Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, though rarely studied, were Shakespeare's bestsellers: reprinted fourteen times during his lifetime, they generated considerable commentary providing rare accounts both of men and women as readers of Shakespeare and of Shakespeare's reputation among his contemporaries. This thesis examines issues of gender and sexuality in venus and Adonis and Lucrece by turning both to contemporary accounts of reading the poems and to the actual reading environment of Shakespeare's elite readers. The Elizabethan and Jacobean elite home was extraordinarily rich in visual images. Elite men and women read Shakespeare's Ovidian poetry in an environment itself furnished with Ovidian imagery. But connections between textual representation and the immediate context of reading -- by which I mean the actual rooms in which men and women read - - have rarely been examined. Despite claims for greater interdisciplinarity in Renaissance literary criticism, we still know very little about the habitats of early modem readers. However, questions of gender and sexuality currently examined in Renaissance literary criticism can be powerfully interrogated in the furnishings of rooms in which men and women read. Though little known to literary critics, the striking images that appeared upon the walls, chairs, chests and beds of Shakespeare's elite readers represent a rich source for studying early modern oeconomy -- 'or what appertains to the house'. In this thesis, I seek to show both how Shakespeare's bestselling works explore the making of oeconomy, and how his readers could have interpreted them in the making of their own oeconomies. In so doing, I explore the implications of reading Shakespeare in the early modem elite home.

The interaction between parent, child and book during story-book reading is considered as one of the fundamental instruments required for children to acquire the important elements needed to learn how to read. Parents of grade one children are unsure of their new role in the reading development of their children because their children enter a new phase in their literacy development and reading becomes the centre of their learning activities. The main aim of this research is to compare and describe how parents of grade one children without learning disabilities and parents of children with learning disabilities, perceive their children’s participation in home reading activities. Thirty biological parents or legal guardians of grade one children without learning disabilities and ten of grade one children with learning disabilities were used to complete a questionnaire. The results indicated that although children without learning disabilities and children with learning disabilities have similar exposure to home literacy activities, children without learning disabilities become more fluent and efficient readers than their peers with learning disabilities. Children without learning disabilities prefer to be actively involved in the story-book reading act with their parents, whereas children with learning disabilities tend to be more passive and they prefer to engage less in reading activities due to their reading difficulties. The study highlights the importance of story-book reading for grade one children in both groups, as well as independent reading of story-books by these children. Suggestions for further research are provided. / Dissertation (MA (Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / MA / Unrestricted

The aim of this Bachelor thesis and Minor Field Study is, from the perspective of the Vietnamese children at The General Science Library in Ho Chi Minh City, to obtain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the reading environment of The Children's Room supports children's interest in reading and their reading experience. It is assumed that reading is a dynamic and social activity made possible by internal and external conditions. In this context limited freedom of expression is one of the external conditions that is taken into consideration. In order to obtain understanding of Vietnamese children's experiences of reading, I used Aidan Chambers' model of The Reading Circle as a theoretical framework. The methods used in this study were semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese young people at the library, four girls and five boys, aged between 10 and 15 years. The children in this study describe two types of reading experiences: 1) reading that gives feelings of excitement and joy, and makes them want to reread a book, talk about it with others, think of it, remember and analyse it. And 2) reading they describe as developing, either spiritually or intellectually, a form of reading for improvement. Four reading environments are identified that both enable and obstruct reading experiences, their homes, school, library and the bookstore. Primarily, The Children's Room enables reading.

This thesis is based on five empirical studies of pupils with visual impairments, their reading ability and processes of reading acquisition within the framework of mainstream education in comprehensive schools. The aim of the thesis is to increase our understanding and knowledge of reading acquisition in pupils with visual impairments in mainstream education. A further aim is to find factors, which influence reading acquisition from an individual, as well as an environmental, perspective. Developmental theories regarding the individuals' possibilities to acquire an optimal development in interaction with their environment offer a theoretical framework for the thesis. Different research designs, descriptive and explorative, have been used to fulfil the purpose. The studies have revealed a heterogeneous group of readers with visual impairments bearing in mind functional visual ability, reading media (print and braille) and reading ability. As a result of these studies, it was possible to divide the readers into three groups with regard to reading performance. About one quarter of the population was average or high achievers, another quarter extremely low achievers, irrespective of visual acuity, reading media or reading devices. In most cases, additional impairments, intellectual impairment or language problems caused low achievement. The largest group, about half of the population, consisted of readers who were able to read but demonstrated difficulties in other ways. Visual acuity and reading media varied greatly in this group. There were uncertain readers, readers with low reading rate but good comprehension, readers with less stamina and readers who did not use their reading ability except for schoolwork. The pupils were well equipped with optical devices, lighting and special desks but seldom used the facilities for reading. In general, the pupils with visual impairments read less compared with their sighted peers. Nor were they exposed to text in natural situations in society, which decrease their incidental reading training. Consequently, a large group of readers with visual impairments need an adapted reading program in order to stimulate reading from the start and to use their potential ability. Competence in the school and home environment is necessary for compensating lack of training and preventing the visual impairment being the reason for reading difficulties. Reading disabilities due to biological factors were significant for a smaller group. Visual impairment as a reading handicap is, in this thesis, identified when a person, able to read, does not have access to the text in an appropriate reading medium or format, reading and writing tools are missing or reading must be performed in a badly adapted environment. Increased knowledge and effective environmental measures could reduce a reading handicap caused by a visual impairment for a larger group of children and young people. / <p>Härtill 5 uppsatser. Endast sammanfattning s. 1-93 i fulltext.</p><p></p>

We cannot say for sure that competitions in theoretical subjects has increased in Swedish schools. However, Swedish educators testify that the number of competitions in school has increased in recent years. Läsloppet is a reading competition aimed at third-graders, and is carried out in cooperation between the municipal library and the schools in a municipality in the southern parts of Stockholm. This case study examined how a third grade teacher reason about participation in this reading competition and how her class work with literature reading during the competition. Through a survey it also examined her students’ thoughts on reading in general and on participating in Läsloppet. Within the theoretical frame of Aidan Chambers theories of reading environment and “the reading circle”, combined with various aspects on motivation, the purpose of this paper was to examine how Läsloppet could serve as a reading promotion tool, and what participating in a reading contest could mean for students’ motivation to read. The questions used to answer this was: How can participating in Läsloppet be described based on the concept reading environment and various aspects of reading motivation? How does the teacher describe the participation in Läsloppet from an educational perspective? How do the students experience reading in school and the participating in Läsloppet? Results showed that students with motivation in reading benefits the most by participating in the reading competition. Students with low or no interest in reading seems to show low interest in reading even after participating in the contest. From an educational perspective the competition had some positive effects in creating a good reading environment for the class participating in this study.

På politisk och samhällelig nivå pratas det om de sjunkande resultat elever visar inom läskunnighet och om barns och ungas låga intresse för att läsa. Olika aktörer pekar på fritidshemmet som en arena för att stötta elevers läsning. Syftet med min studie har varit att belysa hur fritidslärare resonerar om begreppet ”läsfrämjande” och deras avsikter med läsfrämjande undervisning samt åskådliggöra hur lärmiljöer organiseras och iscensätts för att verka främjande för elevers lust att delta i sammanhang där läsning ingår. Mina frågeställningar; Hur definierar fritidshemslärarna begreppet läsfrämjande, Varför anser fritidshemslärarna att läsfrämjande insatser är viktiga? samt Hur organiseras och iscensätts fritidshemmets läsfrämjande undervisning och lärmiljö?. Studien har utförts med kvalitativ metod, genom semistrukturella intervjuer och genom observation av lärmiljöer. Till stöd för analysen har teorier om literacy och didaktisk design använts. Studiens resultat visar att fritidshemslärarnas läsfrämjande arbete sker utifrån att de vill väcka elevers lust till läsning och samtidigt ge eleverna goda förutsättningar under skolgång och i livet, men också för avkoppling, fantasi och nöjes skull. Genomförandet skiftar en del, det sker både obligatoriskt och frivilligt genom olika aktiviteter, miljöer och material som erbjuder eleverna tillfällen att utveckla förmågor inom området literacy.

閱讀是未來二十一世紀人才的關鍵能力之一，且閱讀態度是個體發展閱讀能力、展現智慧的動力。然而，我國卻又瀰漫一股過於強調閱讀能力，反而忽略閱讀態度的風氣。因而引發研究者關懷該項議題─父母如何從小開始在家中培養孩子一顆願意喜愛閱讀的心。 故，本研究目的為探討家庭閱讀環境與幼兒閱讀態度兩者間之關係、以及不同背景變項下家庭閱讀環境和幼兒閱讀態度之差異情形。本研究以214對就讀台北市公立幼稚園大班幼兒及其父母作為研究對象，由研究者到校發放改編賴苑玲(2006)之家庭閱讀環境調查問卷，請園方代為轉交至父母填寫，並根據回收有效問卷後，採用Saracho(1988)發展的學前閱讀態度量表詢問幼兒他們對於閱讀活動的喜好程度。將父母與幼兒填寫完畢的資料進行統計軟體處理與分析。 研究結果顯示，社經地位愈高者，其家中的閱讀資源、家長閱讀行為等情形愈佳，但親子閱讀互動方面則無差異，且無論來自何種社經地位，幼兒的閱讀態度皆無差異。而女生在家中的親子閱讀互動較男生頻繁，但男女幼童的閱讀態度卻無差異。此外，家庭閱讀環境與幼兒閱讀態度也無顯著的相關性，其可能原因來自於家中親子閱讀互動不足、家長閱讀信念強調能力導向，或受幼兒個人內在因素等影響。因此，本研究建議低社經地位的家庭宜補強家庭閱讀資源、家長閱讀行為的部分，無論何種社經地位的家庭、幼兒的性別為何皆應同等重視親子閱讀互動。並且家長宜培養積極正向的閱讀態度，幫助孩子理解閱讀是種享受、樂趣，進而喜愛閱讀。最後，鼓勵父母親多關心幼兒在閱讀自我概念、閱讀行為、閱讀能力等方面的發展，以便培養幼兒更積極正向的閱讀態度。 / Recently, Reading is important to everyone, relating someone’s reading ability and so on. However, Taiwan thinks highly of reading ability and neglect the importance of reading attitudes.Therefore,researcher is interested in how to cultivate children’s reading attitudes by home reading environment.The purpose of this study was to know the relationship between home reading environment and Child’s attitudes for reading, regardless of socioeconomic status(SES) or the child’s gender.Subject, 214 students and their parents ,were given the Questionnaire of home reading environment and early reading attitudes scale. The results showed that the higher the socio-economic status, their home reading resources, and parents reading behavior are well, but there is no differences in parent-child reading interaction. And regardless of what socio-economic status, children's reading is no difference in attitude. Girls at home, parent-child interactive reading frequently than boys, but men and women with young children no difference between reading attitude. In addition, the home reading environment and child’s attitudes for reading doesn’t significant correlation, the possible reasons for the lack of parent-child interactive reading, parents emphasized the ability of faith-oriented reading, or by internal factors, such as children affected individuals. Therefore, this study suggests that low socio-economic status of the family wish to reinforce family reading resources, acts the part of parents to read, no matter what socio-economic status of families, children and sex should attach equal importance to both parent-child reading interaction. And parents wish to cultivate a positive attitude toward reading, help children understand that reading is an enjoyment, fun, and enjoy reading.

Syftet med den här studien är att belysa hur förskollärare resonerar om och arbetar med utformningen av den stimulerade läsmiljön i förskoleverksamheten. Undersökningen riktar sig mot förskollärare som är verksamma i förskolan och arbetar med barn mellan ett och fem år. Utifrån syftet har tre frågeställningar formulerats. Frågorna berör inredning och utformning av rummet, samarbetet med hem och bibliotek samt på vilket sätt boken används i verksamheten. I studien har en kvalitativ metod använts och empirin har samlats in med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i en sociokulturell teori där relevanta begrepp för studien lyfts fram. Intervjumaterialet har transkriberats och har därefter ordnats tematiskt i fyra olika kategorier. Vårt resultat tyder på att förskolors samarbete med bibliotek är en central del i skapandet för stimulerande läsmiljöer. Biblioteket är dock inget som förskolorna kontinuerligt besöker med barngruppen. Resultatet visar att tillgänglighet av böcker i läsmiljön är viktig för barnen och att förskollärare strävar efter att visa ett intresse och engagemang för böcker. Boken används på olika sätt och i olika sammanhang i verksamheten som bland annat i temaarbeten, i relationsskapande och för att främja barnens språkutveckling. Resultatet synliggör att det blir tydligt att böcker som visar sin framsida och är lättillgängliga fångar barnens intresse, vilket bidrar till ett mer aktivt användande av boken. Det blir även enklare för förskollärarna att se vilka böcker som används mest av barnen. / The purpose of this study is to analyze how preschool teachers resonate and work with the design of a stimulated reading environment in preschools activities. The survey aims for preschool teachers who work in preschools with children in the ages 1-5. Three questions have been formulated based on the purpose. The questions concern the interior and design of a room, the cooperation with the home and library and the way the book is used in the activities. The study is carried out by a qualitative method and the empirical has been collected with semi-structured interviews. The study is based on a sociocultural theory where relevant concepts for the study is highlighted. The interview material has been transcribed and has been arranged in four different categories. Our result indicates that preschools’ collaboration with libraries is a central part of the creation of stimulating reading environments. However, the library is not something that preschools continuously visit with the children's group. The results show that accessibility of books in the reading environment is important for children and that preschool teachers strive to show an interest and commitment to books. The book is used in different ways and in different contexts in the activities, including in thematic work, as a relationship creation and to promote children's language development. The result also makes it clear that books that show their front page and are easily accessible, capture children's interest and contribute to a more active use of the book. It also makes it easier for preschool teachers to see which types of books children used the most.

Syftet med denna studie är att belysa hur förskollärare resonerar kring högläsning och boksamtal i förskolan samt deras tankar kring läsmiljöns uppbyggnad för att den ska bli språkligt utvecklande. I denna kvalitativa studie har fem förskollärare intervjuats och tre förskolors läsmiljöer har observerats för att samla in data till studien. Det insamlade datamaterialet har transkriberats och kategoriserats för att sedan analyseras utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Vår studie visar att förskollärare förstår vikten av användandet av högläsning och boksamtal för barns språkutveckling, men att de stora barngrupperna ofta gör att språkutvecklingens syfte försvinner. Förskollärarna hävdar också att högläsningen borde prioriteras mer i verksamheten vilket vi genom denna studie vill fortsätta att inspirera till. / The purpose of this study was to examine what preschool teachers think about reading out loud for children, having book conversations in preschool and their thoughts on the structure of the reading environment in order for it to be linguistically developing. In this qualitative study, five preschool teachers have been interviewed and three preschool reading environments have been observed to collect data for the study. The collected data have been transcribed and categorized and then analysed from a sociocultural perspective. In our study, we have found that preschool teachers understand the importance of reading out loud to children as well as book conversations for children's language development, but with large groups of children the purpose of language development often gets lost. Preschool teachers also argue that reading should be given more priority in the preschool, through our study we want to continue to inspire this.

The aim of this study is to enhance the understanding of how preschool teachers work with and reason about a language development using a dialogic reading approach in a social reading environment, when reading aloud to the preschoolers.The study consists of a field study that uses qualitative methods including observations and semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers. The focus is on the preschool teachers’ perception about the reading activities that are part of the everyday preschool activities. The result indicates that the preschool teachers are aware of the importance of reading aloud and to use a dialogic reading activities to develop the preschooler’s language development. The result also indicates that an obstacle to a truly successful social reading environment, is the lack of time, but the preschool teachers try to overcome this obstacle by all means. Another result is that preschool teachers’ use of reading-aloud and dialogic reading differs depending on the age of the preschoolers.The study concludes that preschools are working with language development among the preschoolers on a daily basis, by using reading-aloud and dialogic reading, where language and pictures are the main focus. Furthermore, the preschools in this study consider it equally important to involve parents in the education of their children, i.e., that the preschool teachers have to make parents aware of the importance of reading aloud to their child, but also about the significance of using a dialogic reading. / Syftet med denna studie är att fördjupa förståelsen kring hur förskollärare arbetar med och resonerar kring det språkutvecklande arbetet i relation till högläsning och dialogisk läsning i en social läsmiljö. Studien har en kvalitativ metodansats och materialet samlades in med hjälp av observationer och semistrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare och kretsade kring de läsaktiviteter som sker i förskolans verksamhet. Studiens resultat visar att förskollärarna är medvetna om högläsningens och den dialogiska läsningens betydelse för barns språkutveckling. Resultatet visar även en allmän tidsbrist gör att det språkpedagogiska arbetet ibland blir eftersatt men att förskollärarna ändå försöker hitta metoder för att kringgå detta. Resultatet indikerar även att lärarna arbetar på lite olika sätt på småbarnsavdelningarna respektive på avdelningarna för de äldre barnen.Studien konstaterar att förskolorna kontinuerligt arbetar med dialogisk läsning och sätter språket och olika texter samt bilder i fokus. Förskolorna ser det även som viktigt att vårdnadshavarna blir aktivt delaktiga i sina barns språkutveckling och förskolorna behöver därför uppmuntra dem att bli medvetna om högläsningens betydelse.