sparsamt i kvinnornas och männens data, att de återfanns då och då i de unga männens data och att de unga kvinnorna var de som använde dessa språkdrag mest frekvent. Analys av tonläge i användarkommentarerna visade att män oftast använde en aggressiv eller neutral ton, medan kvinnor, unga kvinnor och unga män oftast använde en vänskaplig eller neutral ton. Unga kvinnor använde en aggressiv ton oftare än kvinnor och unga män. Utöver detta visade resultatet att ellips av subjekt och/eller predikatsverb var mest frekvent i de unga männens användarkommentarer, följt av kvinnornas, de unga kvinnornas och männens. Sammandragna former användes näst intill undantagslöst i hela korpusen. Eftersom pojkarna uppvisade mest frekvent användning av ellips av subjekt och/eller predikatsverb samt använde sammandragna former i full utsträckning, kan slutsatsen dras att de unga männens syntax är mer påverkad av engelskt talspråk än syntaxen hos de tre andra kommenterande grupperna.

The aim of this essay is to show how to use William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies in the ESL classroom to teach democratic values. Such values include: respect, empathy and the right to free speech. According to Reader-Response theory, the reader brings expectations and knowledge about the subject matter (in this case democracy and its values) to the texts, which influence his/her interpretation. I have applied two different styles of analyzing a text: a Content-Based Approach and Simpson's Communication Triangle. The Content-Based Approach, in accordance with Reader-Response Theory, builds on students' knowledge and previous experience and focuses on the content to be acquired. The Simpson's Communication Triangle, on the other hand, connects reading, discussing and writing. Both of the approaches are designed to enhance the students' reading responses by providing different forums for sharing, such as discussions and writing (diary entries) from one of the character's perspective. The idea of creating Reader-Response journals is supported by multiple forms of theoretical study, and the assignments explained in this essay have been designed upon this research.

Denna uppsats tar upp frågan om en teknisk artefakt, i detta fall läs- och/eller surfplatta, kan ses som en bra lösning för dyslektiker i deras svårigheter med läsningen. Studien har fokus på läs- och surfplattans funktioner som kan vara en möjlighet att hjälpa personer med läsning. Uppsatsens experiment beprövar en redan etablerad metod, läsa och lyssna samtidigt, genom att sätta samman ett antal funktioner och tekniker som finns idag i en enhet. Vi har undersökt om man kan öka läshastigheten och läsförståelsen hos dyslektiker med hjälp av sådan teknik på en läs/surfplatta. Resultatet visar en trend på att metoden fungerar. Trenden är dock bara svag enligt analysen av observationsdata då undersökningen endast utförts på tio personer. Det innebär att resultatet endast visar att undersökningen är rätt utformad men att den bör utföras i en större utsträckning för att den skall kunna representera populationen dyslektiker. / This paper investigates if a technological artifact, in this case eReader and / or tablet computer, can assist dyslexics with the reading. The study focuses on reading and the tablet computers’ functions that may help people with reading. The essay will be testing an already established method, reading and listening simultaneously, by combining a number of features and technologies that exist today into one entity. We have tested experimentally whether one can increase reading speed and the comprehension on those with dyslexia. The results indicate a trend in that the method works. However only a weak trend was observed since only ten subjects could be tested. This means that the results show that the study is properly designed, but it is suggested that the study should be conducted with a great number of test to be able to represent the population of dyslexics.