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Examines and rationalizes the instructional strategies used to teach young children with autism early literacy skills using a balanced, multilevel approach to reading. Explores the five domains of reading in a way that brings light to the areas of reading deficits in young children diagnosed with autism. Additionally, attempts to bring the concept of best reading practices to the attention of educators who serve children with autism. The project provides a handbook of literacy activities geared towards children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

This quantitative study explored the effect of intervention lessons on online reading skills in fifth grade classrooms. First, it sought to examine the relationships among demographic variables including gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status and self-reported Internet use and Internet ability. Second, this study was designed to investigate which variables best predict performance on a measure of online reading. Third, the effect of lessons designed to improve online reading comprehension was explored to determine the efficacy of targeted classroom-based instruction on learned skills. Three theoretical frameworks underpinned this study: 1) a new literacies framework (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004), 2) transactional model (Rosenblatt, 1978), and 3) socioconitive model (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004a). The study was conducted in a Midwestern, suburban school over a 12-week time period with 443 fifth grade students. The repeated measures quasi-experimental research design allowed a quantitative investigation of online reading comprehension instruction to provide a reliable and valid assessment of the impact of online reading comprehension instruction on changes in student performance on an established measure of online reading comprehension. Additional attention to common variables known to influence outcomes in reading and technology performance (e.g., demographic variables, prior reading achievement scores) strengthened the design by allowing a more refined analysis of the isolated impact from the instructional activities. A regression analysis revealed prior achievement on norm-referenced measures of English/Language Arts as well as reported Internet use accounted for a significant amount of variance on online reading comprehension performance. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences between the experimental and control groups in online reading performance growth. Results from the subskill analysis show students in the experimental group demonstrated significant improvement over the control group on two of the three subskills (locating and synthesizing). No significant differences in group growth were observed for the Web evaluation task. Findings from this study indicate teachers varying in experience and Internet familiarity can effectively teach online reading in a classroom setting, and that students who received this instruction developed these skills at a greater rate. This work can inform future efforts as to how to best teach the skills and strategies of online reading. / Department of Educational Psychology

This research aimed to understand the literacy and language experiences of a group of immigrant girls in an inner city school. It takes a socio-cultural approach to literacy and emphasizes the intersections between home, school and community. Eight weeks were spent in the school with learners and teachers, guided by the principles of ethnographic research. The data was analysed using a combination of methods. Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) was used to identify patterns and themes in accordance with community theory. Narrative Analysis was used as a means to foreground the voices of the research participants in sharing their experiences. The research found that literacy and language practices do not exist in isolation, but rather as part of a complex and distinctive layering of communities: the community in the suburb where the school is, the immigrant community, the school community and community of learners in the school. In addition the ways in which literacy and language are used, are attached to different relations of power within different communities. The study raises questions about the way in which schools operate as part of or distinct from the communities in which they are located.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

Literacy is currently a topic of great concern in Namibia. Learners in this country have difficulty in reading and writing, and are often functionally illiterate. This study focuses on the beliefs, experiences and practices of teachers of reading in English to second language learners in Grade 4. Grade 4 is the transitional grade from mother tongue to English as the medium of instruction. The switch to English makes teaching reading in that language especially challenging. The study is structured according to the case study mode of enquiry, with the target respondents comprising Grade 4 teachers. Classroom observation, interviews and document analysis were used as means of collecting data. The main findings revealed that beliefs and experience had an impact on the way in which reading was taught in this study. It emerged that the teachers’ childhood experiences of literacy and learning to read are perpetuated in their beliefs, their attitudes, their basic conceptualization of reading and their current practices, all of which directly affect the children in their classes. Although the teachers’ professional training also had some influence on their teaching methods, neither of the two teachers interviewed had received much in-service support on how to teach reading, and they depended to a large extent on their recall of how they had learned to read themselves. Both teachers were taught in a traditional, teacher-centered way, involving phonics, rote-learning and drilling. Because they see themselves as competent readers, they believe that these approaches were effective and worth sustaining. Tentative recommendations arising from analysis of the data indicate possible areas for improvement in the teaching of reading, and offer guidelines to help teachers cope with the challenge.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

This study aims to explore four grade 3 teachers’ understanding of teaching reading in Rukwangali, a home language in Namibia in Kavango region and to observe the strategies they use as well as the activities they set for their learners. During my School Based Studies (SBS), I noticed that learners were not reading with understanding. My interest was also stimulated by a study carried out in Namibia that found that the literacy levels for Namibian learners were poor compared to those of other African countries. This is a qualitative case study carried out within an interpretive paradigm. It seeks to understand the meaning that people attached to human actions. I selected the participants purposefully and in terms of convenience, as all three schools selected are situated in Rundu, the town in which I work as a college lecturer. The research tools I employed were semi-structured interviews, document analysis, classroom observation, and stimulated recall discussions on the lessons I observed. I used a variety of methods to triangulate data and enhance validity. This study reveals that teachers use multiple methods to teach reading. These methods include phonics and syllabification to help struggling learners to decode difficult and long (polysyllabic) words and the look-and-say method for whole word recognition and meaning making at word and sentence level. In addition, they also use the thematic approach to teaching and learning to expand learners’ vocabulary and enhance their understanding of the texts they read and to make their lessons learnercentred. However, the problems of language, lack of reading books written in Rukwangali and large class sizes constrain the teachers from teaching in a more learner-centred way. Therefore, the study gives some tentative recommendations to remedy this situation.

Thesis (MEd )--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This research was undertaken due to the increase of Afrikaans L1 learners in an English medium class and the problems these learners face. This study reports on An Observation Survey of Early Learning Achievement (Clay, 2002) in order to assess the emergent literacy of grade two learners in terms of specific literacy skills in English. This survey aimed to assist the educator in determining the progress and processing behaviours made by Afrikaans L1 learners in terms of literacy content in an English medium class. The Observation Survey was conducted thrice over a three month period. It was aimed at determining what processing skills and strategies the learners use and if traditional teaching combined with Outcomes Based Education (OBE) enabled learners to acquire strategies for learning. Simultaneously it was determined if code switching, code mixing and mother tongue (Afrikaans) use facilitated learning. The data indicated the language problems, preference and proficiency of the learners. This research necessitated the use of both quantitative and qualitative data. Using a case study design, a qualitative tool with quantitative elements was used to collect data. Further data was collected at parent meetings with the learners in the study as well as from written correspondence from parents. This data gave insight to the learner’s ethnographic background and the language proficiency of the parents. The findings of this study indicate the need for ongoing support and in-service training for educators in the ever changing curriculum. In conclusion it was determined that various factors contribute to the literacy development of learners. In order for them to stay abreast with the curriculum further research and support is imperative for educators.

This study is an exploration of contextual environmental learning through integrated life skills and literacy in a Foundation Phase classroom. It attempts to document, explore and clarify some of the challenges of situated environmental learning in a Foundation Phase classroom through an integrated program of life skills learning and literacy acquisition. The research draws on a rich but often overlooked cultural historical context of embodied intergenerational healthy living practices in a rural Eastern Cape context to construct a learning platform for a more carefully situated and potentially relevant education. The integrated life skills and literacy acquisition program thus unfolded as a contextual process of situated learning within a developing blend of listening, writing and reading to learn in a Grade 3 program of additive bilingualism. The data generated in the study and represented in Chapter 4 suggests curriculum contextualisation in an integrated Foundation Phase program can contribute to environmental learning with enhanced relevance and literacy skills. The evidence from working with learner knowledge and experience in a community context appears to be a key to meaningful curriculum contextualization in an integrated Foundation Phase programme producing enhanced literacy and relevance. It was noted that engaging elders (gogos) enabled the process of opening up local knowledge to link with learner experience and school knowledge to foster relevance, appeared to contribute to more meaningful learning across other learning areas. There is evidence that acquiring literacy skills is a lengthy process that is supported by learner interest and the relevance of what they are learning especially when it is acknowledged by the teacher and the community. The findings of an exploratory study such as this cannot be conclusive beyond the experience that I had of working with learners who were engaged in learning as well as acquiring literacy skills literacy skills. My personal enthusiasm and work with the Gogos and with a community focus were key factors that strengthened environmental learning across school, home and community. The experience has convinced me that this is the way we must work to enhance relevance and literacy in our Foundation Phase teaching.