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Concerns among educators continue to grow with the increased enrollment of Second Language Learners (SLL) in classrooms throughout the United States. This influx has stressed the boundaries of current methods of literacy instruction, which are not designed to meet the needs of these at-risk students. Literacy instructional methods need to be remediated through early intervention, followed by effective literacy instruction that is designed to meet the specific needs of SLL. Effective literacy instruction overcomes differences in culture and background by using meaning-based instruction coupled with engaging and varied contexts. This study evaluated the effectiveness of incorporating meaning-based instructional activities into a two-way bilingual kindergarten classroom. The instruction, Systematic and Engaging Early Literary Instruction (SEEL), is designed to explicitly instruct at-risk children in the acquisition of early reading skills. Specifically, the study assessed the effectiveness of SEEL instruction by comparing a classroom of children who received SEEL instruction with a classroom of children receiving other supplemental literacy supports.

[pt] Esta tese tem por objetivo apresentar, analisar e defender uma solução inferencialista para o assim chamado problema de seguir uma regra. O primeiro capítulo serve como uma introdução. No segundo capítulo, traço as linhas gerais que balizam a discussão ao longo do resto do trabalho: introduzo a ideia de uma teoria do significado e os seus elementos e mostro que ela pode ser uma base sistemática para discussões metafísicas e epistemológicas – com destaque para os temas do realismo e do representacionismo. No terceiro capítulo, abordo em detalhes o problema de seguir uma regra – apresentando uma reconstrução do argumento do Wittgenstein de Kripke (baseando-me em Hattigandi) que conduz à conclusão cética- bem como analiso a viabilidade das possíveis linhas de resposta. No quarto capítulo, apresento o maquinário teórico-conceitual do inferencialismo (baseando-me sobretudo na obra de Brandom); esboço a estrutura geral de uma teoria semântica inferencialista combinando o inferencialismo com duas outras ideias: o normativismo pragmático e o expressivismo lógico. Por fim, no quinto capítulo, enfrento o problema cético de seguir uma regra a partir da perspectiva apresentada no capítulo anterior, e utilizando os elementos introduzido nos outros três capítulos. / [en] In this dissertation I aim to present, analyze, and defend an inferentialist solution to the so-called rule-following problem. The first chapter works as an introduction. The second chapter sets the stage for the discussion throughout the dissertation. After introducing the very idea of a theory of meaning, I show that it can serve as a systematic basis for metaphysical and epistemological discussions – wherein the themes of realism and representationalism take center stage. In the third chapter, I tackle the rule-following problem. More precisely, drawing on Hattiangadi s seminal interpretation, I offer a reconstruction of Kripkenstein s argument leading to the skeptical solution. I also assess the plausibility of the main lines of response to the problem. In the fourth chapter, I introduce the inferentialist theoretical-conceptual machinery inspired by Brandom, drawing the general framework for an inferentialist semantic theory that combines semantic inferentialism with pragmatic normativism and logical expressivism. The final chapter tackles the rule-following problem from the perspective set out in the previous chapter, using at the same time elements brought into play in the other three chapters.

Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka musiklärares bedömningspraktiker och utvärdering av bedömande. Med en fenomenologisk utgångspunkt undersöks musiklärares uppfattningar om bedömning, hur de utvärderar bedömandet och vad de erfar som meningsfullt att bedöma. Rektorer har som uppdrag att ge skolans samtliga lärare förutsättningar att säkerställa att bedömningar är likvärdiga. I den här studien undersöks lärares bedömningspraktiker och hur de själva reflekterar om sitt bedömande. För att göra det undersöks vad lärare finner bedömningsbart och hur de skapar bedömningsituationer för det. Följande två frågeställningar ligger som grund för arbetet: Vad bedömer lärare och hur går de tillväga för att göra det? Samt frågeställningen: Vad tänker lärare om bedömandet och hur utvärderar de bedömning? För att samla in data till sagda frågeställningar, utförde jag fem semi-strukturerade, kvalitativa intervjuer. Av resultatet framkommer det teman som grundar sig i studiens frågeställningar. Den första typen av teman handlar om bedömningspraktiker. Ett undertema är vad som bedöms och ett annat är hur det går till enligt lärarnas erfarenheter. Den andra typen av teman handlar om utvärdering av bedömandet. Här visar resultatet hur lärare reflekterar om sitt bedömande, det lyfts fram att genom vetandet av vilka kriterier som förväntas visas upp, vet läraren också vad som ska bedömas vilket blir deras intentioner och mål med sina bedömande, tidsbegränsning får lärare att söka efter kunskap de ser passa till kriterier. Formativ- och summativ bedömning lyfts också fram i resultatet där informanterna menar att formativ och summativ bedömning har olika syften och används vid olika tillfällen av bedömning. Avslutningsvis jämförs studiens resultat med tidigare forskning där det framkommer ett behov av att definiera musikalisk kunskap inför bedömning eftersom lärare utvärderar sitt bedömmande olika. / The purpose of this study is to investigate music teachers’ assessment practices and evaluation of assessment. With a phenomenological starting point, music teachers´ perceptions of assessment, how they evaluate the assessment and what they experience as meaningful to assess are examined. Principals have the task of giving all the school´s teachers the condition to pass on that assessments are equal. This study examines teacher´s assessment practices and how they themselves reflect on their assessment. To do this, examine what the teacher find assessable and how they create assessment situations for it. The following to questions form the basis of the study: What do teachers assess and how do they go about doing so? The other question is as following: What do teachers think about the assessment and how do they evaluate the assessment? To collect data on these issues, I conducted five semi-structured qualitative interviews. The result show what is based on the studies´ issues. The first type of theme is about assessment practices, what knowledge is assessed. One subtheme highlights how it goes according to the teachers’ experiences. The second type of theme is about evaluating the assessment. Here the result show how teachers reflect on their assessment. The result shows that teachers know what to assess through the criteria and that affects their intention of assessment. Time restrictions in the classroom also affect teachers’ assessment by creating a need for concrete criteria. Formative and summative assessment are also highlighted in the result where informants believe that formative and summative assessment have different purposes and are used at different stages of assessment. Finally the results gets compared to previous research. It shows that there is a need to define musical knowledge before assessment because teachers evaluate their assessment different.

Behavioral disruptions are highly prevalent, affecting almost all persons with dementia at some point during the course of their illness (McConnell, 2014). These behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia are commonly associated with decreased quality of life in the person exhibiting the symptoms as well as their caregivers (Fauth, Zarit, Hofer & Stephens, 2006). The purpose of this doctoral project was to design an intervention to promote socialization and engagement among people with dementia. A review of evidence-based interventions was conducted to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions to decrease behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia. The most promising interventions for reducing symptoms of behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia identified in the literature include music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, massage, activities-based interventions, behavioral management and combination therapies incorporating two or more of these interventions. Incorporating these effective interventions, a new program, Connections, was developed. The program includes a series of different daily interventions to be provided in a skilled nursing facility over the course of six weeks for residents with mild to moderate dementia. The Connections program is guided by a person-centered care philosophy and utilizes an evidence-based approach. Connections is designed to address the unmet psychological needs in people with dementia, such as fear or a sense of loss of control, lack of meaningful activities, loneliness and a lack of social interaction and decrease the behavioral disruptions.

In recent years the field of communication has been experiencing a movement toward newer non-tradtional approaches to the study of communication and information. Among these newer approaches is a growing body of research that focuses on interpretive behavior in the communication process. Brenda Dervin's Sense-Making model of communication/information has been the most widely used interpretive theory of information to date. Sense-Making focuses primarily upon the role of the receiver in the communication process and how individuals construct meaning in specific situations. As a result, Sense-Making has not attended adequately to larger shared frameworks of meaning and the effects that they have upon information seeking and use. It is the purpose of this thesis to strengthen Dervin's theory of Sense-Making by gaining a deeper view of the individual in the construction process and yet broadening the meaning making context to include structural concerns. The work of William Perry on cognitive and ethical development will be examined and applied to Sense-Making theory and data to provide a more in-depth understanding of how individuals construct meaning and use information. As a framework for examining shared structures of meaning, James Fowler's theory of faith development has also been applied to Sense-Making theory and data with particular emphasis on relational aspects. These theories are applied to Sense-Making in an effort to develop a more complete view of the individual in the communication process.

This dissertation is concerned with how pragmatic particles interact with sentential force and with general pragmatic constraints to derive optimal dynamic interpretations. The primary empirical focus of the dissertation is the Japanese sentence final particle yo and its intonational associates. These right-peripheral elements are argued to interact semantically with sentential force in specifying the set of contextual transitions compatible with an utterance. In this way, they semantically constrain the pragmatic interpretation of the utterances in which they occur. These conventional constraints on interpretation are wedded with general pragmatic constraints which provide a further filter on the road to optimal interpretation.

This qualitative study analyzed interactions between clinicians and a male child, aged 5 years 9 months old, with significant phonological as well as language deficits within a meaning-based phonological intervention implemented over a nine-month period. Play-based intervention strategies were presented in activities that varied in communicative complexity. The clinician, along with graduate-student assistants, frequently modeled and elicited target word productions as they interacted with the child in routines and scripted play contexts. Transcriptions of interactions were analyzed using a conversational analysis that explored engagement and participation, turn taking, and linguistic complexity of utterances produced in adjacent turns. The analyses illustrated ways in which the clinicians structuring of the activities influenced the child's participation. The turn taking exchanges were topically related when dealing with shared, immediate context. The reciprocal nature of the turn taking exchanges, and the child's grammatical productions were analyzed. The study suggests that contextualized intervention can make speech sound production relevant for children with phonological production as well as language deficits.

Dagens svenska samhälle innefattar ett stort kulturellt kapital och en omfattande språkflora. Den språkrikedom som finns i vår omgivning kan direkt avspeglas i klassrummet där nästintill alla landets klassrum är flerspråkiga. Studien ämnar undersöka vilka hjälpmedel flerspråkiga och nyanlända elever i mellanstadiet har tillgång till i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet som har direkt betydelse för sin språk- och kunskapsutveckling. Studien syftar även till att belysa dessa elevers egna perspektiv på naturvetenskapsundervisningen i ordinarie klasser. Dataunderlaget består av elevsamtal och genomgångar under elevernas möten med artefakter från två olika klasser inom samma område norr om Stockholm. Dessa videoinspelade observationer kompletterades med fokusgruppsintervjuer där eleverna reflekterade över sin undervisning. I studien möter eleverna i den ena klassen ett naturvetenskapligt innehåll rörande kemiförsök medan den andra klassen möter ett naturvetenskapligt innehåll rörande ett skolgemensamt tema om kropp och hälsa. Dataunderlaget analyserades utifrån ett praktiskt epistemologiskt perspektiv och kring begreppen artefakt, translanguaging och kontinuitet. Resultatet visar att de kommunikativa artefakterna såsom filmer, bilder och gestikulerande, men även andra hjälpmedel såsom digitala lexikon ger de flerspråkiga eleverna möjlighet att föra informella samtal med samspråkiga och olikspråkiga elever. Detta leder till ett meningsskapande inom naturvetenskap och bidrar till en såväl språklig som kunskapsmässig utveckling. Sammantaget har detta en viktig roll i utformandet av en språkinriktad naturvetenskapsundervisning. Förhoppningen är att denna studie ska bidra med upptäckter som uppmuntrar lärare att anpassa sin undervisning och följaktligen höja kvalitéten på flerspråkiga elevers undervisning i naturvetenskap.

Forskning om de två begreppen mening i livet och andlighet har funnits länge. Men att sätta dem i relation till varandra har inte gjorts i någon större omfattning. Denna studie syftade därför till att undersöka om andlighet har samband med upplevelse av mening i livet samt sökande efter mening i livet. Dessutom kontrollerades för kön, ålder och sociala relationer. I en kvalitativ del av studien undersöktes vilka faktorer som deltagarna uppgav har betydelse för mening i livet. Studien genomfördes med en enkät med 25 påståenden och två fritextfrågor, där 168 deltagare medverkade genom ett bekvämlighetsurval. För att mäta upplevelse av mening i livet och sökande efter mening användes Meaning of Life Questionnaire, MLQ. För att mäta andlighet användes tio påståenden inspirerade av The Duke University Religion Index, DUREL. Utöver det ingick fem påståenden om sociala relationer, samt uppgifter om ålder och kön. Svaren från deltagarna undersöktes genom faktoranalys och hierarkisk multipel regressionsanalys. Studiens resultat bekräftar att det finns ett positivt samband mellan andlighet och upplevelse av mening i livet (β=0.27), samt mellan andlighet och sökande efter mening i livet (β=0.31) efter kontroll för kön, ålder och sociala relationer. Detta överensstämmer med tidigare forskning. Andlighet förklarar en liten del av variansen för upplevelse av mening (6%) och sökande efter mening (7%). Den kvalitativa delen av studien visar att samhörighet, syfte och sinnesro är tre teman som deltagarna relaterar till mening i livet. Dessa innefattar olika dimensioner av andlighet vilket kan tyda på en viss överlappning av begreppen.