Förmågan att lyssna är en viktig kommunikativ kompetens för att människan ska kunna förstå sin omvärld. Samtidigt har läsningen traditionellt sett en dominerande roll i grundskolesammanhang i fråga om kunskapsinhämtning. Modellen Simple View of Reading har ett omfattande stöd i forskningen och anger att avkodning och språkförståelse, där hörförståelse ingår, ligger till grund för läsförståelse. Med sambandet mellan hörförståelse och läsförståelse i åtanke har denna studie för avsikt att utifrån kvantitativ data undersöka elevers förmåga att förstå en elevnära, åldersadekvat och skönlitterär text dels utifrån traditionell läsning, dels utifrån ett färdiginspelat ljudboksformat. Totalt har 109 elever i årskurs fyra, från två olika skolor utspridda på fem klasser, deltagit i undersökningen och antingen läst eller lyssnat på texten Anton och gänget. Eleverna har svarat på flervalsfrågor om texten via det digitala formatet Google Formulär och frågorna har tagits fram utifrån de fyra läsförståelseprocesser som ligger till grund för den internationella studien PIRLS. Studiens resultat visar att det finns statistiskt signifikanta skillnader både för läsförståelseprocesserna 3 och 4. Utifrån resultaten finns det skäl att diskutera huruvida det finns en outnyttjad potential i ljudboksformatet för svenskämnet i skolan.

This thesis addresses the local reception and use in Sweden of the major international large scale assessments (ILSAs) of student performance: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). The aim is to describe and analyze how Swedish teachers, principals and school directors interpret and possibly use ILSAs in their professional practice. ILSA is treated here as a new idea or a new social technology defining what constitutes good (or bad) education. The theoretical framework combines a top-down perspective provided by Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovation theory, and a complementary, more critical Policy Enactment approach (Ball et al. 2012), stressing the import-ance of context and local actors’ perspectives. Empirically, the thesis is based on 40 semi-structured interviews carried out in the 2011-2012 school year with teachers, principals and municipal school directors in five municipalities and 12 compulsory schools, selected to cover diverse municipalities, schools, and respondents. The respondents perceive ILSAs as valid evaluations of the Swedish school system. Most think it is important to compare results of different nations, although ILSA is not expected to cover the whole curriculum. Most interviewees are aware that Swedish ILSA results have been declining for years and perceive an urgent need to reverse this trend. However, few of the directors, principals or teachers believe that Swedish schools are in a deep crisis, as described in Swedish media. The participants frequently regard schools as primary determinants of ILSA results, and few blame family, socio-economic, cultural and contextual factors for the Swedish decline in ILSA rankings. There are significant differences between the three occupational groups in their reception and use of ILSA. Municipal school directors who are very well-informed emphasize the influence of ILSA on their local development efforts. Principals and teachers say that ILSAs have had modest direct effects on their work, but they argue that poor Swedish results in international assessments have had indirect effects, for instance by prompting the introduction of a new national curriculum. / <p>Contains an English summary.</p>

Denna studie ämnar sammanställa resultat från de internationella jämförelser av elevers läsförståelsekunskaper som Sverige deltagit i, med särskilt fokus på svenska pojkars prestationer i dessa undersökningar. Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka trender som går att skönja i pojkars läsning, och analysera hur skillnader mellan svenska pojkar och flickors läsning ter sig över tid. En överblick ges dessutom av svenska pojkar och flickors samlade resultat i läsförståelsestudier. Totalt har material från tio internationella studier insamlats och analyserats. Data har hämtats främst från de Skolverket-rapporter som författats efter varje undersökning. I resultatanalysen påvisas bland annat att svenska pojkar såväl som flickor försämrat sina läsförmågor signifikant sedan första undersökningen 1970. Dessutom har könsskillnaden vuxit och i den senaste undersökningen, 2012, registrerade svenska elever rekordhöga könsskillnader i läsförmåga, en skillnad som till stor del kan attribueras till pojkars kraftigt försämrade läsförmågor. Vidare så framkom det i analysen att svenska pojkars såväl som flickors läsattityder har försämrats det senaste decenniet. Denna trend var emellertid tydligast bland pojkar. / This study aims to compile results from international surveys of students’ reading competence that Sweden has participated in, with particular focus on the results of Swedish boys. The purpose of the study is to reveal trends in boys’ reading, and analyse how differences between Swedish boys and girls’ reading has developed over time. The paper also offers an overview of Swedish boys and girls’ general performances throughout all surveys. In total, material from ten major international surveys has been analysed. Foremost, data has been collected from the survey reports written by the Swedish National Agency for Education. In analysing the material it was found, among other things, that Swedish boys as well as girls significantly have worsened their reading competence since the first survey in 1970. Furthermore, the gender differences in reading have increased considerably, and in the latest survey, PISA 2012, Swedish students registered historically high gender differences, a circumstance that largely could be attributed to the deteriorating results of Swedish boys. In addition, it became apparent that Swedish students’ reading attitudes have worsened the last decade, a trend particularly salient among boys.

No description available.

Given the importance of the ability to read, learners must have access to books in schools. The lack of functional school libraries in South Africa, especially in primary schools, is to the detriment of learners’ reading achievement. In the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) study, Grades 4 and 5 children achieved the lowest scores in the reading comprehension tests of the 40 participating countries. The researcher proposes that one intervention that would help solve the low levels of reading literacy among learners would be for schools to have an official school library policy, and to have functional well-stocked school libraries. This study seeks to identify the self-reported reading attitudes of learners who took part in the PIRLS 2011 study using a secondary data analysis, and to investigate by means of a systematic literature review, materials published between 1994 and 2017 on the non-implementation of school library policies. This study recommends speeding up progress in meeting minimum norms for school infrastructure in order to create a space for functional school libraries in all schools. Secondly, it suggests that access to books for primary school learners should be improved, and lastly, that the national guidelines for school libraries on planning and reforming school libraries should be finalised and implemented. Key / Information Science / M. Inf. (Information Science)

I detta examensarbete har vi genomfört en kvantitativ studie med kvalitativa inslag med syftet att adressera skillnaderna i läsförståelse hos 60 elever i årskurs fem vid läsningen av tryckt och digital text. Studien undersökte också elevernas preferenser mellan de två medierna och hur väl deras preferenser stämde överens med den metod som visade sig vara mest effektiv för lärandet. Undersökningen inkluderade en enkät och två tidigare nationella prov i ämnet svenska där ett tillämpades i tryckt form och ett i form av en PDF-fil på dator. Resultatet visade att eleverna visade på en något ökad förståelse när de läste tryckta texter än vad de gjorde när de läste digitala. Det visade även att majoriteten av eleverna föredrog att läsa tryckta texter. Däremot fann vi inget stöd för att det varken skulle finnas något positivt eller negativt samband mellan elevernas preferenser och deras resultat. En klar majoritet av de som presterade bäst genom den analoga läsningen uppgav att de främst läser tryckt text till vardags. Bland de elever som presterade bäst digitalt var skillnaderna avsevärt mer varierande. Vår slutsats är att elevernas läsförståelse gynnas av tryckta texter men att deras erfarenheter spelar en viktigare roll för utfallet än mediet i sig.

The present study puts forward two models which examine the relationship between at home at school variables of (1) engagement in shared and independent reading and (2) access to print with reading achievement. Participants were fourth grade English speakers from Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia), New Zealand, England, and USA. Data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) questionnaires and reading achievement test were used to design the two models, and Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to analyze the data where students (Level-1) were nested within classrooms (Level-2). The results of the Engagement in Reading Model demonstrate that activities of shared reading at home and at school did not statistically significantly relate or related negatively with reading achievement. Parents helping their children with school readings emerged as the strongest negative predictor of reading achievement in the entire model. However, the relationship between how often participants talked with their families about what they read on their own and reading achievement was positive. Additionally, independent reading at school, reading for fun at home, and reading printed material (books and magazines) at home predicated reading achievement positively; reading for homework did not predict reading achievement; and reading for information and reading on the internet at home predicted reading achievement negatively. The results of the Access to Print Model demonstrate that while access to books and other reading material at home related positively with reading achievement, access to books and other reading material at school did not overall relate to students’ reading achievement. Additionally, access to the library, generally, did not relate to reading achievement; and when statistical significance was found it was not replicated in all or even most of the countries. Based on the results of the present study, it is recommended that fourth graders be given ample opportunities to read books of their own choosing independently at school, and to develop students’ habits and motivation to read for leisure during their free after school time. Additionally, children should be provided with ample access to reading material at home which is geared towards their interests.