Studies of preschool children have shown early speech and language deficits in children with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP). For some children, the deficits during kindergarten diminish as they begin school while some children continue to show delays. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between speech and language skills and early reading skills of phonological awareness, letter identification, and rapid naming in children with and without CLP. The subjects, four kindergarten children with and four without CLP, were administered a battery of speech, language, early reading skills, and nonverbal cognition measures. Two-way analysis of variance for groups and matched pairs and correlational analyses were performed. The results revealed that the cleft group performed poorer than the noncleft group on most of the speech, language, and early reading measures. Significant correlations were found between the speech and grammatical language measures and the early reading measures.

The consequences of less than proficient reading skills are well documented. In educational settings, as children progress through the grades, the expectation that they acquire content knowledge through reading continually increases. However, many children lack the proficient reading skills that would enable them to acquire content knowledge through reading. Consequently, less than proficient reading skills are associated with academic failure and academic avoidance behaviors such as absenteeism and discipline problems. This study examined the effects of sheltered instruction on the academic and non-academic behaviors of a group of struggling readers. A causal-comparative research design was used to compare MCT2 Language Arts scores, attendance, and number of discipline referrals of 28 sixth grade struggling readers attending a rural school in northern Mississippi. Paired-samples t tests were used to compare measures of the dependent variables of students when they were in a traditional classroom setting to when they were in a sheltered instruction classroom setting. The results of the data analysis failed to detect any statistically significant differences between the measures of the dependent variables under the two conditions. Therefore, it appears that sheltered instruction did not have an effect on the academic and nonacademic behaviors of struggling readers. However, there are limitations to the findings of this study. The two most serious limitations are the small sample size and the incomplete data sets. With this small sample size, the t tests may not have been robust enough to detect statistically significant differences. In addition to the small sample size, each of the dependent variables had cases where data were missing. Consequently, a replication of this study is one of the recommendations of this study. Another recommendation is that the effects of sheltered instruction on student achievement be examined after students have been exposed to the treatment for multiple years.

Arising from the increasing demands of the twenty-first century workplace, concern over learner reading performance is at the forefront of national education. The increasing demands have raised the literacy bar for learners and subsequently, schools have been forced to accommodate instruction for these increased expectations. Successful reading requires the learner to incorporate a number of reading skills in appropriate ways. Oral reading fluency and reading comprehension are identified as components in effectively gaining meaning from text. A reciprocal relationship exist between the two that allows one to comprehend more thoroughly as one reads more fluently. Additionally, as one reads more fluently, one‟s ability to comprehend also improves. This is due to the fact that one‟s brain is more capable in processing text when one is able to read fluently. Therefore, when one automatically identifies words one is able to comprehend text more completely. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a linear relationship exists between Grade 4 learners‟ oral reading fluency on different types of tests and their reading comprehension. The study was conducted within a positivistic research paradigm. A one-shot crosssectional survey design was used to determine the relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension of Grade 4 learners in selected schools in Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province. Five schools, representing the different quintiles, were selected to participate in the study. A total of 406 Grade 4 learners made up the study population. Two tests were developed and validated in order to assess the learners‟ oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product-moment correlations. The results indicate that learners in rural schools could only read at 52 words per minute (wpm) which meant that they could be grouped in the 10th percentile. With regard to reading comprehension the learners in the rural areas scored an average of 54% on the first reading comprehension test. Their results on the second comprehension test indicated that they experienced difficulties with inference questions. The results indicated that learners in urban schools read at 107.5 words per minute (wpm) which meant that they could be grouped between the 50th and 75th percentile. In their first reading comprehension test they scored an average of 78%. Their results on the second comprehension test indicated that they experienced difficulties with interpretation questions. Pearson product moment correlations indicated a practically significant difference between rural and urban schools on oral reading fluency and reading comprehension with urban schools outperforming rural schools. Overall, the results indicated a practically significant relationship of r = 0.69 between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The findings of this study should be noted by teachers as well as be addressed in interventions as a matter of urgency. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Arising from the increasing demands of the twenty-first century workplace, concern over learner reading performance is at the forefront of national education. The increasing demands have raised the literacy bar for learners and subsequently, schools have been forced to accommodate instruction for these increased expectations. Successful reading requires the learner to incorporate a number of reading skills in appropriate ways. Oral reading fluency and reading comprehension are identified as components in effectively gaining meaning from text. A reciprocal relationship exist between the two that allows one to comprehend more thoroughly as one reads more fluently. Additionally, as one reads more fluently, one‟s ability to comprehend also improves. This is due to the fact that one‟s brain is more capable in processing text when one is able to read fluently. Therefore, when one automatically identifies words one is able to comprehend text more completely. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a linear relationship exists between Grade 4 learners‟ oral reading fluency on different types of tests and their reading comprehension. The study was conducted within a positivistic research paradigm. A one-shot crosssectional survey design was used to determine the relationship between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension of Grade 4 learners in selected schools in Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province. Five schools, representing the different quintiles, were selected to participate in the study. A total of 406 Grade 4 learners made up the study population. Two tests were developed and validated in order to assess the learners‟ oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product-moment correlations. The results indicate that learners in rural schools could only read at 52 words per minute (wpm) which meant that they could be grouped in the 10th percentile. With regard to reading comprehension the learners in the rural areas scored an average of 54% on the first reading comprehension test. Their results on the second comprehension test indicated that they experienced difficulties with inference questions. The results indicated that learners in urban schools read at 107.5 words per minute (wpm) which meant that they could be grouped between the 50th and 75th percentile. In their first reading comprehension test they scored an average of 78%. Their results on the second comprehension test indicated that they experienced difficulties with interpretation questions. Pearson product moment correlations indicated a practically significant difference between rural and urban schools on oral reading fluency and reading comprehension with urban schools outperforming rural schools. Overall, the results indicated a practically significant relationship of r = 0.69 between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The findings of this study should be noted by teachers as well as be addressed in interventions as a matter of urgency. / MEd (Learner Support), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study investigated the role of selected variables on organizational commitment in selected organizations in a North Texas metropolitan area. The selected (independent) variables were orientation attendance, unit size, educational level, gender, age, and length of service. Organizational commitment score was the dependent variable. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire were administered to 1,055 employees. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire contained fifteen statements which measured employees' feelings about their organization. Multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables at the .001 level of significance. It was determined that gender and length of service showed the strongest significant relationship on organizational commitment. This model shows that the six independent variables account for only 3 percent of the variance in the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables. Therefore, approximately 97 percent of the unexplained variance is accountable for the organizational commitment of the employees at the selected organizations used in this study. Studies using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and other antecedents of organizational commitment are recommended. A follow-up study should also be conducted using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and race. A follow-up study should be conducted using this questionnaire and a work ethic questionnaire to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and work ethics. An orientation attendance questionnaire should be developed and used with the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and orientation attendance. Additional research is necessary in other organizations and cultural settings before this study can be generalized to a greater number of employees. Recommendation is made that future researchers administer questionnaires to subjects due to the low reading and comprehension skills of many respondents.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show significant deficits in communication, emotion recognition, perspective taking, and social skills. One intervention gaining increased attention is the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) to teach social, emotional and perspective-taking skills to individuals with ASD with the purpose of improving theory of mind skills. This study evaluated the effectiveness of CAI for improving theory of mind skills in four children with high functioning autism ages 5 to 12 years. A single-subject multiple baseline research design across participants was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of CAI. The software contained 22 instructional scenarios that asked participants to identify emotions of characters based on situational cues displayed in line drawn pictures and audio feedback for correct and incorrect responses. Mind-reading skills were assessed using ten randomly selected scenarios for various emotions and no audio feedback. Visual analysis of the data revealed that all four participants increased mind-reading skills during the CAI condition. Additionally, this study evaluated levels of task engagement during experimental conditions. Three of the four participants showed an increase in task engagement during CAI compared to paper-based social stories used during baseline. Generalization of skills was assessed through the use of social scenarios acted out by family members of participants. All four participants were able to correctly identify emotions displayed in generalization scenarios. Results demonstrated that CAI was an effective and socially viable method for improving ToM skills in children with autism and they could generalize their skills to untrained settings.

This diploma thesis focuses on the value system of primary school pupils and its connection to reading preferences. The terms "value" and "system of values" are being defined from the perspective of several social sciences. Apart from that, the stages of pupils' morality development are being described, as well as the acquisition of reading skills and the importance of reading during leisure time activities. The practical part evaluates the outcomes of survey examining the relation between the pupils' system of values and their reading preferences.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:28:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RAUNI JANDE ROAMA ALVES.pdf: 1597487 bytes, checksum: 2c5fc0e1ecfc2b3e4750ae14cfbd068e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-13 / Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas / Dyslexia is a disorder resulting from neuropsychological dysfunction and mostly causes difficulties in learning to read. International studies speculate that this framework does not only involve deficient cognitive skills, but also well developed, such as creativity. Starting from this hypothesis, the present study aimed to compare the creativity of children with dyslexia (GC) with children without difficulties in reading and writing (GN). It was also investigated how the intelligence is related to that performance in both groups. The GC was recruited at the Clinical Hospital of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the GN in a regular school of the state of S?o Paulo. It was investigated 13 children in each group, ranging in age from eight years to 11 years and eight months (GC: M=10,92+1,03; GN: M=10,61+0,50), with five females and eight males in group GC and nine females and four males in group GN. To survey the creativity was used the "Test of Figural Creativity for Children (TCFI) and for intelligence was administered the test "Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (MPCR)", "Human Figure Drawing (DFH)" and "Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - third version (WISC-III)", the latter two only in GC. For the selection of the GN was used a questionnaire for parents and a semistructured interview for teachers to eliminate diagnostic criteria for dyslexia, besides the "Academic Performance Test", with the aim of selecting children with reading and writing performance expected for age and grade. The results showed no statistically significant differences between both groups in creativity. However, the GC had a lower average than the GN in the total TCFI, while also showed higher scores for 18 of the 31 characteristics evaluated by it. High correlation was observed between the MPCR and the TCFI in both groups and no significant correlations between the DFH and the WISC-III with the TCFI in GC. Some hypotheses have been formulated: the existence of possible relationships between creativity and executive functions, the latter being to the detriment of individuals with dyslexia, which could explain the result of the total TCFI; the influence of emotional and possibly aspects of personality that are characteristic of dyslexia, which could explain the better performance in the majority of the characteristics evaluated in TCFI. There was no pattern in the correlations between measures of intelligence and creativity in both investigated groups, as found in the literature. It is concluded that this study provided important findings for early clarification on a possible relationship between creativity and dyslexia, however, considering the complexity of both constructs, studies involving the investigation of their relations with other psychological variables as well as expansion and diversification of the sample are needed. / A dislexia ? um transtorno decorrente de disfun??es neuropsicol?gicas e acarreta principalmente dificuldades no aprendizado da leitura. Estudos internacionais especulam que esse quadro n?o somente envolveria habilidades cognitivas deficit?rias, mas tamb?m bem desenvolvidas, como a criatividade. Partindo-se dessa hip?tese, o presente estudo objetivou comparar a criatividade de crian?as com dislexia (GC) com o de crian?as sem dificuldades em leitura e escrita (GN). Tamb?m se investigou a rela??o entre criatividade e intelig?ncia em ambos os grupos. O GC foi recrutado no Hospital de Cl?nicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) e o GN em uma escola de ensino regular de uma cidade do interior de S?o Paulo. Foram investigadas 13 crian?as em cada grupo, com faixa et?ria de oito anos a 11 anos e oito meses (GC: M=10,92+1,03; GN: M=10,61+0,50), sendo cinco do sexo feminino e oito do masculino no GC e nove do sexo feminino e quatro do masculino no GN. Para a avalia??o da criatividade foi utilizado o Teste de Criatividade Figural Infantil (TCFI) e para intelig?ncia foram administrados os testes Matrizes Progressivas Coloridas de Raven (MPCR) , Desenho da Figura Humana (DFH) e Escala de Intelig?ncia Wechsler para crian?as (WISC-III) , sendo os dois ?ltimos somente no GC. Para a sele??o do GN foi utilizado um question?rio para os pais e uma entrevista semiestruturada para os professores a fim de eliminar crit?rios diagn?sticos para dislexia, al?m do Teste de Desempenho Escolar , com o objetivo de selecionar somente aquelas crian?as que apresentassem desempenho em leitura e em escrita esperado para a idade e s?rie. Os resultados encontrados n?o evidenciaram diferen?as estat?sticas significativas entre ambos os grupos na medida de criatividade. No entanto, o GC apresentou menor m?dia em rela??o ao GN no total do TCFI, ao mesmo tempo em que tamb?m apresentou m?dias mais altas em 18 das 31 caracter?sticas avaliadas por esse mesmo teste. Foi verificada alta correla??o entre os testes MPCR e o TCFI em ambos os grupos e correla??es n?o significativas entre o DFH e o WISC-III com o TCFI no GC. Algumas hip?teses foram elaboradas: a exist?ncia de poss?veis rela??es entre criatividade e fun??es executivas, sendo essas ?ltimas em preju?zo em sujeitos com dislexia, que poderia explicar o resultado obtido no total do TCFI; a influ?ncia de aspectos emocionais e possivelmente de personalidade, caracter?sticos a dislexia, que poderiam explicar o melhor desempenho obtido na maioria das caracter?sticas avaliadas no TCFI. N?o foi verificado um padr?o nas correla??es entre as medidas de intelig?ncia e de criatividade em ambos os grupos investigados, assim como encontrado na literatura. Conclui-se que o presente estudo forneceu achados importantes para o in?cio do esclarecimento sobre uma poss?vel rela??o entre criatividade e dislexia, no entanto, considerando a complexidade de ambos os constructos, estudos que envolvam a investiga??o de suas rela??es com outras vari?veis psicol?gicas bem como amplia??o e diversifica??o da amostra se fazem necess?rios.

Aprender a ler e a escrever em sistemas alfabéticos de escrita, como em português do Brasil, depende de um processo cognitivo de formar conexões entre as letras nas grafias de palavras escritas e os sons nas pronúncias de palavras faladas, o que se denomina de mapeamento ortográfico. Evidências provenientes de estudos com falantes do inglês demonstram que as crianças nas fases iniciais da aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita realizam o mapeamento ortográfico no nível grafofonêmico, isto é, das letras e fonemas; posteriormente quando elas adquirem mais experiência em leitura elas passam a utilizar o mapeamento ortográfico em um nível maior usando unidades como as sílabas, i.e., unidades grafossilábicas. Como as sílabas são muito proeminentes em português, pesquisadores e professores tem sugerido que crianças falantes do português poderiam se beneficiar mais de instruções iniciais que enfatizam as sílabas do que os fonemas. Os objetivos principais deste estudo foram investigar: 1) se as crianças se beneficiam mais do ensino de mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas ou de sílabas no início da aprendizagem da linguagem escrita em Português do Brasil e 2) se incluir instrução sobre gestos articulatórios no ensino de mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas melhora a habilidade de segmentação fonêmica mais do que o treinamento sem esse componente. Este é um estudo experimental com um design de préteste e pós-testes e atribuição aleatória de participantes para os grupos experimentais e controle. Noventa crianças falantes do Português do Brasil, com média de idade de 4 anos e 5 meses, foram selecionadas em uma escola pública da cidade de São Paulo, SP, Brasil. As crianças receberam instruções em pequenos grupos em uma de 4 condições: 1) mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas com articulação (MOF+A), 2) mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas sem articulação (MOF), 3) mapeamento ortográfico de sílabas sem articulação (MOS), ou 4) desenhos com temas livres (Controle). Em seguida, as crianças foram avaliadas em uma tarefa de aprendizagem de palavras seguida por tarefas de leitura, escrita, segmentação fonêmica e silábica. Os resultados mostraram que as crianças nos grupos MOF+A e MOF superaram as crianças nos grupos MOS e Controle em tarefas de leitura e de escrita. A instrução com gestos articulatórios beneficiou as crianças mais do que a instrução sem esse componente. O grupo MOF+A superou os outros em segmentação fonêmica, leitura e escrita. Em um estudo de acompanhamento (follow-up) realizado um ano e meio mais tarde, 48 crianças, 12 de cada condição experimental, foram avaliadas novamente em várias habilidades de literacia. As crianças que receberam previamente os treinamentos em mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas tiveram melhor desempenho nas tarefas de segmentação fonêmica, de leitura e de escrita, do que as crianças que receberam treinamento em mapeamento ortográfico de sílabas e as crianças do grupo controle. Os resultados em conjunto mostram que, apesar do fato de que as sílabas são unidades muito salientes em Português do Brasil, o ensino de mapeamento ortográfico de fonemas para leitores e escritores iniciantes é mais eficaz do que o ensino do mapeamento ortográfico de sílabas / Learning to read and write in alphabetic writing systems, such as Brazilian Portuguese, depends on a cognitive process of forming connections between the letters in spellings of written words and the sounds in pronunciations of spoken words, known as orthographic mapping. Evidence from studies with English speakers shows that children in the early phases of learning to read and write use orthographic mapping at the graphophonemic level, i.e., letters and phonemes; subsequently when they acquire more reading experience they move on to use orthographic mapping at a higher level using units such as syllables, i.e., graphosyllabic units. Because syllables are so prominent in Portuguese, researchers and teachers have suggested that Portuguese-speaking children would benefit more from early reading instruction that emphasizes syllables rather than phonemes. The main objectives of this study were to explore: 1) whether children benefit more from instruction of orthographic mapping of phonemes or syllables at the outset of learning to read in Brazilian Portuguese and 2) whether including articulatory gestures in the training of orthographic mapping of phonemes improves phonemic segmentation more than training without articulation. This was an experimental study with a pretest/posttest and random assignment of participants to treatment and control groups. Ninety Brazilian Portuguese speakers, mean age 4 years, 5 months, were drawn from one public kindergarten in São Paulo, Brazil. Children received instruction within small groups in one of 4 conditions: 1) orthographic mapping of phonemes with articulation (OMP+A), 2) orthographic mapping of phonemes without articulation (OMP), 3) orthographic mapping of syllables without articulation (OMS), or 4) drawing pictures (Control). Then children were assessed in a word-learning task followed by reading, spelling, phonemic, and syllabic segmentation tasks. Results showed that children in the OMP+A and the OMP groups outperformed children in the OMS and control groups in reading and spelling tasks. Instruction with articulatory gestures benefited children more than instruction without this component. The OMP+A group outperformed the others in phonemic segmentation, reading, and spelling. In a follow up study conducted 1.5 years later, 48 children, 12 from each experimental condition, were assessed again in several literacy skills. Children who received orthographic mapping of phonemes performed better in phonemic segmentation, reading, and spelling tasks than children who received orthographic mapping of syllables training or children in the control group. Overall results show that, despite the fact that syllables are very salient units in Brazilian Portuguese, teaching orthographic mapping of phonemes to beginning readers is more effective than teaching orthographic mapping of syllables

This thesis deals with the development of reading comprehension in English language which is considered essential in the study and professional life. Its aim is to design practical activities based on reading articles from the Bridge magazine, to develop reading skills in learners on level B1 of CEFR. Theoretical parts of discussion reflect the need of the teacher to perceive different texts and the importance of the press for developing reading abilities in his/her everyday life to be able to develop pupils' abilities. It gives information about reading comprehension of pupils in their mother tongue, including international context. In developing reading skills in English as a second language, skills are specified and difficulties named. The method for my practical part is the lexical approach that was developed by Michael Lewis and Jane & Dave Willis, based on teaching chunks. In order to develop reading competence, work with dictionary material is developed that should be understood as an integral part for developing autonomic skills, continued by reading with prosody and finally making operations with meaningful chunks. Activities such as reading aloud and making operations with meanings proved effective. Making notes turned ineffective. KEYWORDS reading in english, competence, magazine...