The thesis focuses on teachers’ pedagogical subject knowledge and teaching of reading in English as a second language (L2) in Botswana Primary Schools. The participants consisted of ten teachers from four lower primary classrooms setting. To carry out the research, I adopted the qualitative methodology. The three modes of inquiry used in the study are semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews. All the data were transcribed, coded and analysed qualitatively. For organisation purposes, the NVivo 8 software package was used in handling the interview data gathered from the study. The findings revealed that teachers’ classroom practices were not always consistent with their pedagogical subject knowledge. They demonstrated having knowledge on how reading ought to be taught and it was observed that in most cases, their beliefs were not put into their classroom practices. This research highlighted the importance of the phonics instructions in teaching early reading, which most of the teachers’ practices revealed that they lack confidence in teaching. Therefore, this seems to have an impact on the learners in lower classes because this level is considered the foundation, which needs solid base of reading strategies. Most recent studies have revealed that a lack of phonics based on reading instructions leave learners without important decoding skills necessary in recognizing letter/sound relationships in reading. It emerged that most of the activities observed focussed on word level because more emphasis was placed on decoding than comprehension. Although the study indicates that teachers face a number of challenges, which might have an impact in practising their espoused beliefs, it seems that they did not get proper foundation from pre-service training with phonics instructions. Hopefully the insights presented in this study can lead to increased awareness of how reading can be effectively taught and how teachers base classroom practices on their experiences and the contexts within which they work.

The articles in this portfolio provide an account of research, which for the purposes of this thesis is divided into two broad categories: teacher professional development, and the support of teacher education in literary and performing arts pedagogy. Within this context three issues are addressed. The study can be categorised under research into teacher professional education.Action research and reflective practitioner research methodology were adopted, as this schema is recognised as being highly appropriate to preservice and inservice development of teachers, and to the improvement of teaching approaches and skills especially in the development of new methods of learning.The research has its theoretical foundations in interactive, child-centred theories of education, performance semiotics and psycholinguistic theories of reading. It is also committed to enabling teachers and students to engage creatively and interpretively in the comprehension of artistic texts and the performing arts. / Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Hypertext and hyperlinks are present on almost every web site or electronic document. As integral components of visual rhetoric, they are foundational to any discussion of technology and literacy. This inquiry is designed to explore first-year composition students' advances in technological literacy, specifically hypertext reading and research strategies. To accomplish this, a hypertext-reading project was designed to investigate the ways in which first-year composition students assimilate and employ hypertext information as a source from which they must extract information to use in the development of an argument. A program, designed and written specifically for this project, presented research participants, 76 students enrolled in second semester first-year composition, the components of hypertext reading as an online reading and research activity. Participants first completed a technology survey designed to reveal each participant's prior experience and self-perceived expertise with current technology, after which they completed a two-part exercise consisting of a hypertext reading assignment and a post-reading questionnaire. Participants were instructed to use their reading to inform and develop a thesis for an argument. The article selected for this study was "Illegal Immigration," accessed by navigating to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration. The article discusses a current controversial national concern, illegal immigration. While the use of Wikipedia, an online user-edited encyclopedia, often raises credibility concerns, the site in general offers excellent examples of hypertext reading that include textual as well as graphic links. In the analysis, it is revealed that while the study group rated themselves highly proficient users of Internet search engines, email, social networking, and word processing applications, the majority initially did not recognize a relationship between the actions they take as users of those applications and hyperlinks or hypertext. Post-reading responses revealed that the majority of the group read the article from top to bottom with few to no diversions. Furthermore, while most did recognize the hyperlinks as information portals, they made conscious decisions to not access the links for a variety of stated and implied reasons. This research involved a relatively small student sample that defines the limited scope of the findings; however, the data suggests attitudes and expectations of this group that may reflect student populations with similar or shared demographics. These data are used to inform potential pedagogical application suggestions, including the usefulness of technological proficiency assessments and research using technology within the classroom as well as in external assignments.

I denna studie undersöks ett läsprojekt som en svensk gymnasieskola genomfört. Under projektet har man arbetat med integrerat läsande som handlar om att inleda varje lektion, oavsett ämne, med en kort stund läsning av skönlitteratur i syfte att väcka läslust och förbättra elevernas läs- och språkförmåga. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilket värde metoden integrerat läsande har för elevernas lärande och utveckling av språkliga och emotionella förmågor enligt de lärare som varit inblandade i projektet. Studien siktar in sig på lärarnas tankar och mål med integrerat läsande samt deras uppfattningar om vilka effekter det har på elever och den egna lärarrollen. Metoden och lärarnas åsikter diskuteras utifrån teorier om läsning och didaktisk forskning. Det svenska projektets utförande och effekterna av det jämförs även med ett liknande projekt som genomförts i USA. Metoden som används i studien kombinerar kvantitativa och kvalitativa element men med fokus på det kvalitativa. För insamling av empiri har en enkät använts som har besvarats av 12 lärare och den innehåller öppna frågor där respondenterna kan ge utförliga svar och skriva med egna ord. Detta gör att undersökningen å ena sidan blir av ett kvalitativt slag. Å andra sidan, kan en mer kvantitativt orienterad summering av lärarnas åsikter åstadkommas på detta sätt, vilket är relevant i en jämförelse av lärarnas uppfattningar om integrerat läsande. Studien visar på flera positiva effekter av integrerat läsande, bland annat har det skapat en gemenskap på skolan, det har haft en rogivande effekt på både lärare och elever, eleverna har blivit mer fokuserade och det har ökat intresset för läsning. Även det amerikanska projektet lyfter fram liknande positiva effekter. Lärarna lyfter förvisso även fram negativa effekter varav en är den tidsbrist och stress som uppstått till följd av integrerat läsande. Lärarna upplever att vissa elever blir stressade och att läsningen tar tid från den ordinarie undervisningen. Det finns mycket forskning som lyfter fram läsningens positiva effekter, så som förbättrad läsförståelse och språkförmåga, utveckling av empatiförmågan och dess roll i utvecklingen av goda samhällsmedborgare, vilket är aspekter de undersökta lärarna betraktar som syften med integrerat läsande. Teorier lyfter även fram viktiga faktorer för givande läsning så som att ge tid, stöd och relevant litteratur; faktorer som kan vägas in i det integrerade läsandet. I och med lärarnas rekommendationer och det stöd som går att finna i lästeorier drar denna studie slutsatsen att integrerat läsande kan vara en givande metod att arbeta med i skolan. / This study examines a reading project conducted by a Swedish high school. The project was about integrated reading which is starting each lesson, regardless of subject, with a short period of fiction reading. The purpose with integrated reading is to invoke the student’s interest in reading and improve the reading and language understanding. This study is intended to evaluate what impact integrated reading has on the students’ learning ability and how linguistic and emotional skills have improved according to teachers involved in the project. The study examines the thoughts and goals regarding integrated reading among the teachers and their opinions on how students as well as themselves as teachers have been affected by integrated reading. The method and the teachers are evaluated based on theories about reading and didactical research. How the Swedish project was conducted and its effects are compared with a similar project in the United States. The method used in this study is combining both quantative and qualitative elements but with focus on the qualative. A survey answered by 12 teachers has been used to collect empirical data. In this survey open ended questions have been used where the respondents can elaborate using their own words. This makes the survey qualitive in its approach. On the other hand, a quantative summary of the teacher response can also be made which is relevant when comparing the different teachers' view on integrated reading. The study shows several positive effects that integrated reading have had on sense of community in the school, a calming effect on both students and teachers, increased focus from the students and hightened interest of reading overall. Also the American project points on several different positive effects. On the other side the teachers also tells about negative effects like lack of time with stress that have followed from intergrated reading. The teachers feel that some students become stressed and that the reading takes time from the regular teaching. There are a lot of research showing positive effects on reading such as increased reading comprehension and language ability, development of empathic feelings and its role in developing good citizens. These are aspects that the answering teachers regard as purpose with deploying integrated reading. Theories point at important factors for fruitful and rewarding reading such as time, support and good litterature which can be incorporated in the integrated reading process. Given recommendations by the teachers and the support that can be found in theories about reading the conclusion of this summary is that integrated reading can be a rewarding method to use in schools.

Ce mémoire a été réalisé avec les appuis financiers du Conseil de recherche en sciences humaines du Canada (CRSH) et du Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC). / En prenant comme point de départ la trilogie 1984 d’Éric Plamondon et Pourquoi Bologne d’Alain Farah, romans tous publiés sur papier, ce mémoire se consacre à saisir ce qui change dans la lecture du texte à une époque où l’omniprésence des outils numériques bouscule nos modes de production et de réception des contenus. La réflexion se développe autour du constat que la littérature, même celle qui se publie et se lit toujours sur support imprimé, ne peut être considérée en marge de ces remaniements dont les ramifications s’étendent bien au-delà de l’usage de l’ordinateur et des écrans. Avec la conviction que ces changements doivent se penser dans la continuité et non dans la rupture, la lecture sera ici considérée comme une pratique et, en refusant son essentialisation, il s’agira de revisiter certaines théories canoniques afin de saisir la teneur de ces modulations dans le « savoir-lire » du texte. À travers diverses lectures des romans à l’étude, le premier chapitre dessine les contours d’une lecture connectée, qui se fait sous l’égide du réseautage. Le deuxième chapitre, via une lecture des théories d’Umberto Eco, soutient que ces changements affectent tout particulièrement la question de la compétence du lecteur, qui est réinterrogée à la lumière de l’accessibilité de l’information inhérente à l’époque numérique et des glissements épistémologiques que cette accessibilité sous-entend. Le troisième et dernier chapitre propose, à partir des textes de Plamondon et de Farah, des parcours de lecture qui alternent entre la page du livre et l’écran d’ordinateur où sont réinterrogées les frontières du littéraire et de l’informationnel. Des relations qui se tissent entre les pratiques de lecture et l’usage des outils numériques émerge une façon de lire définie ici comme une « lecture augmentée » du texte, qui suppose un lecteur actif qui, à travers ses parcours particuliers, questionne, doute, et prend position. Un lecteur, bref, qui ne se contente pas d’actualiser un contenu, mais qui le performe. / Taking as a starting point Éric Plamondon’s 1984 trilogy and Alain Farah’s Pourquoi Bologne, both in their published form, this master’s dissertation is dedicated to grasp the changes that occur in the act of reading in an age where the ubiquitous digital tools are challenging the way we produce and receive content. The thesis takes form around the premise that literature, even that which is published and read in a print form, cannot be considered excluded from these considerations, whose ramifications extend far beyond the use of computer and screens. With the strong belief that these changes need to be seen as a continuity rather than a fracture, the act of reading will be considered here as a practice and, by refusing it’s essentialisation, will serve as a stepping-stone to revisit certain canonical theories and understand these modulations that affect the reader’s “digital literacy”, that affects the reading patterns even when a text does not present itself in a digital form. Through various interpretive trails across Plamondon and Farah’s novels, the first chapter draws the outline of a “connective reading” that is highly influenced by the omnipresence of the network. The second chapter, by revisiting Umberto Eco’s theories, maintains that these changes affect the reader’s competence, which is re-examined in light of the informational accessibly inherent at the digital era and the epistemological shifts that accessibility implies. The third and final chapter offers different reading trails through Plamondon and Farah’s novels that alternate between the book page and the computer screen, in which the boundaries between literature and information are challenged. In the relationships that develop between reading practices and the use of digital tools emerges a certain interpretational way that is described here as “augmented reading”, concept that implies that the reader is taking actions toward the text and, through this course, questions, doubts, challenges and takes position. A reader, in short, that is not just actualizing content, but who performs it.

Daar bestaan nie duidelike riglyne waarvolgens Afrikaanse leesreekse wat in die grondslagfase gebruik word, geëvalueer kan word nie. Hierdie studie was verkennend van aard met die doel om kriteria te identifiseer wat aangewend kan word om Afrikaanse leesreekse in die grondslagfase te evalueer. Ek het ʼn interpretivistiese metateoretiese paradigma gevolg aangesien ek diepgaande kennis wou verkry oor die onderwerp. Daarvoor het ek gebruik gemaak van ʼn gevallestudie gerig deur Chall (1990) se model van leesontwikkeling. Daarby het ek uit die literatuur ʼn rubriek ontwikkel wat ek aangewend het om die drie leesreekse wat in die studie ondersoek is, se teoretiese onderbou te bepaal. Die literatuur het my ondersteun om vrae te onwikkel wat ek tydens drie fokusgroeponderhoude gevra het. Die fokusgroeponderhoude het by drie Afrikaanse laerskole binne die Tshwane-metropool in verskillende sosio-ekonomiese gebiede plaasgevind. Twaalf onderwysers het deelgeneem (n=12; vroue=12). Die deelnemende onderwysers is doelgerig geselekteer. Om my data te versterk, het ek ook gebruik gemaak van observasienotas verkry van 57 studente in die Vroeë Kinderontwikkeling en Grondslagfaseprogram, aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Ek het die data gedokumenteer as oudio-opnames, verbatimtranskripsies en veldnotas. Verder het ek tematiese analise gebruik om die verbatimtranskripsies te analiseer, waarvolgens temas en subtemas geïdentifiseer is. Die volgende vier temas is geïdentifiseer: (i) relevansie van leesreekse, (ii) belangrike aspekte by die gebruik van leesreekse, (iii) onderwysers se gebruik van leesreekse tydens leesonderrig, (iv) wetenskaplike ontwikkeling van leesreekse vir grondslagfaseleesonderrig. Ek het inhoudsanalise gebruik om die leesreekse en observasienotas te analiseer. Bevindinge uit die studie dui daarop dat van die deelnemende skole verouderde leesreekse gebruik waarvan die inhoud nie relevant is vir die hedendaagse leerder se leefwêreld nie. Dit blyk ook dat onderwysers moontlik ʼn gebrekkige kennis van leesteorieë het. Verder het ek bevind dat onderwysers hul eie stories skryf om persepsie en fonologiese bewustheid te integreer, aangesien leesreekse nie dié leesvaardighede aanspreek nie. Ek het ook bevind dat onderwysers sekere aspekte belangrik ag by leesreekse, naamlik (i) leesreekse moet binne die leerder se leefwêreld wees, (ii) illustrasies moet die leerder uitnooi om te lees, (iii) progressie moet voorkom, (iv) herhaling van sigwoorde is belangrik, (v) uitgewers moet die volgorde van die aanleer van klanke in gedagte hou tydens die skryf van leesreekse, (vi) uitgewers moet die skriftipe, woordkeuses en korrekte spelling in ag neem, (vii) die behavioristiese benadering word algemeen aangewend tydens leesonderrig en (viii) slegs een leesreeks (leesreeks C) het voldoen aan meeste van die kriteria. <ul> “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” Victor Hugo</ul> ENGLISH : No definite guidelines exist which can be used to evaluate Afrikaans graded readers in the foundation phase. The main goal of this study was to identify criteria which can be implemented within the foundation phase to evaluate graded readers. I made use of an interpretative metatheoretical paradigm, since I anticipated gaining in-depth knowledge regarding the subject by means of this method. Chall’s Model of Reading Development (1990) was used as a basis for this case study. I developed a rubric, which was used to identify the theoretical aspects related to the three graded readers used in the study. The literature furthermore supported me in the formation of questions which were posed to the focus groups. The focus group meetings took place at three Afrikaans primary schools within the Tshwane Metropole in different socio-economic areas. Twelve teachers participated (n=12; women=12). The participating teachers were selected using stratified sampling. In order to enhance the validity of the data, I made use of observation notes, obtained from 57 students in the Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase programme at the University of Pretoria. The data was documented as audio-recordings, transcriptions and field notes. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the transcriptions, whereafter themes and sub-themes were identified. The following four themes were identified: (i) The relevance of graded readers; (ii) important aspects related to the use of graded readers; (iii) the use of graded readers by teachers during reading instruction; and (iv) scientific development of graded readers for use during foundation phase reading instruction. The graded readers and observation notes were analysed by means of content analysis. The findings indicated that participating schools used graded readers of which the content is not relevant for the learner of today. It would also seem that teachers possibly lack knowledge of reading theories. In addition, teachers are writing their own stories in order to integrate perception and phonological awareness, since graded readers do not incorporate it. The findings further illuminated the fact that teachers value certain aspects in graded readers as important, namely: (i) Graded readers must fall within the context of the child’s world; (ii) illustrations must invite the learner to read, (iii) there must be progression, (iv) repetition of sight words are vital, (v) when publishers write graded readers, the range pertaining to how sounds are learned must be borne in mind, (vi) publishers must pay attention to the font type, word selection and spelling in readers, (viii) the behaviouristic approach is frequently used during reading instruction, and (viii) only one graded reader (graded reader C) met most of the set criteria. <ul>“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark” Victor Hugo</ul> / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted