To be able to read is fundamental in our society to cope with both everyday life and education. Simultaneously, it is many times our ability to perform that determines our value. (Taube, 1998, pp. 80-81) How do difficulties in a child’s early education of learning how to read and write, affect their self-image? The aim of this study is to investigate how teachers and special educators perceive reading and writing difficulties and self-esteem as phenomena and how they affect each other. Questions answered are What do teachers perceive as reading and writing difficulties? What thoughts do teachers have about the relationship between self-esteem and reading and writing difficulties? How do teachers believe a student’s self-esteem can be built up when the student is experiencing reading and writing difficulties? This is a qualitative study based on five semi-structured interviews with teachers and special education teachers in different elementary schools. Through the phenomenological approach, to describe how people perceive the chosen phenomena, and the socio-cultural perspective, where learning is seen as a social phenomenon, the interviews were analysed on the basis of three trials, reading and writing difficulties, self-esteem and self-image, as well as the role of the teachers and their support. The study concludes that individual based education, a good classroom climate and encouragement are perceived as important aspects for students with reading and writing difficulties and / or low self-esteem. / Att kunna läsa är grundläggande i vårt samhälle för att klara av både vardag och studier. Samtidigt är det många gånger vår förmåga att prestera som avgör vårt värde. (Taube, 1998, s.80-81) Vad händer då med elevens självbild när läs- och skrivinlärningen kantas av misslyckanden? Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur lärare och specialpedagoger uppfattar läs- och skrivsvårigheter och självförtroende som fenomen och hur dem inverkar på varandra. Frågor som besvaras är Vad uppfattar lärare som läs- och skrivsvårigheter? Vilka tankar har lärare kring relationen mellan självförtroende och läs- och skrivsvårigheter? Hur anser lärare att elevens självförtroende kan stärkas när eleven stöter på läs- och skrivsvårigheter? Detta är en kvalitativ studie baserad på fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med lärare och specialpedagoger i grundskolans lägre stadium. Genom den fenomenografiska ansatsen, för att beskriva hur människor uppfattar valda fenomen, och det sociokulturella perspektivet, där lärande ses som en social företeelse, analyserades intervjuerna utifrån tre treman, läs- och skrivsvårigheter, självförtroende och självbild samt lärarrollen och stöttning. Studien pekar på att individanpassad undervisning, ett gott klassrumsklimat och uppmuntran uppfattas som viktiga aspekter för elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter och/eller lågt självförtroende.

The aim of this essay is to examine how students in 6-9 grade with reading and writing difficulties are treated and supported by teachers and staff at Ideskolan, a community school north of Stockholm. I have chosen to answer the following question: - How does Ideskolan cope with and support students with reading and writing difficulties This has in turn generated the following questions: - How is special education organized at Ideskolan? - Is a diagnose always needed in order to deploy extra support? The method I have employed is observation while participating, together with informal talks and interviews. I have visited Ideskolan twice, one week at the time. The material that the visits have generated is the foundation of the essay, supported by previous research in the field. The essay clarifies what right to special support students have according to law, regulations, curriculum and teaching plans and what they look like in reality at Ideskolan. This paper questions why schools focus on the individual student in these matters instead on the schools organisation and way of working. It might not automatically be the students’ difficulties with reading and writing that limits their continued learning, but rather the schools attitude towards students with special needs. Some ways of working might minimize the difficulties while some can increase them. If so, perhaps a change is in order? The essay also discusses the role of the special teacher – should she be supporting the students or her colleagues, or both. It also discusses if the teacher training should evolve to better suite the need to handle students with reading and writing difficulties. Even though Ideskolan recognizes the fact that two – three students in each class suffers with reading and writing difficulties the support to these students are inadequate. The school can excuse it self by saying that there is no “right way to go”, for each student with reading and writing difficulties are unique and there for require different support.

Som pedagog behöver man ha kunskap om olika läs- och skrivinlärningsmetoder för att kunna stötta eleverna så bra som möjligt i deras läs- och skrivutveckling. Alla elever är olika och har olika erfarenheter och behov när de börjar skolan. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Wittingmetoden fungerar vid nyinlärning samt varför den är bra för att förebygga läs- och skrivsvårigheter hos barn. Studien undersöker även hur samarbetet kan se ut mellan lärare utifrån Wittingmetoden och andra metoder, samt varför lärare tror att Wittingmetoden är relativt okänd. För att få en uppfattning om metodens funktion har det även gjorts en jämförelse med några andra väl beprövade metoder. Studien genomfördes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra lärare från olika delar av Sverige. Gemensamt för lärarna var att de arbetar helt eller delvis utifrån Wittingmetoden. Resultaten av intervjuerna visar att metoden fungerar väl för nyinlärning, samt att den även var effektiv för att förebygga läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Detta på grund av att metoden uppfattas som effektiv, inget lämnas åt slumpen, allt är genomtänkt och kreativt, strukturen är tydlig och eleverna arbetar i sin egen takt. Två av lärarna tyckte att metoden var den enda att arbeta utifrån medan de två andra lärarna även använde sig av andra metoder. / The purpose of the study is to investigate how the Witting method works in new learning and whether it is good for preventing reading and writing difficulties. The survey also shows why the method is relatively unknown among teachers. In order to gain an idea of ​​the method's function, a comparison has also been made with some other well-proven methods used in Sweden. The survey was conducted through qualitative interviews with four teachers from different parts of Sweden. Common to all four teachers was that they work fully or partly from the Witting method. The results of the interviews show that all four teachers agreed that the method works well for new learning and that it was also effective in preventing reading and writing difficulties. This because the method is perceived to be effective, nothing is left by chance, everything is thoughtful and creative, the structure is clear and the students work at their own pace. Two of the teachers thought the method was the only one to work from the outside while the other two teachers also used other methods.

The main purpose of this study was to increase knowledge on the views of students with reading and writing difficulties when it comes to their perception of their difficulties, school experiences and future aspirations. The second aim was to increase knowledge about some differences and similarities between Malta and Sweden in the subject field. The research questions concerned students’ descriptions of their diagnostic processes, perception of their difficulties, strengths and coping strategies, school experience and future aspirations. A qualitative interview study was conducted with five Swedish and six Maltese upper secondary school students. The Ecological systems theory and Didactic theory together with previous research were used to analyse the results. To summarise the results, almost all of the students diagnosed with dyslexia showed a positive attitude towards having the report. The Maltese students described the absolute necessity of a diagnosis to receive support. No student in the study described having received support and structured phonological training as recommended by previous research. The students described a wide range of difficulties, strengths and coping strategies mainly in line with previous research. The importance of concentration when learning and taking tests was accentuated. Listening to a skilled teacher was emphasised as one of the best ways of learning, and the importance of willpower was highlighted. The students showed the importance of communicating with teachers, finding own methods, and make the most of one’s strengths to close the gaps in the areas in which one experiences difficulties. For all the Maltese students, private lessons have been a source of support, while none of the Swedish mentioned any private training. For the majority, both parents and a hobby played an important role when it comes to support and well-being. All students described school as difficult, but students’ experiences of school ranged from humiliating to somehow supportive. Some of the Maltese students described that they were afraid of being judged for using dyslexia as an excuse, while some of the Swedish students described they felt the right to support and adjustments. All students but one described that they had lowered their future aspirations due to their difficulties. All students seem to rely on their own strategies for school success. In the light of the theoretical framework – the Ecological systems theory, Didactic theory and previous research – the results could imply both a need for improving teachers’ literacy and didactic skills within the existing systems as well as a need for curriculum development and change of examinations systems.

Denna undersökning fokuserar på två olika aspekter av matematikundervisning. Den ena handlar om hur medvetna lärare är om dyslexi-relaterade svårigheter i matematikämnet och den andra om hur lärare organiserar matematiklektionerna. För att besvara frågeställningarna har en kvantitativ enkätstudie skickats ut och besvarats av lärare som har eller har haft elever med läs och skrivsvårigheter. Resultatet av studien visar på att den behavioristiska lärandeteorin är en tydlig del av undervisningens uppbyggnad. Det finns flera andra lärandeteorier som kan utläsas av vilka aktiviteter som sker under lektionerna, dessa lärandeteorier sker dock mer sällan. Ytterligare tyder resultatet på att elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter blir påverkade av detta även under matematiklektionerna. / This study focuses on two different aspects of mathematics teaching. The first one is about how conscious teachers are about dyslexia-related difficulties in mathematics and the other one is about how teachers organize mathematics lessons. To answer the questions, a quantitative survey study was sent out and answered by teachers who have or have had students with reading and writing difficulties. The results of the study show that behavioral learning theory is a clear part of the structure of teaching. There are several other learning theories that can be observed from the activities that take place during the lessons, however, these activities happen less often than activities that are based on behaviorism. Further, the results indicate that students with reading and writing difficulties are affected by this even during mathematics lessons.

Föreliggande licentiatuppsats undersöker skolors arbete avseende litteracitetsutveckling för flerspråkiga elever, med utgångspunkt i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på undervisning och lärande. Syftet var att undersöka och bidra med kunskap om skolors arbete för att utveckla litteracitetsförmåga hos flerspråkiga elever som möter svårigheter i läs- och skrivutvecklingsprocessen, en kunskap som behöver utvecklas för att bidra till en likvärdig utbildning. Licentiatuppsatsen utgår från två forskningsfrågor, varav den första forskningsfrågan undersöker hur skolorna i en kommun arbetar med litteracitetsutveckling med särskilt fokus på flerspråkiga elever i specifika svårigheter med läsning och skrivning. Den andra forskningsfrågan handlar om hur förutsättningar skapas för litteracitetsutveckling hos flerspråkiga elever som möter svårigheter med läsning och skrivning på en skola som fått goda omdömen inom detta område, enligt en rapport från Skolinspektionen.Licentiatuppsatsen baseras på två studier, en webbaserad enkätstudie i en svensk kommun (Studie I) och en fallstudie på en skola i ett flerspråkigt område i en svensk kommun (Studie II). Fallstudien (Studie II), som bygger på metodtriangulering, omfattar deltagande observationer, intervjuer och dokumentanalyser. Analysen av enkätresultatet (Studie I) indikerar att det finns en tonvikt på kartläggning och träning av kodknäckande aspekter på andraspråket svenska och att det finns ett behov av att utveckla skolornas arbete med att tillvarata flerspråkiga elevers språkliga resurser vid identifiering av läs- och skrivsvårigheter.I studie II visar resultatet att litteracitetsundervisningen innehöll olika aspekter av läs- och skrivförmåga och ett flerspråkigt perspektiv på litteracitetsundervisning framträdde. Lärarna visade ett starkt engagemang för elevernas läs- och skrivutveckling och använde varierade uttryckssätt och arbetsmetoder för att utveckla elevernas litteracitetsförmåga. / This licentiate thesis examines schools’ literacy work for multilingual students, taking the sociocultural perspective of teaching and learning as point of departure. The purpose is to investigate and contribute knowledge about schools’ work to develop literacy skills in multilingual students who experience challenges with reading and writing. This knowledge needs to be developed to contribute to equity in education. The research is based on two research questions. The first investigates how, according to the schools in a municipality, report that literacy practices have been designed with a particular focus on multilingual students experiencing specific difficulties with reading and writing. The second question concerns how conditions are created for literacy development in multilingual students who encounter difficulties with reading and writing, in a school that has received good ratings in this field according to a School Inspectorate report. The licentiate thesis is based on two studies, a web-based questionnaire study in one Swedish municipality (Study I) and a case study in a school in a multilingual area in one Swedish municipality (Study II). In the thesis, a theoretical framework model has been developed based on Luke and Freebody’s four resources model (1997, 1999) and Cummins’ theoretical work on multilingual students’ literacy development (2000, 2016). This integrated model has been used for the analysis in Study II and has been further elaborated and explained in the licentiate thesis. The case study (Study II), using methodological triangulation, includes participant observations, interviews and document analyses. The analysis of the questionnaire data (Study I) indicates an emphasis on code-breaking aspects in the mapping and training of literacy skills in most schools. The results show that there is a need to develop schools’ efforts to utilise the linguistic resources of multilingual pupils when identifying literacy difficulties and also to develop cooperation with mother tongue teachers and study coaches. In Study II, literacy teaching included different aspects of literacy and emphasised a multilingual perspective on literacy teaching. The teachers demonstrated a strong commitment to the students’ literacy development and used a wide range of expressions and working methods to maximise the students’ literacy skills. The findings also indicate that the teachers’ efforts to identify emerging difficulties in reading and writing, based on close monitoring, resulted in supporting measures at an early stage, which may have prevented literacy difficulties. The findings further indicate that the school leaders’ organisation of resources and approaches to multilingualism influenced towards, and in different ways created conditions for, relational leadership and differentiated teaching, and provided support within the classroom in the literacy teaching to multilingual pupils.

Approximately five percent of the Swedish population suffer from dyslexia. Therefore, this degree project aims to gain an insight into what pedagogical support in Swedish and English teaching can be offered to dyslexic pupils. Firstly, this paper provides an overview of theories and literature on dyslexia in L1 and L2. The researchers’ findings show that dyslectic difficulties in the L1 is most likely to affect – either by limiting or enhancing – the pupils’ abilities to learn a L2. Strategies (spelling, comparing sounds and letters) that pupils learned when they started to read and write in their L1 and the differences in orthographic systems between L1 and L2 influence their reading and writing in L2. This study is also based on interviews of four K-3 teachers in the south of Sweden. The major conclusions of this study are that (i) dyslectic difficulties extend across languages, (ii) variation of the teachers’ knowledge of dyslexia might depend on the length of their professional teaching experience and their willingness and interest to learn more about dyslexia, (iii) K-3 teachers are dependent on special education teachers’ advice on how to support dyslexic pupils, and (iv) K-3 teachers use digital resources and audiobooks to train the reading and writing in L1, but not in L2 since English in K-3 mostly focuses in training pupils’ speaking skills.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate in what manner librarians and pedagogues can cooperate in order to help students with reading and writing problems and consequently enhance their information literacy. I aimed to investigate why cooperation between these professions is necessary. Also, I wanted to find out how the general support is on the schools regarding students with reading and writing difficulties, and if the school librarian knows what the special educator can contribute with and vice versa. Lastly, I focused on what knowledge the performers of these professions have about reading and writing difficulties and to what degree their knowledge is based on scientifically proven methods. The two theoretical points of departure are 1) theory of cooperation built upon Louise Limberg’s and Lena Folkesson’s three categories of cooperation 2) and Aidan Chambers’s reading promoting model named the circle of reading. I have used a qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews with both school librarians and pedagogues, who are active at five upper secondary schools. The major findings are that it would be possible to develop the cooperation between these two professions. For example: Research shows that working in teams promotes student learning. Another result is that the informants have a limited knowledge of whether the technical compensatory devices are based on approved research. In conclusion, it was also found that particularly school librarians feel an anxiety about to target aid efforts, directly to students with reading and writing difficulties/dyslexia, because they believe that the students would feel singled out. Such thinking puts in my opinion too much responsibility on the students themselves, to ask for help. The study also revealed that, easy to read literature has a quite small part in supporting these students. The research was undertaken for a two-year master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

<p>Reading Recovery är ett vida spritt, individcentrerat men reproducerbart program för de svagaste eleverna efter sitt första skolår. Reading Recovery har sitt ursprung på Nya Zeeland, där professor Marie Clay med kollegor med början under 1970-talet bedrev omfattande läsforskning.</p><p>Den enskilda undervisningen sker enligt en strukturerad lektionsram under 30 minuter dagligen. Programmet bygger på genomgripande utbildning och kontinuerlig fortbildning av redan framgångsrika grundskollärare för att rusta dem för att fatta individuella, pedagogiska beslut med syfte att accelerera läs- och skrivinlärningen hos de utsedda barnen. Eleverna stimuleras att lära sig läsa och skriva genom att främst läsa korta, intresseväckande böcker samt engageras i anslutande skrivande. Betoning ligger på att eleverna ska bli självständiga och utveckla metakognitiva strategier. Elever väljs ut till Reading Recovery genom klasslärarens rekommendation samt utifrån elevens resultat på en omfattande serie tester inom den s.k. Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement; en observation av den tidiga läs- och skrivförmågan. Vanligtvis erbjuds Reading Recovery-undervisning till de 20 procent på respektive skola, vilka uppnått lägst resultat på ovanstående tester. Det grundläggande syftet med programmet är att reducera antalet elever med grava svårigheter att utveckla läs- och skrivförmåga samt att minimera kostnaden för deras utbildning.</p><p>En majoritet av eleverna i Reading Recovery når avsedda mål och i internationella jämförelser ligger Nya Zeeland vanligen bland de högst rankade länderna i läsning. Samtliga av mina respondenter vittnade om de stora fördelarna med Reading Recovery. Enligt mina observationer stämmer pedagogernas faktiska utförande väl överens med programmets ursprungliga teoribas.</p> / <p>Reading Recovery is a widely disseminated, replicable, early intervention program for the lowest performing first-grade students. Originally, Marie Clay and colleagues constructed Reading Recovery in New Zealand on the base of broad research from the 1970’s and onwards. It utilizes a uniform lesson framework and extensive professional development to help already successful teachers make individual, instructional decisions designed to accelerate the literacy learning of the selected children within one-to-one, 30-minute daily lessons. The children are stimulated to learn to read and write by reading and writing. Short stories are used and writing activities are connected to reading. Emphasis is on teachers guiding children to be independent and learn metacognitive strategies.</p><p>Reading Recovery students are identified for services based on teachers’ recommendations and the students’ performances on the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, with a number of wide-ranging assessments. Usually, students who score at or below the 20th percentile on the survey at a particular school are provided the intervention.</p><p>The fundamental purpose of the program is to reduce the number of students who have severe difficulty developing literacy skills and to reduce the cost of educating them. A majority of the Reading Recovery students do reach the intended goals and in international comparative studies New Zealand usually is among the top ranking countries in reading.</p><p>All my interviewees testified of the great advantages of Reading Recovery and, according to my conclusions, actual practice is well correlated with theory.</p>

Reading Recovery är ett vida spritt, individcentrerat men reproducerbart program för de svagaste eleverna efter sitt första skolår. Reading Recovery har sitt ursprung på Nya Zeeland, där professor Marie Clay med kollegor med början under 1970-talet bedrev omfattande läsforskning. Den enskilda undervisningen sker enligt en strukturerad lektionsram under 30 minuter dagligen. Programmet bygger på genomgripande utbildning och kontinuerlig fortbildning av redan framgångsrika grundskollärare för att rusta dem för att fatta individuella, pedagogiska beslut med syfte att accelerera läs- och skrivinlärningen hos de utsedda barnen. Eleverna stimuleras att lära sig läsa och skriva genom att främst läsa korta, intresseväckande böcker samt engageras i anslutande skrivande. Betoning ligger på att eleverna ska bli självständiga och utveckla metakognitiva strategier. Elever väljs ut till Reading Recovery genom klasslärarens rekommendation samt utifrån elevens resultat på en omfattande serie tester inom den s.k. Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement; en observation av den tidiga läs- och skrivförmågan. Vanligtvis erbjuds Reading Recovery-undervisning till de 20 procent på respektive skola, vilka uppnått lägst resultat på ovanstående tester. Det grundläggande syftet med programmet är att reducera antalet elever med grava svårigheter att utveckla läs- och skrivförmåga samt att minimera kostnaden för deras utbildning. En majoritet av eleverna i Reading Recovery når avsedda mål och i internationella jämförelser ligger Nya Zeeland vanligen bland de högst rankade länderna i läsning. Samtliga av mina respondenter vittnade om de stora fördelarna med Reading Recovery. Enligt mina observationer stämmer pedagogernas faktiska utförande väl överens med programmets ursprungliga teoribas. / Reading Recovery is a widely disseminated, replicable, early intervention program for the lowest performing first-grade students. Originally, Marie Clay and colleagues constructed Reading Recovery in New Zealand on the base of broad research from the 1970’s and onwards. It utilizes a uniform lesson framework and extensive professional development to help already successful teachers make individual, instructional decisions designed to accelerate the literacy learning of the selected children within one-to-one, 30-minute daily lessons. The children are stimulated to learn to read and write by reading and writing. Short stories are used and writing activities are connected to reading. Emphasis is on teachers guiding children to be independent and learn metacognitive strategies. Reading Recovery students are identified for services based on teachers’ recommendations and the students’ performances on the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, with a number of wide-ranging assessments. Usually, students who score at or below the 20th percentile on the survey at a particular school are provided the intervention. The fundamental purpose of the program is to reduce the number of students who have severe difficulty developing literacy skills and to reduce the cost of educating them. A majority of the Reading Recovery students do reach the intended goals and in international comparative studies New Zealand usually is among the top ranking countries in reading. All my interviewees testified of the great advantages of Reading Recovery and, according to my conclusions, actual practice is well correlated with theory.