Anotation TITLE: The Specific of Reading Ability of Young School Age Deaf Children - with a View of Using Adaptated Texts AUTHOR: Klára Ptáčková DEPARTMENT: Special Education SUPERVISOR: Doc. PhDr. Eva Souralová, Ph.D. This dissertation thesis is aimed at the reading ability of deaf children with a view of using adapted texts as a means of improving their reading competences. The thesis summarizes theoretical knowledge relating to a way of communicating and educating deaf pupils in connection with their reading ability, its specifics, development and difficulties. It is focused on adapted literary works, on the methodology of their creation and the different approaches to them. The research uses methods of quantitative analysis that contains systematic summary and evaluation of provided data in connection with the qualitative approach. By the method of text analysis were briefly demonstrated the principles of text modification for hearing children of young school age. In another part there was used an analysis of modified texts in light of their reading comprehension level (using of Mistrík's method). The qualitative approach part of research was aimed at description and defining of specific areas and process of adapted Czech literary works for the deaf in comparison with their original versions. All...

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om hur lärare i årskurs 4-6 beskriver att elevers läsförståelse kan utvecklas med hjälp av samtal om texter inom svenskämnet. Syftet uppfylls genom att följande frågeställningar besvaras: Hur använder sig lärare av samtal om texter i läsförståelseundervisningen? Hur beskriver lärare att samtal om texter kan påverka elevers läsförståelse? Intervjustudien har sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i den sociokulturella teorin om hur lärande sker i en social kontext samt i Vygotskijs teori om den proximala utvecklingszonen. Intervjustudien har en kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer använts som metod för datainsamling. Fyra lärare som undervisar i svenska i årskurs 4-6 har intervjuats. Resultatet visade att lärarna beskriver att de använder sig av samtal om texter för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse. Det framkom att eleverna får samtala om olika typer av texter i skilda sammanhang men att läsförståelseutveckling förutsätter att eleven får möta texter på rätt nivå och som engagerar. Slutsatsen i intervjustudien är att de intervjuade lärarna uppfattar att samtal om texter har betydelse för elevernas utveckling av läsförståelsen och att lärarna använder sig av det i undervisningen. Eleverna behöver med stigande ålder bli mer självständiga i arbetet med läsförståelse och i samtal om texter, för att det ska bli möjligt behöver lärarna modellera olika strategier för både läsförståelse och textsamtal. Lärarna beskriver dock inte hur de konkret gör för att med tiden överlämna ansvaret för samtal om texter till eleverna. / The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how teachers in the grades 4-6 describes that pupils can develop their reading comprehension by using text talks within the Swedish subject. The aim is to be fulfilled through answering the following questions: How do teachers use text talks in the reading comprehension education? How do teachers describe that text talks can affect pupils reading comprehension? The interview study has its theoretical starting point in the socio-cultural theory and how learning takes place through a social context and in Vygotskijs theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. The interview study has a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews have been used as a method for collecting data. Four teachers who teach Swedish in grades 4-6 were interviewed. The results of the study shows that teachers describes that they use text talks to develop pupils reading comprehension. The result also showed that the pupils get to talk about several types of texts in different contexts, but that reading comprehension development requires students to be exposed to engaging texts at the right level. The conclusion of the interview study is that the teachers who were interviewed perceives that text talks are important for students’ development of reading comprehension and that the teachers use text talks in their teaching. With increasing age, the students need to become more independent in the work with reading comprehension and in text talks, for this to be possible the teachers need to model different strategies for both reading comprehension and text talks. However, the teachers do not describe exactly how they hand over the responsibility for text talks to the students over time.

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Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ökad kunskap om sju- till nioåriga elevers föreställningar om tidig läsinlärning. Studien utgår från en metodkombination där det empiriska materialet består av svar från en kvantitativ enkätundersökning varav tjugonio elever i årskurs ett och två svarat. Empirin består även av ljudupptagningar från kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta stycken av eleverna. Studien utgår från två teorier; fenomenografi och kognitiv konstruktivism. Resultatet presenterar vilka för- och nackdelar olika läsinlärningsmetoder har ur ett elevperspektiv. En resultatdiskussion har skett utifrån de valda teorierna och tidigare forskning har vägts mot det som framkommit i studien.  Resultatet visar i enlighet med tidigare forskning att elevers motivation till och framgång av läsning styr den vidare läsutvecklingen. Vad som också framhävs i studiens resultat är att kombinerade läsinlärningsmetoder främst föredras av eleverna och att de väljer utefter vilken nivå de befinner sig på i sin läsutveckling. Ytterligare något som belyses är vikten av metakognition när det handlar om läsinlärning. / The purpose of this study is to contribute with increased knowledge about what thoughts students aged seven to nine have about early reading learning. The study is based on a combination of methods where the emdata consist of answers from a quantitative survey of which of twenty-nine students in grades one and two answered. The data also contain audio recordings from qualitative interviews with eight students. The two theoretical starting points for the study are phenomenography and cognitive constructivism. The results present from a student perspective the advantages and disadvantages of different methods to learn to read. A discussion of results has taken place on the basis of the selected theories and has set previous research against what has emerged in the study. The results show, in accordance with previous research, that students' motivation for and success of reading controls the further development of reading. What is also emphasized in the results of the study is that the students mainly preferred combined reading learning methods, and that they choose according to what level they are at in their reading development. Another result that is highlighted is the importance of metacognition when it comes to learning to read.

M. Tech. Education / The intention of this study was to establish the use of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results in improving learner performance in schools and to further establish the understanding and interpretation of the national assessment policy at school level and at circuit/district level in General Education and Training (GET) settings of Casteel schools, Bohlabela district. The literature supported the fact that available ANA results have identified certain challenges which require specific interventions to improve current skills in Literacy and Numeracy. Despite these concerns and the fact that the results do not achieve the set target of ensuring that 60 percent of learners achieve a pass mark of 50 percent, the results of the study indicated that the primary teachers, principals and circuit/district officials remained generally positive in their perception of turning the situation around.

Thesis (DPhil (General Linguistics))—University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Addressing the low literacy rates in South Africa poses a mountainous challenge. However, identifying children at risk for reading difficulties and providing timely and preventative intervention might be a good starting point to addressing this challenge. This study aimed at making a contribution to the existing body of literature on emergent literacy skills of learners who are educated in a second or additional language. The study investigated English Language Learners’ (ELLs) emergent literacy skills prior to entering Grade 1 and evaluated the effectiveness of an evidence-based stimulation program in the South African context. The main research question this study attempted to answer was: “What is the effect of a stimulation program for emergent literacy skills in Grade R on the development of literacy of English Language Learners in Grade 1?” In a quasiexperimental design, ELLs’ emergent literacy skills were assessed with an adapted version of the Emergent Literacy Assessment battery (Willenberg 2004) and were compared to those of English first language (L1) and of ELL control groups, both prior to and after an 8-week purpose-designed stimulation program. Results indicated that while learners showed significant improvement on six out of the eight subtests, the particular intervention program did not significantly improve ELLs’ emergent literacy skills (those pertaining to alphabet knowledge, phoneme awareness, print awareness and oral language skills, amongst others) when compared to learners in the respective control groups. When controlling for receptive language abilities, English L1 learners did not perform any better than their L2 peers on any of the eight measures of emergent literacy prior to intervention. Furthermore, upon entering Grade 1, there was no statistical significant difference in the performance of the English L1 learners and ELLs on any of the eight subtests after intervention. Possible independent variables contributing to the dearth of intervention effect included socio-economic status, learners’ L1, and teacher and classroom specific characteristics. These variables were addressed, and clinical implications for speech-language therapists with regards to assessment, intervention, service delivery and outcome measures were highlighted. / AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die aanspreek van Suid-Afrika se geletterdheidsvraagstuk is ‘n reuse uitdaging. Die vroeë identifisering van kinders met ‘n hoë risiko vir leesprobleme en die verskaffing van tydige en voorkomende intervensie mag egter ‘n goeie beginpunt wees in die aanspreek van hierdie uitdaging. Hierdie studie het gepoog om ‘n bydrae te lewer tot die bestaande literatuur oor ontluikende geletterdheidsvaardighede van kinders wat in ‘n tweede of addisionele taal onderrig word. Die studie het die ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede ondersoek van Graad R-leerders wat in Engels onderrig word, maar vir wie Engels nie hul eerste taal is nie, asook die effektiwiteit van ‘n navorsingsgebaseerde stimulasieprogram binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Die hoof navorsingsvraag van die studie was: “Wat is die effek van ‘n stimulasieprogram vir ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede in Graad R op die ontwikkeling van geletterdheid van Engels tweede taal (T2)-leerders in Graad 1?” In ‘n kwasieksperimentele ontwerp is Engels T2-leerders se ontluikende geletterheidsvaardighede met ‘n aangepaste weergawe van die Emergent Literacy Assessment Battery (Willenberg 2004) geëvalueer, en voor en na ‘n 8-week doelgerigte stimulasieprogram vergelyk met die vaardighede van kontrolegroepe wat bestaan het uit Engels eerste taal (T1)-leerders en Engels T2-leerders onderskeidelik. Alhoewel leerders ‘n beduidende verbetering in ses van die agt subtoetse getoon het, het die spesifieke intervensieprogram nie T2-leerders in die eksperimentele groepe se ontluikende geletterdheidsvaardighede beduidend verbeter in vergelyking met leerders in die twee kontrole groepe nie (dit sluit in onder andere alfabetkennis, foneembewustheid, drukbewustheid en orale taalvaardighede). Wanneer daar vir reseptiewe taalvaardighede gekontroleer is, het die T1-leerders nie beduidend beter gevaar as hul T2-portuurgroep op enige van die agt subtoetse van ontluikende geletterdheid nie, en met toetrede tot Graad 1 was daar gevolglik geen statisties beduidende verskil tussen die T1- en T2-groepe ten opsigte van enige van die agt subtoetse nie. Moontlike onafhanklike veranderlikes wat tot hierdie gebrek aan intervensie-effek kon bydra, sluit sosio-ekonomiese status, leerders se T1 en onderwyseren klaskamer-spesifieke eienskappe in. Hierdie veranderlikes is aangespreek, en die kliniese implikasies vir spraak-taalterapeute met betrekking tot evaluasie, intervensie, dienslewering en die noukeurige meting van uitkomste is toegelig.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to the results of the Annual National Assessment (ANA) of 2011 in South African schools, approximately 53% of learners in grade 3 and 70% of learners in grade 6 did not reach a partially achieved level of reading. As a result of the reading difficulties, these learners have varying degrees of learning and behavioural difficulties and also experience psychological and emotional challenges. This figure indicates that a high number of people are parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. Bronfenbrenner’s theory of the ecology of human development indicated the importance of interconnections between school, home, and community settings in order to foster children’s learning. Parents may be better supported and empowered to assist their child by collaboration among teachers and families. This collaboration may be strengthened by utilising knowledge gained from parents’ lived experiences of parenting a child identified as having reading difficulties. The primary research question guiding this phenomenological study involved understanding the experiences of parents with children identified as having reading difficulties. The study’s research methodology can be described as basic qualitative research which is embedded within an interpretive paradigm. Purposive sampling was used to select three parents as research participants. Three methods of data collection were employed, namely written reflective notes, structured individual interviews and observations. Furthermore, qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that four interconnected contexts emerged concerning parents’ lived experiences, namely their relationship with their identified child, their relationships with other family members, their interactions with teachers and the child’s school, and their perception of social support in raising their child. The study found that parents experienced a variety of dismaying emotions regarding their child’s reading difficulties and that parents adopted roles such as caretaker, motivator and advocate in order to obtain the intervention and educational services needed for their child. The findings of this study inform and encourage educators and other support personnel to support parents and promote collaboration with parents of children identified as having reading difficulties, potentially enabling those parents to better support their identified child. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na aanleiding van die uitslae van die Jaarlikse Nasionale Assessering (ANA) van 2011 in Suid- Afrikaanse skole, het ongeveer 53% van leerders in graad 3 en 70% van leerders in graad 6 nie ‘n gedeeltelik bereikte vlak van lees behaal nie. As gevolg van die struikelblokke met lees, ervaar hierdie leerders verskeie grade van leer- en gedragsuitdagings, asook sielkundige en emosionele uitdagings. Hierdie syfers dui aan dat ‘n beduidende hoeveelheid mense in die rol staan van die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Bronfenbrenner se teorie van die ekologie van menslike ontwikkeling dui op die belangrikheid van interkonneksies tussen die leerder se skool, tuiste en die konteks van sy gemeenskap vir die bevordering van leer. Ouers kan moontlik meer effektief ondersteun en bemagtig word om hul kind meer effektief te ondersteun, indien ‘n medewerking tussen ouers en onderwysers bewerkstellig kan word. Hierdie medewerking kan versterk word deur kennis aan te wend aangaande ouers se ervaringe in hul rol as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke. Die navorsingsvraag wat hierdie fenomenologiese studie lei, handel oor ’n begrip van die ervaringe van ouers van kinders wat met leesstruikelblokke geïdentifiseer is. Die navorsingsmetodologie wat in hierdie studie gebruik is, kan beskryf word as basiese kwalitatiewe navorsing binne ’n interpretivistiese paradigma. ’n Doelgerigte steekproef is gebruik om drie ouers as deelnemers te identifiseer. Drie metodes van data insameling is gebruik, naamlik geskrewe, reflektiewe notas; gestruktureerde, individuele onderhoude en waarnemings. Verder is kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise gebruik om die data te analiseer. Die data analise het aan die lig gebring dat vier kontekste wat telkens met mekaar verband hou, na vore gekom het rakende ouers se ervaringe as die ouer van ‘n kind met leesstruikelblokke, naamlik die ouers se verhouding met hul kind, die ouers se verhoudinge met ander lede van die gesin, die ouers se interaksies met die kind se onderwysers en skool asook die ouers se persepsie van die sosiale ondersteuning wat hulle ontvang in hul rol as ouers. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie het aangetoon dat ouers verskeie ontmoedigende emosies ervaar rakende hul kind se leesstruikelblokke en dat ouers in die rol van versorger, motiveerder en advokaat optree om sodoende die nodige intervensie en opvoedkundige dienste wat hul kind benodig, te bekom. Die bevindinge het ten doel om opvoeders en ander ondersteuningspersoneel in te lig en aan te moedig om ouers te ondersteun en medewerking tussen opvoeders en ouers van kinders met leesstruikelblokke te bevorder. Sodanige medewerking kan ouers in staat stel om hul kinders meer effektief te ondersteun.

The present thesis investigated cognitive ability in children with severe to profound hearing impairment who have received cochlear implants (CIs). The auditory stimulation from a cochlear implant early in life influences most cognitive functions as a consequence of the plasticity of the brain in the young child. It is important to understand the cognitive consequences of auditory stimulation from CIs in order to provide adequate support to these children. This thesis examined three specific aspects of cognitive ability (working memory, phonological skill and lexical access), and reading ability in children with CIs, as compared to children with normal hearing in the same age. The relations between cognitive abilities and reading skills were also investigated, as well as the associations between demographic variables (e.g., age at implantation and communication mode), cognitive abilities and reading skills. The children with CI generally had lower performance levels than the normal hearing children in tasks of phonological and general working memory, phonological skills and lexical access. They had specific problems in tasks with high demands on phonological working memory, whereas their performance levels in tasks of visuospatial working memory were on par with the hearing children. A majority of the children with CI demonstrated reading skills within the normal range for hearing children, both for decoding and reading comprehension. The relations between demographic factors and cognitive skills varied somewhat between the studies. The patterns of result are discussed with reference to contemporary theories of working memory, phonological skills, and lexical access. / Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att studera kognitiva förmågor hos barn med grav hörselskada eller dövhet som fått cochleaimplantat (CI). Auditiv stimulering från CI i tidig ålder påverkar de flesta kognitiva funktioner som en följd av hjärnans plasticitet hos små barn. Det är viktigt att förstå de kognitiva konsekvenserna av auditiv stimulering från CI för att kunna ge dessa barn bästa möjliga stöd. Avhandlingen undersökte tre specifika aspekter av kognitiv förmåga (arbetsminne, fonologiska förmågor och lexikal aktivering), samt läsförmåga hos barn med CI, i jämförelse med barn med normal hörsel i samma åldrar. Relationerna mellan kognitiva förmågor och läsförmåga studerades också, liksom sambanden mellan demografiska faktorer (t ex implantationsålder och kommunikationssätt) och kognitiva förmågor samt läsfärdigheter. Barnen med CI hade generellt lägre prestationsnivå än barnen med normal hörsel i uppgifter som mäter fonologiskt och generellt arbetsminne, fonologiska förmågor och lexikal aktivering. De hade specifika problem i uppgifter som i hög grad belastar fonologiskt arbetsminne, medan deras visuospatiala arbetsminneskapacitet var jämförbar med den hos barnen med normal hörsel. Majoriteten av barnen med CI hade läsfärdigheter i nivå med normalhörande barn, för både avkodning och läsförståelse. Sambanden mellan demografiska faktorer och kognitiva förmågor och läsförmåga varierade mellan studierna. Resultatmönstren diskuteras utifrån teorier om arbetsminne, fonologiska färdigheter och lexikal aktivering.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of Same-Language Subtitles (SLS) on the subject-specific comprehension and the academic literacy levels of EAL students on the Vaal Triangle Campus of North-West University (NWU). Essentially, the study aimed to determine whether exposing students studying through English as an Additional Language (EAL) to subtitled lectures (live or recorded lectures) would help improve their comprehension of the academic content as well as their receptive academic literacy skills, compared to students who were not exposed to subtitled lectures. This study stems from the identification of an academic performance-related issue on the Vaal Triangle Campus of NWU. Indeed, campus statistics show that the throughput rate of EAL students remains low, and that these students‟ academic literacy levels are inadequate. In other words, EAL students on this campus are underachieving and seem to have difficulties in mastering academic English. Based on various studies that showed SLS to be a valuable tool in terms of learning and academic literacy, this study proposed to introduce SLS (both live via respeaking and offline) in the university classroom as a learning aid, thus optimising the time students spend in lectures. Very little information was available in South Africa on the impact of SLS on the subject-specific comprehension of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. Furthermore, it had been anticipated that a certain number of technical constraints were likely to be encountered during the empirical investigation. These two factors made it difficult to predict what other factors could influence the outcome of the study. As a result, the study was based on the principle of Action Research, a research method characterised by the fact that the research is carried out in as many cycles as may be necessary in order to achieve the optimal conditions for a specific intervention. Three cycles were necessary to reach the optimal design of the present study so that a confident conclusion could be made regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension and academic literacy. For each cycle, the intervention was carried out over an academic semester. In the first cycle, a test group composed of EAL first-year Economics students was exposed to live SLS via respeaking during class, while a control group (also composed of EAL first-year Economics students) attended the same class at a different time, without SLS. In the second cycle, the live SLS via respeaking were replaced with offline SLS. The intervention was taken out of the regular classes and was carried out in the context of practical revision classes scheduled specifically for the purpose of the intervention. The test group viewed subtitled videos of lectures, while the control group viewed videos without subtitles. After each viewing, all participants were required to complete a short comprehension test. This cycle was also conducted in first-year Economics. The basic design of the third cycle was similar to that of the second cycle, but for the fact that the intervention took place in the context of a Psychology module, which, unlike the Economics module, was taught without the lecturer making use of slides. After these three research cycles were completed, it could be concluded that offline SLS indeed have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context. This conclusion was supported by the following findings: 1. The first research cycle pointed towards a slight, but statistically insignificant benefit in terms of both comprehension and academic literacy. However, at this stage of the empirical investigation, the technical constraints made it difficult to draw a precise conclusion in that respect. 2. In the second research cycle, the SLS seem to have had a significant impact on the receptive academic literacy skills of the test group, compared to the control group. However, no such impact could be noted in terms of subject-specific comprehension. This was attributed to the presence of a confounding variable, namely slides used during the lectures. This once more made it impossible to draw a confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on comprehension. 3. The third research cycle made a more confident conclusion regarding the impact of SLS on subject-specific comprehension possible. Indeed, the results of the statistical analyses show that the test group performed significantly better in their semester test (covering the work done in all the recorded lectures) than the control group, which was not exposed to any videos at all. On the basis of these findings, it was concluded that SLS in their offline form have a positive impact on the subject-specific comprehension and the receptive academic literacy skills of EAL students in a tertiary academic context, specifically if the students are given sufficient time to get used to the mode. This study seems to indicate that the benefits of SLS for comprehension can be recorded provided that students are exposed to the intervention over a longer period of time. However, there may be further scope for refinement as far as this study is concerned. It is therefore important that the topic be investigated further. / MA, Language Practice, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012