FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / As avaliaÃÃes externas em larga escala tÃm, dentre seus muitos objetivos, o de acompanhar a qualidade da educaÃÃo por meio dos resultados sobre o desempenho dos alunos submetidos aos testes. Na mesma perspectiva, o Programa AlfabetizaÃÃo na Idade Certa (PAIC) desenvolve, no Estado do CearÃ, uma avaliaÃÃo da leitura em larga escala, externa à escola e censitÃria, aplicada anualmente aos alunos da rede pÃblica ao final do 2 ano do Ensino Fundamental. No entanto, essas avaliaÃÃes sÃo pontuais e seus resultados, por vezes, demoram a chegar à mÃo dos professores. Para minimizar esse problema, a Secretaria Municipal da EducaÃÃo (SME) de Fortaleza propÃe avaliaÃÃes sistemÃticas da leitura, aplicadas pelos professores, para acompanhar a evoluÃÃo das crianÃas. Entretanto, esses instrumentais carecem de uma fundamentaÃÃo teÃrica, de orientaÃÃes sobre a aplicaÃÃo e sobre a interpretaÃÃo dos resultados para que sejam considerados verdadeiramente eficazes. Desse modo, este estudo intencionou analisar os instrumentais de avaliaÃÃo sistemÃtica da leitura aplicados pela SME aos alunos do 2 ano do Ensino Fundamental da rede pÃblica de Fortaleza e, na sequÃncia, propÃs um protocolo de aplicaÃÃo e de interpretaÃÃo dos resultados. Esse material foi submetido a teste pelos professores e, em seguida, analisados os seus resultados, o que contribuiu para a elaboraÃÃo do produto final. O percurso metodolÃgico envolveu os passos da pesquisa bibliogrÃfica e documental, bem como da pesquisa de campo. Foi aplicada uma entrevista com 3 professoras lotadas em turmas do 2 ano de escolas da rede municipal de Fortaleza, que se configurou na primeira etapa da pesquisa. A segunda etapa foi a elaboraÃÃo do novo protocolo de avaliaÃÃo da competÃncia leitora, o qual foi efetivado mediante a anÃlise dos dados oriundos da etapa 1 e da busca bibliogrÃfica e documental. As tÃcnicas de recolha de dados na terceira etapa, compreendida pelo prÃ-teste e pÃs-teste do protocolo desenvolvido, foram constituÃdas pela observaÃÃo e pela entrevista semiestruturada aplicada a uma amostra espontÃnea de 1 professora do 2 ano. Os resultados da pesquisa confirmaram a hipÃtese de trabalho: a definiÃÃo conceitual do desenvolvimento da leitura e a orientaÃÃo para compreender os resultados norteiam a aÃÃo do professor para melhor observar os processos de aprendizagem dos alunos. Conclui-se que a avaliaÃÃo da competÃncia leitora das crianÃas do 2 ano ainda à um campo que apresenta muitos desafios, tanto para a esfera micro (Escola), quanto para a macro (Secretaria), tendo em vista a complexidade do objeto avaliado (competÃncia leitora) e as limitaÃÃes dos instrumentais. Espera-se que o referido trabalho possa ser uma alternativa de avaliaÃÃo da competÃncia leitora, para que os professores se sintam mais seguros em identificar as dificuldades e potencialidades dos alunos. / The large scale outside evaluation has, among its many goals, the goal to track the quality of education through results of students submitted to testing. On the same perspective, the Alphabetization on the Right Age (PAIC) develops outside of school, on the state of CearÃ, a large scale evaluation of reading skills, applied annually to students from the Public System at the end of 2nd grade of Elementary School. However, those evaluations are punctual and its results, sometimes, take a long time to get to the teachers. To minimize this problem, the Municipal Department of Education (SME) proposes systematic reading skills evaluations, applied by the teachers, to monitor the studentsâ learning development. Those tools, however, lack of theoretical foundations, of guidance on how to apply them and on how to interpret results to be considered truly effective. On that context, this study aimed to analyze the tools of systematic evaluation of reading skills applied by SME to students of the 2nd grade of Elementary School from the Public Education System of Fortaleza and, following that, it proposed an application and result interpretation protocol. This material was submitted to testing by the teachers and then, its results were analyzed which contributed to the making of the final product. The methodological path of this research involved bibliographical and documental research as well as field research. An interview was applied to 3 teachers from the 2nd grade of schools of the Public Education System in Fortaleza as the first step of this study. The second step was the construction of the new reading skills evaluation protocol, which was made from the analysis of the data collected during the first step and the bibliographical and documental research. The techniques of data collection on the third step, comprehended by the pre and post-test of the developed protocol were constituted by observation and by the semi-structured interview applied to a spontaneous sample of 1 teacher from the 2nd grade. The results of this research confirmed the hypothesis: The conceptual definition of the development of the skill of reading and the guidance to comprehend the results establish a north to teachersâ actions so they can better follow their studentsâ learning progress. It can be concluded that the evaluation of the reading skills on kids in the 2nd grade still faces many challenges both on a micro-environment (school) and on a macro-environment (Municipal Department of Education), regarding the complexity of the evaluated object (reading skills) and the toolsâ limitations. This thesis hopes that this work can be an alternative to the evaluation of the reading skills, so the teachers feel sure when evaluating the difficulties and potentialities of their students.

The field study examines the effect of the simulation game Battle Squares on the learning of the map reading skill of grid-reference determination by year 7 students. The effect of ability level and sex differences on the acquisition of gridreferencing skills were also examined. The simulation game developed is a modification of the traditional children's game Battleships. The modifications produced the major features of the grid system used on Australian Survey Map sheets without substantially altering the characteristics of the game Battleships. Two treatment groups played the simulation game, one group having experienced both a pre test and a post test and the other group only the post test. A third treatment did the pre test and post test without experiencing the simulation game. Students in both treatment groups which experienced the simulation game showed significant gains in the learning of grid-referencing skills. Students in upper ability level groups gained significantly better scores on the post test than students in lower ability level groups. Both upper and lower ability level groups showed significant gains. Girls performed significantly better than boys on the post test. Both boys and girls showed significant gains as a result of the simulation game experience. Ability level was a more important moderating variable than sex difference in producing variations in performance on the post test of grid-referencing skills. The explicit educational aims of the simulation game were effectively achieved in a short period of time, while maintaining student motivation and interest. The success of the simulation game in producing significant changes in grid referencing skills would appear to have resulted from the frequent practise of these skills the simulation game playing experience offers.

Chapter 1 introduces the aims and objectives of the study. It is followed by an analysis of the present situation at the Hanoi Foreign Language Teachers College and the problems encountered by teachers and administrators in ensuring the maximum efficiency of the EFL programme. The Report continues by asking a number of pertinent questions about the methodology and techniques used in the teaching of reading. This, in turn, is linked with theoretical considerations which the writer examines at some length taking into account numerous issues about language processing, cognition, expectation and motivation, comprehending, discourse analysis, text cohesion and so on. Attention is then focused on the reader and the environment in which he operates. In addition the reading lesson comes under scrutiny and procedures, as well as material selection and teaching systems are discussed. Finally the writer attempts to make suggestions to his colleagues in the EFL field based on his own experience and convictions.

This thesis consists of three separate papers broadly examining how different environmental and child variables affect language and literacy acquisition in two or more orthographies. The first paper is a quantitative meta-analysis of studies that have examined the effects of shared book reading on language, emergent literacy skills, and reading achievement with preschool children. The results suggest that shared book reading explained approximately 7% of variance in all the language and literacy measures combined. The mean effect size of shared book reading was slightly larger for the combined language measures (d = 0.77) than for the combined emergent literacy measures (d = 0.57), or the combined reading achievement measures (d = 0.63). An examination of the effects of shared book reading on specific language, emergent literacy, and reading skills revealed that shared book reading is more related to some skills than others. The second paper examines the effects of home literacy (shared book reading, teaching activities, and number of books), children’s task-focused behaviour, and parents’ beliefs and expectations about their child’s reading and academic ability on Kindergarten children’s (N = 61) phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge and on Grade 1 word reading. The results showed that after controlling for nonverbal IQ and vocabulary, parent teaching activities prior to Kindergarten predicted significantly letter knowledge; parents’ beliefs about their children’s reading ability predicted significantly phonological sensitivity and Kindergarten word reading; and children’s task-focused behaviour predicted significantly letter knowledge and Kindergarten and Grade 1 word reading The third paper reports on a cross-linguistic longitudinal study that examines the environmental, behavioural, and cognitive predictors of Grade 3 word reading fluency, passage comprehension, and spelling in children learning to read in an orthographically inconsistent language (English) and in an orthographically consistent language (Greek). Results indicated that home literacy factors did not directly predict Grade 3 reading or spelling skills for either the English- or Greek-speaking samples. Task-focused behaviour directly predicted spelling for the Greek-speaking sample. Vocabulary was more important for reading and spelling in English than in Greek. Letter knowledge was more important for spelling in Greek and for passage comprehension in English. / Special Education

Abstract The purpose of this survey is to examine how educators work with reading- and writing-skills in preschool with six year old children. I want to examine if the new curriculum, Lgr11, has affected the school teachers in their teaching of reading- and writing and if their work has changed through the years. Using a qualitative study, five preschool-teachers, working in preschool for several years, were interviewed to be heard of their thoughts about this topic. The survey shows that preschool-teachers are more familiar with the curriculum of today, in relation to previous curriculums. Much because of that the new one is more addressed to preschool compared with earlier curriculums but also that the teachers in an easier way can see the pupils’ way to knowledge. The preschools in the survey also work more and more similar to grade one. The difference is that the school uses more books and materials and that the preschool emphasis the importance of early childhood education in their business and that preschool teaches more knowledge about drama, music and the children play. A current question is how preschool and grade one can cooperate so that all pupils can develop their reading- and writing-skills as good as possible. / Sammanfattning Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur pedagoger arbetar med läs- och skrivinlärningen i förskoleklass. Jag vill undersöka om den nya läroplanen, Lgr11 (läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklass och fritidshemmet 2011), påverkat personalen i läs – och skrivundervisningen och om pedagogernas arbete förändrats under årens lopp. Med hjälp av en kvalitativ studie är fem förskollärare som arbetat under många år i förskoleklass intervjuade, för att få höra deras tankar om detta. Undersökningen visar att de intervjuade förskollärarna i förskoleklass är mer insatta i den läroplan vi har idag i förhållande till de läroplaner vi haft tidigare. Mycket därför att den riktar sig mer till förskoleklass i jämförelse med tidigare läroplaner men också för att man kan se de kunskapskrav som eleverna ska nå på ett tydligare sätt än förut. Dessutom arbetar förskoleklasserna i studien alltmer liknande årskurs ett. Enligt de intervjuade lärarna är skillnaden att man i skolan använder sig av mer böcker och material och att förskoleklassen betonar vikten av förskolepedagogiken i sin verksamhet och tycker sig lära ut kunskap mer med hjälp av drama, musik och lek. En fråga som blir aktuell är hur förskoleklass och årskurs ett ska kunna samarbeta för att alla elevers fortsatta läs- och skrivutveckling ska bli så optimal som möjligt.

It is of utmost importance for learners to master language in order to learn effectively at school. Problems in language development can cause learning problems that have negative results for the learner. Language consists mainly of the spoken language (listening and speaking), reading and writing. These three aspects of language form an integrated unit so that a problem with one will influence the others. Learners are initially taught in school to read and write. Learners should later be able to use acquired reading skills to learn, and acquired writing skills must be applied to reproduce that which has been learnt. If learners do not master the foregoing skills, their progress at school will be seriously handicapped. A further aggravating factor within the milieu of the South African education system is the complicated socio-political history of the country that created a large number of disadvantaged schools. A Report by the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43) emphasises the needs and skills of learners; training, dedication and competencies of teachers; as well as the importance of instructional media in disadvantaged areas. In spite of the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement Grade R-9 (Schools) and Grade 10-12 (Schools), illiteracy is still a serious problem in South Africa. Because the basis of all reading and writing skills are laid in the Foundation Phase, it is necessary for drastic steps to be taken to ensure that learners will be able to read with comprehension in their first years at school. This research is aimed at proving the significant relationship between high frequency words and reading skills (measured by word recognition and reading comprehension) and also improving the reading skills of learners by the acquisition of high frequency words. An effort has also been made to meet the requirements of the core elements for good teaching/instruction. To achieve this objective, the focus of this study is binary. In the first phase the researcher determines if there is a significant relationship between the visual recognition of the high frequency words and reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After completion of Phase 1 it was determined that there is a correlation between the visual recognition of high frequency words and the reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After the successful completion of Phase 1 the focus shifts to the study of Phase 2. In Phase 2 the researcher makes a contribution to the instruction/teaching milieu and meets the requirements of the stated criteria to ensure good instruction/teaching as determined by the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43). This contribution is made through the designing of a reading instruction programme that is aimed at the improvement of reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase. The focus of this Reading Instruction Programme is the acquisition of the first 100 high frequency words as they appear in Aucamp's list (1932: 79 - 80). The gathering/collection of data in both phases is characterised by the use of standardised tests. In Phase 1 use was made of descriptive statistics; Pearson's product moment correlations and Cohen's r-values; t-tests and Cohen's d-values; as well as one sample t-tests to analyse and interpret data. In Phase 2 pre- and post-tests were used. Statistical techniques used during the analysis reporting and interpretation of data in Phase 2 are descriptive statistics; Wilcoxon rank sum tests; one-way covariance analysis; Wilcoxon symmetry-tests, and Cohen's d-values. This study contributes to the education milieu when it proves that the instruction of high frequency words by means of this Reading Instruction Programme leads to the improvement of the reading skills (measured byword recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in Grade 3. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on a balanced reading approach in which the main components of reading integrated with high frequency words are instructed. This instruction is characterised among others by direct, explicit instruction; multi-sensory methods; the use of high quality instructional media; and the automatisation of high frequency words. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on the behaviouristic and cognitive learning theories as well as the transactional reading theory. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

In this study, six teachers have been interviewed about their vision and teaching of reading comprehension, both for pupils who has cleared the reading code and those who have not. The aim is to illustrate if teachers in middle school spend time to exercise reading comprehension, or if this is left to the Swedish teachers. Thus only according to the subject Swedish, the students are entitled to be given the opportunity to develop reading strategies. The interviews are semi-structured based on qualitative research. The informants are three teachers of Swedish and three teachers of other subjects. Two different interview guides were used containing three questions. The main questions were the same but each guide had some question directly connected to the subject. The results show that all teachers believe that exercising reading comprehension is to be conducted in all subjects, not just Swedish. However, the work is done differently. Teachers in the Swedish subject discuss their teaching in a much more purposeful way than the other teachers. Teachers in the Swedish subject have developed their competence concerning reading comprehension and have got more knowledge than those on other subjects. Those teachers who do not teach Swedish as a subject say that lack of time is the reason why reading comprehension cannot be integrated to the extent that they desire / I den här studien har sex verksamma lärare intervjuats angående deras syn på undervisning av läsförståelse, både när det gäller elever som knäckt läskoden respektive de som inte har det. Syftet är att åskådliggöra om samtliga lärare på mellanstadiet lägger tid på läsförståelseträningen, eller om det är lämnat åt svensklärarna, då det enbart står i ämnet svenska att eleverna ska ges möjlighet att utveckla lässtrategier. Intervjuerna är semi-strukturerade och bygger på en kvalitativ studie. Informanterna är tre lärare i svenska och tre lärare i andra ämnen Två olika intervjuguider användes som innehöll tre frågor, huvudfrågorna användes till samtliga lärare medan någon fråga var direkt riktad till de ämnen lärarna undervisar inom. Resultatet visar att samtliga lärare är eniga om att läsförståelseträning ska bedrivas i alla ämnen och inte bara svenska. Däremot skiljer sig båda kategorierna åt då svensklärarna diskuterar sin undervisning på ett mycket mer målmedvetet sätt än de övriga lärarna

Studies have examined the impact of parents’ educational level on their child’s emergent literacy skills and have found positive associations (Korat, 2009). However, a review of the literature indicates that previous studies have not investigated whether parents’ oral and written language skills relate to their child’s emergent oral and written language skills. This is important in light of the fact that parents’ educational level does not provide a complete picture of their academic skills (Greenberg, 1995). In addition to parental characteristics, the home literacy environment (HLE) is seen as important in the growth of children’s emergent literacy skills (Hood, Conlon, & Andrews, 2008). The two studies in this investigation explored the relationships among parental oral and written language skills, the HLE, and preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills. Both studies included 96 parent-child dyads. The first study examined the relationship between parents’ oral and written language skills and their preschoolers’ oral and written language skills. All participants were assessed on various oral and written language measures. Descriptive analyses, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), correlations, and regressions were conducted to assess the relationships between the parent skills and child skills. Most of the parental skills were found to have a relationship with the child skills. The second study extended the first study by examining the relationships between parental responses on a Home Literacy Environment Survey (HLES) and Title Recognition Test (TRT) of children’s books, parental characteristics (educational level and oral and written language skills), and children’s emergent literacy skills. Descriptive analyses, one-way ANOVA, correlations, and regressions were employed to gain information about the relationships among the variables. The HLE (measured by responses to the HLES and TRT) had positive relationships with parents’ skills and children’s skills. However, the HLE did not predict the children’s skills beyond the contribution of parental characteristics. Interpreting the results of this study promotes thought about the specific role of the HLE as a potential mediator between parental characteristics and child skills. Altogether, both studies provide preliminary information about parental factors that may influence preschoolers’ emergent literacy skills.

No description available.

It is of utmost importance for learners to master language in order to learn effectively at school. Problems in language development can cause learning problems that have negative results for the learner. Language consists mainly of the spoken language (listening and speaking), reading and writing. These three aspects of language form an integrated unit so that a problem with one will influence the others. Learners are initially taught in school to read and write. Learners should later be able to use acquired reading skills to learn, and acquired writing skills must be applied to reproduce that which has been learnt. If learners do not master the foregoing skills, their progress at school will be seriously handicapped. A further aggravating factor within the milieu of the South African education system is the complicated socio-political history of the country that created a large number of disadvantaged schools. A Report by the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43) emphasizes the needs and skills of learners; training, dedication and competencies of teachers; as well as the importance of instructional media in disadvantaged areas. In spite of the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement Grade R-9 (Schools) and Grade 10-12 (Schools), illiteracy is still a serious problem in South Africa. Because the basis of all reading and writing skills are laid in the Foundation Phase, it is necessary for drastic steps to be taken to ensure that learners will be able to read with comprehension in their first years at school. This research is aimed at proving the significant relationship between high frequency words and reading skills (measured by word recognition and reading comprehension) and also improving the reading skills of learners by the acquisition of high frequency words. An effort has also been made to meet the requirements of the core elements for good teaching/instruction. To achieve this objective, the focus of this study is binary. In the first phase the researcher determines if there is a significant relationship between the visual recognition of the high frequency words and reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After completion of Phase 1 it was determined that there is a correlation between the visual recognition of high frequency words and the reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase (Grade 2). After the successful completion of Phase 1 the focus shifts to the study of Phase 2. In Phase 2 the researcher makes a contribution to the instruction/teaching milieu and meets the requirements of the stated criteria to ensure good instruction/teaching as determined by the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Education in Disadvantaged Areas (2005:10, 43). This contribution is made through the designing of a reading instruction programme that is aimed at the improvement of reading skills (measured by visual word recognition and reading comprehension) of learners in the Foundation Phase. The focus of this Reading Instruction Programme is the acquisition of the first 100 high frequency words as they appear in Aucamp's list (1932: 79 - 80). The gathering/collection of data in both phases is characterised by the use of standardised tests. In Phase 1 use was made of descriptive statistics; Pearson's product moment correlations and Cohen's r-values; t-tests and Cohen's d-values; as well as one sample t-tests to analyse and interpret data. In Phase 2 pre- and post-tests were used. Statistical techniques used during the analysis reporting and interpretation of data in Phase 2 are descriptive statistics; Wilcoxon rank sum tests; one-way covariance analysis; Wilcoxon symmetry-tests, and Cohen's d-values. This study contributes to the education milieu when it proves that the instruction of high frequency words by means of this Reading Instruction Programme leads to the improvement of the reading skills (measured byword recognition and reading omprehension) of learners in Grade 3. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on a balanced reading approach in which the main components of reading integrated with high frequency words are instructed. This instruction is characterised among others by direct, explicit instruction; multi-sensory methods; the use of high quality instructional media; and the automatisation of high frequency words. The Reading Instruction Programme is based on the behaviouristic and cognitive learning theories as well as the transactional reading theory. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.