M.Ed. / The purpose of this study is primarily to evaluate the curriculum of the subject Communication English with specific reference to the component of reading and spelling. The rationale is to determine whether or not the reading and spelling skills of college students comply with the requirements of the private sector and, if found to be inadequate, appropriate recommendations would be made. The detrimental effect of reading and spelling problems on a person's entire being and self-actualization is attested by the literature. A needs analysis was done by means of questionnaires to establish how the course makes provision for various aspects of a communicative language curriculum. The questionnaires were completed by three groups, these being the N2 and N3 students, the lecturers of Communication English and various members of the private sector. For purposes of this study only the relevant questions concerning reading and spelling from the questionnaires were highlighted. The results of the reading and spelling tests showed that there is a significant discrepancy between the students' reading and spelling ages and their chronological ages, it would appear as if they are below the required norm by approximately four years. From the responses of the questionnaires it was apparent that a high premium was attached to competence in reading and spelling skills.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33-36). Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33-36).

Thesis (Magister Technologiae (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / This study traces the effects of a children’s literature intervention on first year B Ed students’ reading habits and attitudes. A review of relevant literature includes concepts of literacy, with specific reference to family literacy, adolescent literacy and critical literacy; effective literacy practices; reading, reader response and theoretical perspectives of literature, including children’s literature, and its application in the classroom; motivation and reader-identity. A variety of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gather data over a period of eighteen months. The data captured attitudes to reading and traced changes in attitudes, habits and motivation resulting from an intervention that required students to engage in reading a range of children’s literature texts. Findings showed movement from apathy to engagement at the lowest levels of change and from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation at successive levels of change. Most significantly, the intervention caused discontinuous (permanent) change in students’ constructions of themselves as readers. Key words: critical literacy; adolescent literacy; reader response; children’s literature; extrinsic / intrinsic motivation; discontinuous change; reader identity.

Bartholomae contends that "a reading course is necessarily a writing course and a writing course must be a course in reading." At most community colleges, however, reading and writing are still taught as if they were independent of each other. The course on which this curriculum study is based, English 07, Writing and Reading Improvement, represents a revision of that traditional approach, for it combines instruction in reading and writing to create a comprehensive class in developmental English. This dissertation describes the salient pedagogical features of English 07, from its rejection of the skills approach to language instruction to its treatment of reading and writing as complementary activities. The results of this study indicate that teaching reading with writing in the same course can be a viable alternative to teaching these skills separately. Success rates of students in English 07 consistently exceeded those of students enrolled in more traditional classes in which reading and writing remained isolated from one another. English 07 students also enjoyed a relatively high rate of success in subsequent first year English classes, approaching a level of achievement equal to that of students in the general population of the college. In addition, the study revealed several curricular elements that seem to have been unusually important in helping students develop their literate abilities. The course's emphasis upon reading and writing as complementary processes of composition, its thematic focus upon the self, the structure and sequence of reading and writing assignments, and the social relations in the classroom all emerged as significant influences in students' attempts to transform themselves into literate members of the academy. Clowes notes that successful integration "little evidence exists of developmental theory for the into the practice of remediation," and Berthoff asserts that "we need more research in teaching reading and writing together." This study answers those calls by demonstrating how reading and writing can be melded together to create an effective developmental English course. This dissertation should thus provide other community-college practitioners with an immediate theoretical framework and a model curriculum for helping students become more proficient readers and more accomplished writers. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Humanities / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation reports research into the problem of how to teach mastery of the English writing system (MEWS) to students of English as a second language (ESL). The problem involves the relatedness of English orthography and phonology. The research had two purposes. First was development of classroom instructional materials for improving reading proficiency in ESL students by application of generative phonological principles. Second was use of the instructional materials in a pilot study of fifty-three ESL college freshmen. A major finding was that subjects' reading proficiency was far below that of native speakers at the college level. Another was that the subjects had more difficulty with English vowels than with consonants. The subjects' scores on nonsense-word tests correlated significantly with five other criteria, including measures of ability to use ESL. A uniform disparity between ESL-student and native-speaker scores on tests of nonsense words was identified. Native-speakers generally had perfect scores, and ESL students had low scores. A chief implication is the importance of understanding orthography in reading English. Recommendations are that ESL proficiency be determined by nonsense-word tests and that the MEWS program be used by students of English as a second dialect.

A presente tese analisa as práticas de leitura de estudantes de Cursos Superiores de Tecnologia de uma instituição pública especializada em Educação Profissional e Tecnológica, investigando em que medida os contextos sociocultural e acadêmico atuam sobre essas práticas. A fundamentação teórica baseia-se, principalmente, na Sociologia da Leitura, a partir dos estudos de Horellou-Lafarge e Segré (2010), Chartier (1999a, 1999b, 2001, 2011), Bourdieu (2011, 2015), Petit (2009a, 2009b), Zilberman (1999, 2001, 2012), Escarpit (1968), Candido (2000), Darnton (2010), Manguel (1997), Aguiar (2007) Abreu (2001, 2015) e Carlino (2017), complementada pela perspectiva cognitivo-sociológica de teóricos como Giasson (2000), Marcuschi (1999, 2004, 2008), Paviani (2006, 2013), Kleiman (2013) e Gabriel (2005). A pesquisa, de caráter descritivo e explicativo e motivada pela experiência empírica enquanto docente de Língua Portuguesa e Literatura, deu-se a partir de um estudo de caso com estudantes de cinco Cursos Superiores de Tecnologia do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul – Campus Bento Gonçalves, com aplicação de questionários, entrevistas e testes de leitura. Ao longo da tese, demonstra-se que não apenas o contexto sociocultural, como a origem social, as condições econômicas, a trajetória escolar, as atividades sociais e culturais de que os estudantes participam atua sobre as suas práticas de leitura, mas também que o contexto acadêmico possui fundamental importância na configuração dessas práticas, condicionando leituras, restringindo ou promovendo o acesso a determinados gêneros textuais, favorecendo a utilização de um ou outro suporte de leitura. No entanto, apesar de sua relevância, os contextos sociocultural e acadêmico revelam-se condicionantes, e não determinantes das práticas de leitura dos sujeitos, pois, sendo elas constituintes da ação humana, mostram-se sempre dinâmicas e flexíveis. Os resultados evidenciam que as práticas de leitura dos estudantes atendem a necessidades pragmáticas do cotidiano, priorizando textos curtos de tipologia expositiva, e ocorrendo principalmente em suportes digitais, além da leitura com vistas a atender às exigências dos componentes curriculares do curso superior, com destaque para o gênero artigo científico. A leitura de literatura ficcional não constitui uma atividade consolidada e perene entre as práticas socioculturais dos sujeitos pesquisados, sendo que o próprio Curso Superior de Tecnologia não favorece ou estimula essa prática. Além disso, a característica de estudantestrabalhadores dos sujeitos pesquisados implica não apenas menor disposição para os estudos, como também menos tempo disponível para as leituras acadêmicas e de lazer, compreendida aí a literatura ficcional, interferindo nos níveis de competência leitora. Finalmente, como intervenção prática, propõe-se a democratização da leitura no Ensino Superior Tecnológico a partir de duas vias: a) auxiliando os estudantes na compreensão dos textos que circulam no contexto acadêmico; e b) ampliando a diversidade de gêneros textuais lidos pelos estudantes, incluindo a literatura ficcional. / The present thesis analyzes the reading practices of students of Technology Degree Courses of a public institution specializing in Professional and Technological Education, investigating to what extent the sociocultural and academic contexts act on these practices. The theoretical foundation is based mainly on the Sociology of Reading, from the studies of Horellou-Lafarge e Segré (2010), Chartier (1999a, 1999b, 2001, 2011), Bourdieu (2011, 2015), Petit (2009a, 2009b), Zilberman (1999, 2001, 2012), Escarpit (1968), Candido (2000), Darnton (2010), Manguel (1997), Aguiar (2007) Abreu (2001, 2015) e Carlino (2017), complemented by the cognitive-sociological perspective of Giasson (2000), Marcuschi (1999, 2004, 2008), Paviani (2006, 2013), Kleiman (2013) e Gabriel (2005). The research is descriptive and explanatory and motivated by empirical experience as a Portuguese and Literature teacher. It was based on a case study with students of five Technology Degree Courses of the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul – Campus Bento Gonçalves. During data collection, questionnaires, interviews and reading tests were applied. Throughout the thesis, it was observed that not only the sociocultural context, such as social origin, economic conditions, school trajectory, social and cultural activities that students participate in act on their reading practices, but also the academic context has fundamental importance in the configuration of these practices, conditioning readings, restricting or promoting access to certain textual genres, favoring the use of one or another reading support. However, in spite of their relevance, sociocultural and academic contexts are conditioning, not determinant, of the individuals' reading practices, being constituents of human action, and also, they are always dynamic and flexible. The results emphasize that students' reading practices meet the pragmatic needs of daily life, prioritizing short texts of expository typology, and occurring mainly in digital media, in addition to reading in order to meet the requirements of the curricular components of the degree course, especially scientific papers.The reading of fictional literature does not constitute a consolidated and perennial activity among the sociocultural practices of the individuals studied, and the Technology Degree Course does not favor or stimulate this practice. Besides, the individuals studied are student-workers, it involves not only less willingness to study, but also less time available for academic and leisure readings, including fictional literature, interfering in the levels of reading competence. Finally, as a practical intervention, we propose the democratization of reading in Technological Higher Education in two ways: a) helping students to understand the texts that circulate in the academic context; and b) broadening the diversity of textual genres read by students, including fictional literature.