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The problem of this study is to determine whether or not superior reading ability in a given reading skill is significantly related to successful achievement in each of the three areas of arithmetic, social studies, and science, and to determine whether or not the different reading skills are related to areas of achievement in different ways.

Reading skills are widely recognized as fundamental abilities, crucial not only for academic success but also for participation in social activities and navigating interpersonal challenges. In the early formation of reading abilities, mastery of sight words is instrumental in effectively enhancing reading proficiency, particularly for individuals lacking foundational reading skills. In educational practice, flashcard intervention stands as a widely utilized instructional approach. When Kodak et al. (2020) first introduced the concept of stimulus set size and its impact on the efficiency of skill acquisition interventions, they examined differences in training efficiency among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when exposed to four distinct stimulus set size conditions. Their findings suggested that larger stimulus set sizes tend to correlate with higher training efficiency. Expanding upon Kodak et al.'s research, the present study transitions this investigation into the context of general education settings, focusing on children's learning of sight words. By comparing the number of training trials, training time, and successful recognition rates among three participants across four different stimulus set size conditions, the study assesses the influence of stimulus set size on the efficiency of sight word training. The results indicate a positive correlation between larger stimulus set sizes and higher training efficiency. Nevertheless, it is imperative to acknowledge the potential constraints on the generalizability of these findings stemming from the homogeneity observed among participants. To fortify the relevance and resilience of the conclusions drawn, forthcoming research initiatives should seek to rectify these limitations by inclusively sampling diverse cohorts. By doing so, the resultant insights can be more effectively applied across various domains, thereby augmenting their broader utility and impact.

The Diploma Thesis Teacher's Creativity in the Educational process at Primary School for Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities deals with the development of reading skills and competency of students through the reading workshop technique. The thesis is divided in two parts. The first theoretical part is focused on the definition of the basic terms, such as creativity, creative teaching, creative teacher, educational process, and so on. Furthermore, it focuses on the theoretical concepts of the reading workshop technique. In the practical part, which is taken as a case study, the author examines the practical use of reading workshop technique, through which she tries to improve the reading competency of students. The second part is focused on the reading workshop technique functionality in practice. Particularly, the author deals with the practical application of the reading workshop technique on students at Primary School for Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study explored the reading strategies employed by Grade 12 learners in Modjadji Circuit, Limpopo Province: Towards developing an intervention reading strategies in English First Additional Language. The research was undertaken in one public secondary school. The researcher focused on Grade 12 learners of the mentioned circuit. The study followed the qualitative approach, and a case study research design was selected. Interviews were conducted with 12 learners and three teachers who were purposively selected from one public school. Document analysis and observations were also used to collect data. The findings of the study showed that learners and educators employ reading strategies during the reading of English text. Learners employ the reading strategies to enhance their reading ability and to improve their reading skills. The following different reading strategies were found to be used, namely, activating background knowledge, main ideas, summarising, visualising, predicting, inferencing, questioning, monitoring-clarifying extensive strategy, intensive strategy, pre-reading, during- reading, post-reading, and peer-assisted strategy. It was also found that most learners experience problem of decoding English words correctly and that teachers always assist them to decode them well during reading. It was found that documents such as subject policy, school policy and school-time-table do not provide guidance on how to teach reading. The documents do not also guide teachers on how to implement reading strategies. The study recommends that the school time-table should consider including reading periods on the time table. All the mentioned policies above should provide guidance on how to implement reading strategies. The Department Of Education should encourage all schools to participate in a “Drop All and Read” competition. The study recommend that teachers employ different reading strategies to teach reading. Learners must also employ various reading strategies to improve their reading skills and to enhance their reading ability.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how some students in the early school years experience their literary learning environment, as well as their own thoughts and experiences of how the learning environment can be designed to support them in developing their literacy skills. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural perspective on learning. The survey was conducted as a group interview with students in third grade. The questions focused on how students experience a positive learning environment, and a learning environment that adversely affects their reading and writing skills. The study also examines the students’ views on how the learning environment can be developed. The results show that students at the beginning of the study did not attach any importance to the learning environment in terms of developing their literacy skills. But in the continued discussion they became aware of a number of factors that they believe characterizes a positive literary learning environment. The individual teacher’s attitude and interaction with the students is considered the single most important factor to achieve a literary learning environment that stimulates their reading and writing skills. The students also believe that there is a potential for the development of the literary learning environment, particularly the physical aspects and they give a number of concrete suggestions for improvements, such as expanded access to books and furniture that is more suited for literary activities. In the research review some factors for success are discernible as individual teachers’ attitudes and skills, a structured environment and an environment that provides physical access to reading material. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur några elever i de tidiga skolåren upplever sin litterära lärmiljö, samt deras egna tankar och erfarenheter kring hur lärmiljö kan utformas för att stötta dem i deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Studien analyseras utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande. Undersökningen har genomförts i form av en gruppintervju med elever i årskurs tre. Frågeställningarna har fokuserat hur eleverna upplever en positiv lärmiljö, respektive en lärmiljö som inverkar negativt på deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Likaså utforskar studien vilka möjligheter eleverna ser för utveckling av lärmiljön. I resultatet framgår att eleverna inledningsvis inte tillmäter lärmiljön någon betydelse för deras läs- och skrivutveckling. I diskussionen blir de emellertid medvetna om en rad faktorer som de tycker utmärker en positiv litterär lärmiljö. Den enskilde lärarens bemötande och interaktion med eleverna betraktas som den i särklass viktigaste faktorn för att åstadkomma en litterär lärmiljö som stimulerar deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Eleverna anser även att det finns utvecklingspotential för den litterära lärmiljön, framförallt de fysiska aspekterna och ger en rad konkreta förbättringsförslag, såsom till exempel en större tillgång till böcker samt möbler som är mer anpassade för litterära aktiviteter. I forskningsöversikten har vissa framgångsfaktorer kunnat skönjas, som till exempel enskilda lärares förhållningssätt och kompetens, en strukturerad miljö, en miljö som erbjuder fysisk tillgång till läsmaterial.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Since a number of studies on textbooks in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have shown that textbooks hold a major place in education (De Guzman, 2000; Oakes & Saunders, 2004), this study proposes to investigate the content of an English Language Teaching (ELT)/ English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook used in 6th form secondary school (Grade 12) in the DRC, Go for English 1RE. It aims to identify and evaluate the content of this ELT textbook so as to deduce and derive main insights for the determination or not of its appropriateness and relevance in terms of its contribution to language use and literacy in the ELT/ESL curriculum of the DRC. The study draws its theoretical underpinning from two theories: the Cunningsworth’s textbook analysis theory and McDonough and Shaw evaluation theory. As research design, the study adopts an a descriptive, exploratory and interpretive design which draws on both quantitative and qualitative data collected on the basis of textbook evaluation checklist and semi-structured interviews. In regard to the procedural orientation, the study uses descriptive and content analysis to analyze, interpret and examine both interviews and textbook evaluation likert-scale checklist data. In respect of its data, the study uses ‘mixed methods approach’. Both qualitative and quantitative data come from 259 teacher and student participants on the basis of two different samples. The quantitative data comes from 209 student participants and 25 teacher participants and the qualitative data from 10 student participants and 15 teacher participants. The findings attest to the general content of "Go for English 1RE ELT" textbook in regard to language activities and tasks related to its subject matter, to the quality and nature of language it contains, and finally to the diversity in its subject matter and its cultural aspects, is suitable for language use and literacy skills development. However, even though its content is suitable, the findings also indicate that this ELT textbook is not well adapted to Congolese 6th form secondary school students’ level.

Research has provided ample evidence supporting the notion that interaction with books during early childhood enhances the development of reading skills (Bus, van IJzendorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Dickinson & Smith, 1994; McKeown & Beck, 2004; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002). Additionally, we know there are substantial disparities in children’s experiences with language, vocabulary, and early literacy prior to entering kindergarten. These disparities have a lasting effect on later academic success (Catts, Hogan, & Fey, 2003; Hart & Risley, 1995: Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Children at greatest risk for poor language and literacy skills are young children who live in poverty and young children identified at-risk for developmental delays and disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not the method of reading (either aloud or silently) would affect the reading comprehension performance of left hemispheredamaged (LHD) and non-brain-damaged (NBD) subjects across inference levels using the Nelson Reading Skills Test (NRST) (Hanna, Schell, & Schreiner, 1977). The experimental group was comprised of fifteen subjects who had suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) to the left hemisphere of the brain. Subjects were selected after they had demonstrated an adequate level of function on the Short Porch Index of Conununicative Ability (SPICA) (DiSimoni, Keith, & Darley, 1980), to perform the tasks required in this study. Subjects were then randomly assigned to either "left hemispheredamaged aloud reading" or "left hemisphere-damaged silent reading" subgroups. The non-brain-damaged (NBD) control group consisted of fifteen individuals with no known history of neurological impairment. Control group subjects were also randomly assigned to either the "non-brain damaged aloud reading" subgroup or the "non-brain damaged silent reading" subgroup. All subjects were administered the revised version of the Nelson Reading Skills Test (NRST) (1977), Form 4 of Level B. NRST test questions can be grouped into three categories representing literal, translational, and high levels of inference. Subjects were required to read five paragraphs and answer thirty-three questions pertaining to the reading material by pointing to the correct answer from a list of four choices. Subjects were allowed to refer back to the paragraph when attempting to answer test questions. Results revealed total NRST performance to be significantly better for NBD subjects. Within both experimental and control groups, no significant difference was found to exist between the test scores of the oral and silent reading subgroups. The research data did not reflect the expected error pattern of most errors occurring on high inference level questions and fewest errors on literal inferences for either group of subjects.

Much research on reading comprehension has been done with native readers in mind; however, this study deals with reading comprehension problems for non-native readers - Vietnamese students of English. The study begins with a description of the interpreters and translators training at the Hanoi Foreign Languages College. Based on the aims and objectives of the training course the study emphasises the importance of teaching reading skills to Vietnamese interpreter and translator students in the first, second and third year. To deal with this problem, the study overviews relevant theoretical issues of reading skills presented in current literature with the purpose of relating these to the realities of teaching reading in a particular context in Vietnam. The study then looks at the main problems of teaching reading skills in the English Interpreter Department at the Hanoi Foreign Languages College. Focus has been placed on the analysis of some difficulties encountered by Vietnamese students reading English in an attempt to answer the pertinent question 'Why is it difficult for Vietnamese students to read English?' Consequently, the study considers ways in which the teaching of reading skills to Vietnamese students of interpreting and translating may be improved. The study is also concerned with the selection and development of materials and then proposes a reading syllabus in order to promote more rapid and efficient progress in the teaching of reading skills. Finally, the writer makes some suggestions about how to improve the situation of teaching reading to her colleagues in the EFL area based on her own teaching experience.