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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2008. / The aim of this study was to pursue an investigation into the impact reading disabilities have on the academic achievement of a primary school learner. From the literature study it became evident that learners with reading problems are faced with a lot of problems in primary schools. These problems are manifest in the form of prejudice stigmatization, humiliation and pressure as they often find the teaching and learning materials beyond their scope of comprehension. There is a need for educator support so that they can fine-tune their instruction to suit the level of the learners with reading problems and for educators to garner the support of parents who may be uninterested about what obtains at school. Learners with reading problems can be helped by educators whose learning activities are well planned and prepared and their presentation has to captivate the learner’s attention, interest and involvement. If learners with reading problems do not receive adequate support, they may exhibit the following:  Behavioural problems e.g. being disobedient to the educator.  Have a low frustration threshold.  Develop a negative self-esteem.  Set unrealistic goals for themselves.  Ultimately drop out of school.  Play truant  Shirk their school work.  Absent themselves from school. Nevertheless, educators need to create a stimulating atmosphere, to exploit reinforcement strategies and set good examples, such as:  Tangible motivators, for example, stars, edibles (nuts and fruits), cinema tickets, colouring books.  Activity orientated motivators such as helping the educator, free play, watching television, painting or drawing.  Social motivators, such as a smile, nod of head etc. In conclusion a summary was presented on the findings of the literature and empirical study and recommendations are made based on the nature of assistance required by the educators in order to help the learner with reading problems. The recommendations touched on remedial approaches and teaching activities that educators need to utilize to help the reading disabled learner. Further research should be conducted on barriers to learning that could emanate from inappropriate pedagogy, insufficient support for educators, inappropriate and unfair assessment procedures

Foreign language teaching in recent years is very much concerned with the concepts of authenticity and relevance to students' needs and interests. Using newspapers in foreign language classes is one way of working towards the development of an authentic environment and promoting the language learning process. For EFL students in the Institute of International Relations (IIR) newspapers are not simply an important source of learning material, but an important source of information. Vietnamese EFL students who learn to read English newspapers, however, constantly encounter difficulties in comprehension. This study report attempts to identify the common areas of comprehension difficulty for Vietnamese learners, when confronted with newspapers. To achieve this aim, the study first reviews schema theory in order to establish the factors which affect the reading process. It also examines studies on news reporting style in English. Attempts have also been made in the contrastive study of the differences in reporting styles of international news in English and Vietnamese to investigate what might cause difficulties for Vietnamese readers. Accordingly, the study considers implications for teaching newspaper reading to Vietnamese EFL students at intermediate level, who have not practised this before. Finally, the study also suggests further areas of research in using newspapers in a foreign language class.

Vi som har skrivit arbetet har haft olika erfarenheter kring läsning av matematiska textuppgifter. Intresset växte, då vi blev intresserade kring varför det kan vara svårt att läsa en matematisk text. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur elevers läsförståelse binds samman med läsning av matematiska textuppgifter samt se vilka inre och yttre faktorer som påverkar förståelsen. Kvalitativa intervjuer tillsammans med en kombination av fallstudier och observationer ligger till grund för metoden som använts i studien. I undersökningen deltog 63 elever och fyra lärare. Totalt gjordes studien i fyra klasser, varav två klasser i årskurs 2 och två i årskurs 3. Resultatet visar att många elever blev oroliga över att se textuppgifterna. En del av eleverna visade ett engagemang för att klara uppgifterna, men uppgifternas struktur och nivå var allt för krävande för dem. Pedagogerna i intervjun är övertygade om att för lite kunskap kring ämnet och stress är bidragande orsaker till att matematikförståelsen hämmas vid läsning av matematiska textuppgifter. Slutsatsen är att det är svårt med läsning av matematiska textuppgifter, och elever bör besitta en större kognitiv förmåga samt ha ett brett ordförråd för att kunna förstå matematiska texter. Textens struktur spelar roll vid förståelse, och det är pedagogens ansvar att hjälpa eleverna med matematiska textuppgifter.

Reading comprehension is one of the basic learning skills that need to be learned in an early school years. The English language is generally introduced as early as Grade 2 level in township primary schools. Township learners are at most exposed to English as the language of learning and teaching (LoLt) for three years (Grade 5-7) before entering secondary school. Most township primary school learners enter secondary school with poor English language development and poor language proficiency. Reading comprehension is one of the problems experienced by most township secondary school learners. Lack of reading comprehension skills negatively affect their ability to constuct meaning from what they are reading. Reading support techniques or strategies need to be sought and developed to address the reading comprehension problems experienced by learners especially from the disadvantaged enviroment. ind it difficult to understand or interpret what they are reading. This research focused on the use of the imaging technique on a learning suport in developing reading comprehension skills of township secondary school learners. The emphasis was mainly on how this technique can be adapted in order to enhance its mastery in developing reading comprehension skills. This imaging technique is seen as a feasible technique in a holistic approach to develop reading comprehension skills. The imaging technique makes use of the formation of multisensory pictures during the reading process which are valuable in the independent construction of meaning. The use of imaging for reading enhances active learning and memory. The research was conducted with learners in Grade 9 in a secondary school in a Pretoria township. The participants in the research group experienced reading comprehension problems, lack of English language development and difficulty in the use of English as the (LoLT). Some of the learners in the research group appeared to be experiencing intellectual learning disability. The practical implementation of the imaging technique was done in twenty sessions. A control group attended twenty reading support sessions using a dictionary method, for the same texts. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the results are performed and discussed. / Thesis (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Recent studies have shown that there may be evidence that children with reading difficulties have particular compensatory spatial ability, although the exact spatial ability has not been identified. This study used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine closely two spatial abilities, spatial visualisation (mental rotation from memory) and visual realism (three-dimensional drawing and construction ability) in students with reading problems and students with no problems. The aim was also to explore the question of whether students with spatial ability and reading problems were encouraged to use these strengths either in or out of school and whether such abilities could be identified in the early years environment. Equally, the question of motivational failure related to possible unrecognised potential, particularly in the area of non-verbal/spatial ability was also examined. This study used longitudinal case studies with five children and their mothers over a period of ten years. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Researcher observations as the teacher of the five children in their primary years provided additional evidence of their reading and spatial abilities at an early age. In addition, the study uses a Further Education College survey that examines spatial ability and reading problems in 133 post-16 year olds that provides the quantitative element of the study providing evidence about students with spatial abilities and their career choices. The data analysis revealed that the five case studies had largely overcome their reading problems due to early intervention strategies for reading together with encouragement and support outside school for their spatial abilities. Additionally, they have pursued careers, which for the most part, uses their spatial skills. The data analysis of the College survey showed that the link between spatial ability and reading problems was less secure, although there were a number of students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) who had high spatial abilities and this proved to be important from the point of view of identifying strengths alongside weakness in literacy, particularly in the early years at school. Early identification and acknowledgement of spatial ability as a perceived strength and used to support learning, as opposed to identification of reading problems, a perceived deficit, proved to be a key finding of the research.

Early reading instruction and identification of learners with reading problems prevent reading difficulties in the Intermediate Phase. The specific aim of this study is to explore the role of the Intermediate Phase educator to assess the learners’ reading skills by using observation and assessment activities, in order to identify learners with reading problems. The literature study on reading activities explored the letters of the alphabet, phonemic awareness, spelling, word- recognition, assessment and word-knowledge. The qualitative research was conducted empirically in the form of a case study of one learner from the South African public primary school based in Ikageng location, Potchefstroom. The role of the Intermediate Phase educator is to develop and administer the reading activities, observe a learner when he or she recites; writes and identifies the letters of the alphabet; segment words to show his or her phonological awareness skill; spell words in the dictation test including any written activity; and reads aloud the single written words to test his or her word recognition ability. The themes that emerged from the empirical study are as follows: difficulty in sequencing written letters of the alphabet, inability to segment words, spelling problems and word recognition problems. The study indicated that the participant’s reading problems are based on an inability to decode single words. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Educational Psychology)

A synopsis of the importance and the nature of reading serve as the point of departure for this study. The pupils involved are learning restrained as well as A comprehensive reading problem analysis table, compiled for analysis of individual reading problems, facilitates identification of the remedial reading areas, as well as the underlying subskills causing the problems to be accommodated in remedial reading. A control chart, developed for recording the information concerning the pupil's reading problem area and underlying subskills, facilitates compilation of an integrated remedial reading programme. Existing exercises, selected from the works of various authors and adapted, provide guidelines and exercises for particular remedial reading areas. These guidelines serve as a point of departure for the compilation of a specific remedial reading programme for a particular pupil with reading problems. Two case studies elucidate how a remedial reading programme can be compiled according to the pupil's background, reading problems and inadequacies in the underlying subskills. Group A learning disabled pupils although learning disabled pupils in Group B and C can also be involved. The total reading process is illustrated by means of a reading model. The two main components, namely, word identification and comprehension, form the basis of this study. The different subcategories featuring in each component are highlighted. This model serves as a framework for the diagnosis and remediation of reading problems. A teaching model is used to illustrate the complexity of teaching. The factors ( within the teaching model are indicated, as well as the ways they may serve when reading is taught. The reduction and choice of reading content for a specific pupil are set out as important aspects to be taken into consideration in reading remediation. Determining each pupil's reading levels, namely, his/her independent level, instructional level and frustrational level, enables the teacher to choose the appropriate reading material. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Orthopedagogics)

Text in Afrikaans / Learners who struggle to read from the start, will stay behind. But the earlier intervention can start, the greater the chances of success. But what type of intervention is needed? Nowadays researchers overseas use phonemic awareness as a criteria to predict reading success. About 80% of pre-school children will have no trouble grasping the phonological structure of their home language, provided that they are thoroughly immersed in literacy. It is these same 80% who will not have any trouble learning to read. But literacy is a continuous process that starts at birth and there is no magical moment in a child's life that he will all of a sudden be ready to receive literacy instruction. Experience and practice will ensure that the hierarchy of phonemic awareness skills will develop. Those preschoolers who do not have that advantage, must develop phonemic awareness skills while learning to read or else face reading problems. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Special Needs Education)

Text in Afrikaans / Learners who struggle to read from the start, will stay behind. But the earlier intervention can start, the greater the chances of success. But what type of intervention is needed? Nowadays researchers overseas use phonemic awareness as a criteria to predict reading success. About 80% of pre-school children will have no trouble grasping the phonological structure of their home language, provided that they are thoroughly immersed in literacy. It is these same 80% who will not have any trouble learning to read. But literacy is a continuous process that starts at birth and there is no magical moment in a child's life that he will all of a sudden be ready to receive literacy instruction. Experience and practice will ensure that the hierarchy of phonemic awareness skills will develop. Those preschoolers who do not have that advantage, must develop phonemic awareness skills while learning to read or else face reading problems. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Special Needs Education)