Magister Educationis - MEd / In this mini-thesis, I explored the factors that affect grade 8 learners’ performance in reading in English.The study focused on reading as it was revealed by National Education Department and Western Cape Education Department that literacy and numeracy levels in schools in the Western Cape were poor. In addition, in March 1997, OBE was initiated in South Africa to develop a better educational system for all learners in schools and was perceived as a major step from the previous system (Botha, 2002). The system of OBE introduced the continuous assessment policies, which was a challenge for teachers already in the educational system. The study highlighted the theories of reading with particular emphasis on the evaluation of teaching of reading and assessment in the English classroom, learners’ home reading background and the influence of social practices and multiliteracies on learners’ reading proficiency. According to Alderson (2000) reading is perceived as a process of meaning- making with identification of different levels of meaning and understanding in and from text including reading skills. To elicit the factors that affect reading four variables were focused on during the study. The variables included reader, task, text and Social Practices and Multiliteracies variables, which interplayed in reading during tasks.In order to gather data the following data capturing methods were employed, firstly I highlighted the classroom observations to unpack the realities in classrooms for both the teacher and the learners. Then secondly I focused on the learners’ questionnaire to determine what happened during reading lessons and learners’ home reading practices. And thirdly I presented the teacher’s interview to highlight the reading strategies that she employed in class. Lastly I discussed the document analysis of grade 8 examination papers and classroom activities with a checklist. I discovered that the system of OBE put demands on teachers that they are not properly trained to do.Despite the fact that training was provided, it was too short and not clearly focused on interactive reading skills. When we consider the importance of multiliteracies, the teacher clearly draws on the learner’s home background by doing activities that make them feel that they are important. This teacher has the ability to successfully incorporate multimodal teaching methods in her class. The teacher also set time aside everyday to assess and mark the learners books, she then clarified issues that learners’ might encounter in the course of the reading lesson.However, there are some factors that could be addressed to improve reading abilities. The overcrowding and ghettoized condition of the class, did not promote morale within this environment. With the inception of OBE in-service training was provided, it was too short and not clearly focused on interactive reading skills. A further factor is learners’ use of Afrikaans during interactions with the teacher and each other,except for one learner who spoke English during the lesson.In conclusion, the evidence showed that the factors hat affect reading and therefore outcomes in education.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A contemporary view of the teaching of English as an Additional Language (EAL) implies in recognizing practices of reading as a critical literacy, since the students‟ knowledge of the world need to be articulated so that they can be linked with a perspective that every text can generate plural meanings, revealing, thus, cultural and ideological aspects inherent to any discourse (PENNYCOOK, 1994; CERVETTI, DAMICO and PARDALES, 2000; APPLE, CHRISTIAN-SMITH, 2001). The present study takes part of an umbrella project developed at Laboratório de Pesquisa e Ensino de Leitura e Redação (LABLER). From this on, the general goal of this research is no analyze in what extent a textbook of a private course of EAL in Santa Maria-RS recontextualizes the discourse in the field of Language Science. In order to enable the objective of this study, concepts of language as genre, reading as a critical literacy and learning in the current discourse of Applied Linguistics were investigated. The reading activities must take students into develop analytical competences of contexts of language use so that they can be able to analyze discourses (MOTTA-ROTH, 2006, p. 501) as well as establish connections in order to realize that texts constitute, reconstitute and/or change discursive and social practices (MEURER; MOTTA-ROTH, 2002, p. 12). Cervetti, Pardalles and Damico (2001) propose the concept of critical literary as a way of expanding the concept of critical reading. This view shows reading as a meaning construction process, as a way of knowing the world and as a means of social transformation. In this conception, the teaching institutional objectives must reach the development of the student‟s critical awareness who once was a reader of the world and now turn out to be an actor in the world. The results indicate that the conception of language adopted by the Textbook is, partially, consonant with the interdisciplinary approach about the concept of discursive genre covered by Sociorhetoric, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. The conception of reading adopted by the collection touches lightly the assumptions of reading as a critical literacy, but not in a way that highlight the objective of the activities of enabling students to question about the author‟s view, for instance. / Uma visão contemporânea de ensino de Inglês como Língua Adicional (ILA) implica em reconhecer as práticas de leitura como letramento crítico, uma vez que os conhecimentos de mundo do aluno precisam ser articulados a fim de alinharem-se com uma perspectiva de que todo texto pode gerar significados plurais, desvelando, assim, aspectos culturais e ideológicos inerentes a qualquer discurso (PENNYCOOK, 1994; CERVETTI, DAMICO e PARDALES, 2000; APPLE, CHRISTIAN-SMITH, 2001). O presente trabalho insere-se dentro de um projeto guarda-chuva desenvolvido no Laboratório de Pesquisa e Ensino de Leitura e Redação (LABLER). A partir disso, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa é analisar em que medida o Livro Didático (LD) de um curso livre de ILA em Santa Maria-RS recontextualiza o discurso do campo da Ciência da Linguagem. A fim de possibilitar o objetivo desse estudo, foram investigados os conceitos de linguagem como gênero, de leitura como letramento crítico e de aprendizagem no discurso corrente em Linguística Aplicada. As atividades de leitura devem levar o aluno a desenvolver competências analíticas dos contextos de uso da linguagem de modo a se tornar capaz de analisar discursos (MOTTA-ROTH, 2006, p. 501) bem como estabelecer conexões de forma a perceber que os textos constituem, reconstituem e/ou alteram práticas discursivas e práticas sociais (MEURER; MOTTA-ROTH, 2002, p. 12). Cervetti, Pardalles e Damico (2001) propõem o conceito de letramento crítico como forma de expandir o conceito de leitura crítica. Essa visão aponta a leitura como um processo de construção de sentido, como forma de conhecer o mundo e como meio de transformação social. Nessa concepção, os objetivos instrucionais do ensino devem atingir o desenvolvimento da consciência crítica do aluno que passa de leitor do mundo para ator no mundo. Os resultados indicam que a concepção de linguagem adotada pelo LD é, em parte, condizente com a abordagem interdisciplinar sobre o conceito de gênero discursivo abarcado pela Sociorretórica, Linguística Sistêmico-Funcional e a Análise Crítica do Discurso. A concepção de leitura adotada pela coleção perpassa os pressupostos da leitura como letramento crítico, mas não de forma que evidencie o objetivo das atividades de possibilitar ao aluno o questionamento sobre a visão do autor, por exemplo.

No description available.

There has been growing concern in the higher education sector in South Africa about the high number of students with low academic literacy (AL) levels who are gaining entry into the sector. This influx necessitated the introduction of academic literacy interventions which are aimed at supporting these students in meeting the academic literacy requirements of university education. As a result, the tertiary sector has seen a growing number of AL interventions, each catering for a different context. However, the available literature reports very little substantial evidence on the impact/effectiveness of such interventions regarding the purpose for which they have been designed. The Vaal Triangle Campus (VTC) of the North-West University has also found that the majority of first year students who register at this Campus in order to attain a tertiary qualification, show inadequate levels of academic literacy in English. However, the academic literacy intervention that is currently used at this campus has never been formally assessed for its effectiveness in improving students’ academic literacy levels. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the impact of the academic literacy intervention on students’ academic literacy levels. This intervention, which consists of two complementary semester modules, is offered over a one-year period to new first year students. As a first step, a comprehensive literature survey was conducted on important changes that took place in the tertiary education sector after 1994. The reason for this enquiry is based on the fact that many of these changes, such as the ‘massification’ of tertiary education, had far-reaching consequences for the tertiary sector in terms of more underprepared students who gained access to university education. Furthermore, available literature on the types of academic literacy interventions in South Africa, as well as specific sources on the reported impact of such interventions, were critiqued. The empirical part of the study made use of both a qualitative and quantitative research paradigm in order to investigate the impact of the AL intervention at the VTC. A highly reliable academic literacy test (the TALL – Test of Academic Literacy Levels) was used to determine whether students showed any significant improvement in their levels of academic literacy as a result of the intervention. This study reports positive findings in this regard. The investigation further gathered opinion-based data through the administration of three questionnaires aimed at determining student and lecturer perceptions of the impact of the intervention. The main findings of the two student questionnaires (one administered for each AL module) show that students generally see the value in attending the academic literacy modules because they feel that they derive benefit from them. The findings of the lecturer survey indicate that although mainstream lecturers are acutely aware of the low academic literacy levels of their students, they do not see the impact of the intervention on improving such levels. They are further not very knowledgeable about what the focus of the intervention entails. The main conclusion of this study is, in brief, that the academic literacy intervention has a definite effect on the improvement of students’ academic literacy levels. However, no conclusive data was found to support the idea that the improvement was due only to the influence of the intervention. / MA (Applied Language Studies), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

There has been growing concern in the higher education sector in South Africa about the high number of students with low academic literacy (AL) levels who are gaining entry into the sector. This influx necessitated the introduction of academic literacy interventions which are aimed at supporting these students in meeting the academic literacy requirements of university education. As a result, the tertiary sector has seen a growing number of AL interventions, each catering for a different context. However, the available literature reports very little substantial evidence on the impact/effectiveness of such interventions regarding the purpose for which they have been designed. The Vaal Triangle Campus (VTC) of the North-West University has also found that the majority of first year students who register at this Campus in order to attain a tertiary qualification, show inadequate levels of academic literacy in English. However, the academic literacy intervention that is currently used at this campus has never been formally assessed for its effectiveness in improving students’ academic literacy levels. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the impact of the academic literacy intervention on students’ academic literacy levels. This intervention, which consists of two complementary semester modules, is offered over a one-year period to new first year students. As a first step, a comprehensive literature survey was conducted on important changes that took place in the tertiary education sector after 1994. The reason for this enquiry is based on the fact that many of these changes, such as the ‘massification’ of tertiary education, had far-reaching consequences for the tertiary sector in terms of more underprepared students who gained access to university education. Furthermore, available literature on the types of academic literacy interventions in South Africa, as well as specific sources on the reported impact of such interventions, were critiqued. The empirical part of the study made use of both a qualitative and quantitative research paradigm in order to investigate the impact of the AL intervention at the VTC. A highly reliable academic literacy test (the TALL – Test of Academic Literacy Levels) was used to determine whether students showed any significant improvement in their levels of academic literacy as a result of the intervention. This study reports positive findings in this regard. The investigation further gathered opinion-based data through the administration of three questionnaires aimed at determining student and lecturer perceptions of the impact of the intervention. The main findings of the two student questionnaires (one administered for each AL module) show that students generally see the value in attending the academic literacy modules because they feel that they derive benefit from them. The findings of the lecturer survey indicate that although mainstream lecturers are acutely aware of the low academic literacy levels of their students, they do not see the impact of the intervention on improving such levels. They are further not very knowledgeable about what the focus of the intervention entails. The main conclusion of this study is, in brief, that the academic literacy intervention has a definite effect on the improvement of students’ academic literacy levels. However, no conclusive data was found to support the idea that the improvement was due only to the influence of the intervention. / MA (Applied Language Studies), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

The assessment of pain in children has been an enduring theme in the research literature over many decades, with particular focus on how pain can be adequately measured and the extent of under-measurement of pain (American Academy of Pediatrics 2001; Coyne, 2006; McCaffery & Beebe 1989; Subhashini et al., 2009). Definitions of pain, and hence development of pain measurement tools, are often criticised for not addressing the influence of culture and ethnicity on pain (Bates et al., 1993; McCaffery & Beebe 1989; Zinke, 2007), in children, the perception and expression of pain is also affected by cognitive development (Hallström and Elander, 2004). Whilst there has been an increase in the number of children living in the United Kingdom (UK) who do not speak English as their first language, it has been acknowledged that the measurement and management of pain by health service professionals relies predominantly on their experience with English speaking children (RCN, 2009). This study aimed primarily to examine how primary school age children in key stage 1 who speak English as a primary or additional language experience, express, and explain pain. This aim was addressed through three research questions: (1) how do primary school age children in key stage 1 talk about pain? (2) What are the similarities and differences in the language used to talk about pain by children with English as a primary and additional language? (3) Are there differences in the perceptions of pain by children of different age, gender, language background, and country of birth? A second aim was to examine whether language would affect actions taken by final year child health students and nurses working in Minor Injuries Units to manage pain in primary school age children. Study objectives were addressed using a two phase mixed methods design. The first aim was addressed using six focus group interviews with groups of primary school children (aged 4-7) (Phase 1). Two methods were used in the interviews: use of drawings from the Pediatric Pain Inventory (Lollar et al., 1982) to capture the language used by children to describe pain and observation of the children’s placing of pain drawings on red/amber/green paper to denote perceived severity of pain. Following data collection, the vocabulary of each child was assessed using a standardised lexical test (British Picture Vocabulary Score version II - BPVS II) (Dunn et al., 1997). To address the second aim, a factorial survey was conducted (Phase 2) with nurses working in Minor Injuries Units and child health nursing students to determine whether language has an impact on decisions made about the management of children in pain following a minor injury. Phase 1 findings demonstrated that children from English as an Additional Language (EAL) backgrounds used less elaborate language when talking about pain but tended to talk about the pictures prior to deciding where they should be placed. The children’s placement of pain drawings varied according to language background, gender, and age. The calculated language age of English lexical comprehension (BPVS II score) of monolingual children (M=69.85, SD=19.27) was significantly higher than EAL children (M=47.93, SD=14.32; t (32) = 3.60, p =0.001, two-tailed). However, when these differences were explored in terms of year group, the differences remain significant with foundation and year 2 but not with year 1. For the EAL children, there were also significant relationships between BPVS II score and length of stay in the UK (spearman’s rho 0.749, p = 0.33). The Phase 1 findings were used to construct vignettes, describing hypothetical care situations, for Phase 2. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyse the impact of a child’s age, gender, language, parent’s language, injury mechanism, and reaction to pain on the way in which the child’s pain would be assessed and whether parents or an interpreter would be invited to assist in pain assessment. Findings demonstrated that observing the child’s behaviour is the most significant assessment process that is used to assess EAL children, rather than the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), which was used with non-EAL children. This is significant as VAS is the mostly widely used tool to assess pain in health care settings. However, VAS is only effective if it can be understood by the child. Further, MIU nurses and child health students were more likely to involve parents who speak English well than those who speak English poorly but would ask for an interpreter if their involvement was necessary. In order for the respondents to explain their decisions, they were asked an open ended question for each vignette. They reported that language and age of children are the most common difficulties they faced during assessment of pain. Therefore, they suggested some solutions, like using an age appropriate tools for assessing younger children. Respondents also identified that using an interpreter is a time consuming process, which might delay the management of pain. In light of the growing numbers of EAL children in the UK; this research has application in a number of contexts. The variation in language would apply if children were reporting their own pain. However, the findings emphasise the need for sufficient time to be allocated to pain assessment to allow an individualised approach. Study findings suggest several factors that may be important in assessing pain in EAL children; these should be explored further in the context of clinicians’ assessment of pain. The implications of the study impact on policy, practice, education, and future research.

This dissertation study explored the practices that foster teacher development in a community of practice (Wenger, 1998, 2010) of teachers of English as an Additional Language in a large federal university in the south of Brazil. The community is part of a big internationalization effort in Brazilian universities, named Languages without Borders (LwB). In summary, the goal of the program is to teach additional languages for university students, faculty and staff. For that, the local LwB center has fifteen student teachers, from sophomore to senior year, who are pursuing a teaching certification in English as an Additional Language. Although the community has teaching as its end goal, and not teacher development, teacher development has emerged as an epiphenomenon, for student teachers need to learn how to teach in order for the community’s goals to be attained. The objective of this study was to observe, describe and analyze the practices that foster professional development for these student teachers in order to understand in what ways (and if) the experiences in their everyday life of the community become professional learning. While previous research has shown that communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) can be sites of learning, and has explored communities among teachers and students in a variety of contexts, there is a scarcity of studies about community among these additional language teachers (Costa, 2013; Merril, 2016) With the theoretical framework of Practice Theory (Wenger, 1998; Young, 2009; Ortner, 1983), this interpretative study (Erickson, 1990) examined history-in-person interviews with focal participants as well as intensive participant observation – recorded in the form of field notes, audio recordings and photographs – and collection of artifacts. The research participants consist of fifteen student teachers, two former student teachers, three Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, and two of the three coordinators of the program at this university. Out of these, five student teachers were chosen for the interviews. Results revealed that this community has both formal and informal practices that cultivate teacher development. The formal practices are planned by the coordinator and enacted in weekly pedagogical meetings, and include practices such as microteaching, workshops and lectures. The informal practices emerge from teachers’ everyday interactions in the teachers’ room, and include practices such as sharing materials, requesting help, sharing classroom stories, sharing specialized concepts and literature in the field of AL teaching, and planning classes together. In conclusion, the landscape of practices that student teachers experience throughout their trajectory in the program helps them develop as teachers through the profession (Nóvoa, 1992) and integrate both technical and practical aspects of the job.

In today’s society there is a discussion regarding students’ level of knowledge and personalisation. The classrooms consist of heterogenic groups of students with different learning needs and levels of knowledge. The purpose of the present study is to find out how the students who participated perceive the teaching of English as an additional language with regards to personalisation, and how they believe differentiation can help develop and deepen their learning.   This study has been conducted using a qualitative method with interviews as the core, complemented by observations. The results have been analysed and interpreted hermeneutically.   The results show that those students who have a positive attitude to English education, irrespective of their grade, are those who see the benefit of knowing English outside the classroom, and thereby create a connection between reality and studying English. Those who lack this connection have a negative attitude. Basing teaching in reality renders personalisation viable for the individual within a teaching group. Even when the students give some examples of how the teaching can be adjusted to their needs, most of them believe that the teacher must adjust the teaching to fit the class as a whole and they do not expect any personalisation. / I dagens samhällsdebatt om skolan diskuteras elevers kunskapsnivå och möjligheten till individanpassning. Klassrummen är sammansatta av heterogena grupper bestående av elever med olika inlärningsbehov och på olika kunskapsnivåer. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur några betygsmässigt hög- och lågpresterande gymnasieelever upplever att engelskundervisningen är individanpassad efter deras behov, samt hur de anser att den ska vara utformad för att de ska kunna utveckla och fördjupa sitt lärande.   Undersökningen har genomförts utifrån en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer som det centrala och med observationer som bakgrund. Resultatet har analyserats och tolkats hermeneutiskt.   I studien framkom att elever som har en positiv inställning till engelska, oberoende av betyg, är de som ser nyttan utanför klassrummets väggar och därmed verklighetsanknyter engelskundervisningen. De som saknar en koppling till verkligheten har en genomgående negativ inställning. Det är således genom verklighetsanknytningen som individanpassningen möjliggörs. Även om eleverna kommer med förslag på hur undervisningen kan tänkas anpassas till dem, säger flera av dem att läraren måste anpassa undervisningen till klassen som helhet och de förväntar sig ingen individanpassning.

<p>In today’s society there is a discussion regarding students’ level of knowledge and personalisation. The classrooms consist of heterogenic groups of students with different learning needs and levels of knowledge. The purpose of the present study is to find out how the students who participated perceive the teaching of English as an additional language with regards to personalisation, and how they believe differentiation can help develop and deepen their learning.</p><p> </p><p>This study has been conducted using a qualitative method with interviews as the core, complemented by observations. The results have been analysed and interpreted hermeneutically.</p><p> </p><p>The results show that those students who have a positive attitude to English education, irrespective of their grade, are those who see the benefit of knowing English outside the classroom, and thereby create a connection between reality and studying English. Those who lack this connection have a negative attitude. Basing teaching in reality renders personalisation viable for the individual within a teaching group. Even when the students give some examples of how the teaching can be adjusted to their needs, most of them believe that the teacher must adjust the teaching to fit the class as a whole and they do not expect any personalisation.</p><p> </p> / <p>I dagens samhällsdebatt om skolan diskuteras elevers kunskapsnivå och möjligheten till individanpassning. Klassrummen är sammansatta av heterogena grupper bestående av elever med olika inlärningsbehov och på olika kunskapsnivåer. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur några betygsmässigt hög- och lågpresterande gymnasieelever upplever att engelskundervisningen är individanpassad efter deras behov, samt hur de anser att den ska vara utformad för att de ska kunna utveckla och fördjupa sitt lärande.</p><p> </p><p>Undersökningen har genomförts utifrån en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer som det centrala och med observationer som bakgrund. Resultatet har analyserats och tolkats hermeneutiskt.</p><p> </p><p>I studien framkom att elever som har en positiv inställning till engelska, oberoende av betyg, är de som ser nyttan utanför klassrummets väggar och därmed verklighetsanknyter engelskundervisningen. De som saknar en koppling till verkligheten har en genomgående negativ inställning. Det är således genom verklighetsanknytningen som individanpassningen möjliggörs. Även om eleverna kommer med förslag på hur undervisningen kan tänkas anpassas till dem, säger flera av dem att läraren måste anpassa undervisningen till klassen som helhet och de förväntar sig ingen individanpassning.</p>

As academic and professional knowledge is available around the world through publications in English, the ability to read in English is now widely seen as an essential basic skill for university graduates in countries, like Thailand, where English is a foreign language. However, students often fail to reach a level of reading ability that allows them to read these publications with confidence. It is important that instruction in Reading skills should be improved. It has been claimed that instruction in the use of reading strategies is helpful in improving the reading skills of EFL learners. Research has suggested that explicit instruction can be particularly valuable. This thesis investigates the reading strategies used by Thai university students and investigates whether a short course based on explicit reading strategy instruction can be effective in encouraging the use of strategies and improving reading skills for Thai university students. Based on a literature review on Reading strategy instruction, a framework was developed and applied in the adaptation of a set of materials for use in providing English major Thai university students with explicit instruction in the use of reading strategies. The following research questions were investigated: What are the reading strategies that Thai undergraduate English major students employ in the EFL reading process? Does reading strategy instruction affect students’ use of reading strategies in English? How much improvement do the students show on measures of reading performance after receiving a programme of reading strategy instruction? In a quasi-experimental research design, one class of fifteen students, the Experimental group, was given a twelve-week course in Reading that included explicit instruction in reading strategies while a second group of thirteen students (matched for background characteristics), the Control group, was given a parallel course that did not include explicit strategy instruction. Both quantitative and qualitative comparisons were made. Students were given reading tests and responded to questionnaires about their use of strategies at the beginning and end of their courses. They were also interviewed and performed think-aloud verbal protocols in which they reported in their use of reading strategies as they carried out reading tasks. Participants in the Experimental group reported using a wider range of strategies than those in the Control group following instruction and generally made greater improvements in their reading test scores. The findings support the value of explicit instruction in reading strategies for Thai university students. However, concerns remain about Thai students reliance on translation and slow, careful reading even following instruction in more strategic approaches.