Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this thesis I explore the complexity of FL (Foreign Language) reading through qualitatively and quantitatively analysing the forms, ways, and mechanisms applied by adult readers at tertiary university education level to construct meaning in an ESP/EAP (English for Specific and Academic Purposes) multilingual educational context at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in Mozambique

I detta arbete redogörs för vuxna andraspråkselevers språkliga förmåga, erfarenheter och strategier vid avkodning och vid läsning för att lära. Studien har tagit stöd i teorier om läsning, läsförmåga, dyslexi och andraspråksproblematik. Informanterna som förekommer i studien studerade vid undersökningens tidpunkt svenska på Komvux (Kommunal Vuxenutbildning) på en mellanstor ort i Sverige. Studien som har en kvalitativ ansats bygger på analyser av intervjuer och inspelad uppläsning av text. Studien visar på vikten av att kontinuerligt träna in och lära sig nya ord och begrepp vid lärande av ett andraspråk. Denna träning sker inte utan ansträngning och de nya begreppen behöver introduceras systematiskt, noteras, och läras in explicit för att sedan praktiseras medvetet av den som lär. Det framkommer hur informanternas läsvanor har ändrats sedan de kommit till Sverige. De beskriver i intervjuerna hur de t.ex. insett hur viktig läsningen är i lärandet av det nya språket. Informanterna uttrycker även en medvetenhet om olika språkliga strategier vid läsning av olika textformer. / This work describes the language ability of adult second language learners’ experiences and strategies for decoding and reading to learn. The study has taken support in theories of reading, reading ability, dyslexia and other second language problems. The informants studied at the time of the study Swedish at Kom-vux (Municipal Adult Education) in a medium-sized city in Sweden. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on analyses of interviews and recorded text reading. The study shows the importance in second language learning of continuously training and learning of new words and concepts, and that this training not happens without effort and also how the new concepts need to be introduced systematically, noted, and learned explicitly, and then deliberately practiced by the one who learns. It is apparent how the informants' reading habits have changed since they came to Sweden. The informants describe in the interviews how they have realized how important reading is in the learning process of the new language. The informants express an awareness of different linguistic strategies when reading different text forms.

The aim of this study is to increase our knowledge of teacher’s work with reading comprehension and reading strategies. In order to get an understanding of how the teachers work with reading comprehension, I have performed qualitative interviews with five practicing primary school teachers. The result shows that all the teachers consider that it is important to work with reading comprehension and reading strategies in primary school. The result also shows that the teachers are using different tools and different teaching methods to support and to facilitate the development of the pupils. / Syftet med den här undersökningen är att undersöka hur olika lärare arbetar med lässtrategier och läsförståelse. Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med fem yrkesverksamma lärare med olika arbetslivserfarenhet genom vilka jag försöker få en förståelse för hur de arbetar. Lärarna undervisar i årskurs ett till tre. Resultatet visar att samtliga lärare anser att lässtrategier och läsförståelse ska arbetas med i årskurs ett till tre eftersom det påverkar de andra ämnena som undervisas. Resultatet visar även att lärarna har olika tillvägagångsätt när det kommer till hur de undervisar eleverna för att främja deras läsförståelse och lässtrategier.

Syftet med undersökningen var att ta reda på hur sex lågstadielärare arbetar med lässtrategier i samband med högläsning och textsamtal. Undersökningen syftade även till att ta reda på vilka frågor lärarna ställer under dessa samtal för att kontrollera elevernas förståelse, samt vilka fördelar undervisningsmetoden har ur ett lärarperspektiv. Undersökningen utgick främst från det sociokulturella perspektivet som innebär att elever lär sig bäst genom dialog tillsammans med andra. En semistrukturerad intervjustudie genomfördes med sex legitimerade lågstadielärare. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att samtliga lärare använder sig av högläsning och textsamtal dagligen i samband med lässtrategiundervisning. Lärarna utgår från olika modeller och en majoritet av respondenterna har inspirerats av lässtrategimodellen En Läsande klass. Resultatet visade även att lärarna arbetar med frågor på, mellan och bortom raderna för att kontrollera elevernas förståelse under textsamtal redan i tidig ålder. Lärarna upplever att högläsning tillsammans med textsamtal utvecklar elevernas läsförståelse och användning av lässtrategier. Samtliga respondenter menar dock att denna typ av undervisning hade varit mer utvecklande för eleverna i mindre grupper. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how six primary school teachers work with reading strategies along with reading aloud and text conversations. The study also aimed to find out what kind of questions teachers use during these conversations in order to assess students' understanding, and the benefits of the teaching method from a teacher's perspective. The theoretical approach of the study is based on the sociocultural perspective, which means that pupils learn through dialogue with others. An interview study was conducted with six licensed primary school teachers. The result showed that all teachers use reading aloud and text discussion along with reading strategy daily. The teachers use different models and a majority of the respondents are inspired by the reading strategy model “En läsande klass”. The result also evinces that the teachers use questions on, between and beyond the lines to verify students understanding during text conversations at an early age. The teachers experience that reading aloud together with text discussion develop students reading comprehension and their use of reading strategies. All respondents also believed that this type of teaching would have been more developing for pupils in smaller groups.

This thesis aims at exploring what linguistic challenges and opportunities multilingual students experience when reading in English. This paper has a qualitative approach and consists of focus group interviews as the method for collecting data. The participants were students in compulsory school, ninth grade, studying English as a foreign language. A total of nine multilingual were divided into three groups. Firstly they received a piece of informative text to read, containing a picture and a heading, and secondly they answered and discussed questions about their use of reading strategies. The results from the present study show that they tended to use top-down strategies when reading. The picture was not regarded as important as the heading; yet it was clear that they transferred already developed strategies from other languages. Previous research has shown that a reading ability developed in a student´s first language will be transferred to other languages, through an underlying proficency. Likewise it was expected in this study that the students would use their first language in order to understand English as a foreign language, but unpredictably findings show that Swedish was the preferred language when translating. In conclusion, one can therefore argue for Swedish as the strongest academic language and therefore important in scaffolding multilingual students.

The thesis aims to present the use of postcolonial literature in pursuance of developing critical literacy in English lessons of upper secondary schools, together with increasing the awareness of the postcolonial world, South Africa specifically. The theoretical part of the thesis concentrates on contemporary knowledge in the field of methodology of teaching literature, reading strategies, and critical literacy, including its development and assessment. Furthermore, the theoretical section establishes the environment for the practical part, which consists of qualitative research in a Czech upper secondary school and employs pretesting, intrinsic research, teacher's and students' assessment, and final achievement test. The research implies that critical literacy is viewed differently with respect to different experts and various fields. Furthermore, the research indicates that the assessment of critical literacy is built mainly on assumptions of the specialists interested in this field and no standardised or unified tests are available. Lastly, the research shows that postcolonial literature seems to be an optimal source for enhancing students' critical literacy since it incorporates similar themes as critical literacy. The thesis has explained that the use of postcolonial literature and relevant...

This diploma thesis deals with the Lapbook teaching method and its use to develop reading literacy for preschool-age children. The aim is to develop a deeper understanding of the text read by children and their creation of their own interactive book. The work presents an integrative project that is to stimulate children's interest in literature, understanding the story through appropriately selected activities and get acquainted with the entire process of making a Lapbook. The work is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part characterizes in general reading literacy, reading pre-literacy and its anchoring in the Framework Educational Program for Preschool Education. Furthermore, the characteristics of the period in terms of the child's development and the development of reading skills, the factors influencing reading, such as the influence of family or kindergarten, and the prerequisites for the development of reading literacy. The topic is also the importance of the book for preschool children and reading strategies with a focus on the E - U - R model (evocation - awareness of meaning - reflection). Finally, it deals with the definition of the Lapbook teaching method and instructions for its production. The practical part is based on action research, which was focused on...

Introduction and aim: Culturally and socially conditioned prior knowledge of text content can constitute a significant factor for teaching reading comprehension. This relationship is made visible and has gotten more consideration in education. Therefore, this essay has aimed to investigate how teachers in the subject of teaching Swedish perceive and draw attention to the importance of students 'socio-culturally conditioned prior knowledge, with a focus on students' reading comprehension. Method: When conducting this study, interviews and observation studies have been carried out at two different schools where four interviews have been conducted with primary school teachers teaching pupils participating in grade 4-6. Results: The results show that the teachers notice that the lessons and the students' reading comprehension are positively affected by the fact that they have a certain prior knowledge about the text content. Therefore, teachers choose to work towards supporting students to link the text content to something they recognize. The teachers emphasize that vocabulary and language skills can complement reading comprehension if students don’t have enough prior knowledge, thus stating that a text can be understood by combining the linguistic knowledge they have, to gain a greater understanding of the text. The study results from the observations showed that all teachers review the students need for reading comprehension, which their respective lessons were based on. Conclusion: Teachers perceive socio-culturally conditioned prior knowledge as an important part of teaching reading comprehension. The teachers' working methods showed several support structures such as guidance and modeling of strategies through communication and interaction in teaching. It also showed that they are teaching the application of different strategies for reading and understanding fiction.

Svenska elevers resultat på internationella studier som PIRLS visar på bristande läsförmåga hos eleverna och på bristande lässtrategiundervisning. Svenska elever undervisas mindre om lässtrategier än övriga deltagande länder i undersökningen. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilken roll teorier om lässtrategier spelar i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 4-6 i den svenska skolan idag. Genom en enkät samt intervjuer så undersöks detta. Undersökningen fann att lärare använde sig av flera lässtrategier i sin undervisning. Undersökningen fann också att lärare undervisade både implicit och explicit, även om en stor del endast undervisade explicit. Undersökningen visade också att samtal om texter är en viktig faktor i lärarens syn på förbättrad läsförståelse hos eleverna. Slutsatsen är att det förekommer såväl implicit som explicit undervisning om lässtrategier och variationen av vilka lässtrategier det undervisas om är stor. / Swedish students' results in international studies of reading literacy such as PIRLS show a lack of reading ability among students and a lack of reading strategy teaching. Swedish students are taught less about reading strategies than other participating countries in the survey. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the role theories of reading strategies play in Swedish teaching in grades 4–6 in the Swedish school today. This is investigated through a questionnaire and interviews. The study found that teachers used several reading strategies in their teaching. The study also found that teachers taught reading strategies both implicitly and explicitly, although a great deal of them only taught explicitly. The study also showed that conversations about texts are an important factor in the teacher's view of improved reading comprehension for the students. The conclusion is that there is both implicit and explicit teaching about reading strategies and the variation of which reading strategies are taught is large.

The aim of this study was to explore teachers’ opinions and thoughts on teaching reading strategies to pupils in upper primary school in Sweden and how teachers explain their choices regarding texts and strategies. More specifically the aim was to highlight teachers’ perceptions and experience of teaching reading strategies. In this study semi-structured interviews were conducted with four teachers in grades 4-6 during the spring term of 2020. All four teachers taught Swedish as a school subject. The results of the study showed that the interviewed teachers each explain their choices of text according to their own set of criteria. When choosing reading strategies, the teachers based their choices largely on a particular course package developed in Sweden. The outlook the teachers had on the teaching of teaching reading strategies came across as positive. They felt that the strategies that they taught their pupils helped them to develop their reading comprehension skills. This was especially true for the low-achieving readers in the class. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka svensklärares uppfattningar och tankar om lässtrategiundervisning i årskurs 4–6 och hur de motiverar sina val av texter, strategiprogram och lässtrategier i den undervisningen. Mer specifikt har syftet varit att synliggöra lärares uppfattningar och erfarenheter om lässtrategiundervisning. Till studien har material samlats in genom metoden semistrukturerad intervju som är en kvalitativ metod. Intervjuerna genomfördes med fyra svensklärare i årskurs 4–6 under vårterminen 2020. Resultatet visar att lärarna motiverar sina val av texter med hjälp av flera kriterier och i deras val av lässtrategier utgick de från ett strategiprogram utvecklat i Sverige. Inställningen till lässtrategiundervisning framstod som positiv och lärarna upplevde den som främjande för elevernas läsförståelse, särskilt för de svaga läsarna.