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Plusieurs auteurs se sont intéressés au développement des conduites explicatives et justificatives (CEJ) chez des enfants typiques. La littérature reporte aussi de plus en plus d’études qui s’intéressent aux compétences pragmatiques et interactionnelles des enfants qui présentent un trouble du développement du langage (TDL) en montrant que ces enfants présentent des spécificités par rapport aux enfants typiques. Dans ce travail, nous avons combiné ces deux pistes de réflexion en investiguant les CEJ produites par des enfants avec TDL (5-7 ans) et des enfants typiques (4-7 ans), ainsi que par leurs mères, dans des interactions mères-enfants italophones et francophones dans deux activités différentes : unjeu symbolique et une lecture conjointe d’un livre en images. Nos résultats montrent que les deux langues présentent des patrons similaires. Cependant, des différences ponctuelles liées à la langue ont pu être mises en évidence. Les mères prennent en charge les activités proposées et l’activité paraît influencer le fonctionnement des interactions et la production des CEJ. Les enfants avec TDL présentent de CEJ moins élevés que leurs pairs typiques dans l’activité de jeu symbolique et ils semblent avoir davantage besoin que ces derniers du support de leur mère pour en produire dans l’activité de lecture conjointe (notamment dans le corpus francophone). Les mères des enfants typiques et des enfants avec TDL présentent des comportements globalement similaires en amont mais elles semblent s’adapter aux besoins de leurs enfants en aval. Compte tenu de l’importance sociale et éducative de ces conduites, nos résultats pourraient avoir des implications cliniques / Several authors have studied the development of explanations and justifications(E/J) in typical developing (TD) children. Similarly, it is possible to find in the literature studiesthat analyze pragmatic and interactional skills of children with specific language impairment(SLI). These studies show that children with SLI present specific behaviour when compared toTD children. In this thesis, we merge these two strands of research by investigating E/Jproduced by children with SLI (aged 5-7) and TD children (aged 4-7), and by their mothers. Todo so, we analyzed mother-child interactions (in Italian and French) during two differentactivities: symbolic play and joint wordless picture-book reading. Similar patterns wereobserved in both languages. Nevertheless, specific differences related to the typology of thelanguage were highlighted. Our results show that the management of the activity is globallyasymmetric, but important interindividual differences were observed. Moreover, activities playa central role in shaping the structure of interactions and E/J. Furthermore, children with SLIshow lower rates of E/J than their typical peers in the symbolic play and seem to need thesupport of their mothers more than TD children in the joint reading activity (particularly in theFrench corpus). Finally, the mothers of TD children and children with SLI show somesimilarities in the way they solicit E/J, but at the same time they fine tune their reactions to E/Jproduced by children according to the children’s needs. Given the social and educationalimportance of explanations and justifications, our results may have some clinical implications.

The aim for this study has been to research how talking space is distributed in an Englishspeaking classroom in Swedish schools. This aim has been answered by conducting a phenomenographic research method, as well as semi-qualitative interviews which have been analysed with regard to related literature and research. A second aim has been to establish whether teachers make use of pedagogical tools while trying to distribute talking space. Both literature and research, as well as the Swedish National Agency of Education, deem it essential that students utilize their talking space in order to optimise their English-speaking abilities, while additional research emphasizes the benefits of pedagogical tools as aids to achieve this. Experience suggests it is not unusual for learners to have difficulties in creating and recognising opportunities to speak in class. A major motivating factor for conducting this study has thus been to discover what teachers do to encourage less communicative students to contribute orally. The results show that teachers tend to be aware of the need to make their students speak as much as possible, although their methods trying to achieve this vary. The results also show that the interviewees display an overall negative attitude towards physical pedagogical tools, but that they instead view their students, general teaching methods, the setting of assignments etc, as pedagogical tools in their own right to achieve this purpose.

Some disciplines are inherently complex and challenging to learn. This research attempts to design an instructional strategy for CBL systems to simplify learning certain complex domains. Firstly, problem transformation, a constructionist instructional technique, is used to promote active learning by encouraging students to construct more complex artefacts based on less complex ones. Scaffolding is used at the initial learning stages to alleviate the difficulty associated with complex transformation processes. The proposed instructional strategy brings various techniques together to enhance the learning experience. A functional prototype is implemented with Object-Z as the exemplar subject. Both objective and subjective evaluations using the prototype indicate that the proposed CBL system has a statistically significant impact on learning a complex domain. CBL systems include Learner models to provide adaptable support tailored to individual learners. Bayesian theory is used in general to manage uncertainty in Learner models. In this research, a fuzzy logic based locally intelligent Learner model is utilized. The fuzzy model is simple to design and implement, and easy to understand and explain, as well as efficient. Bayesian theory is used to complement the fuzzy model. Evaluation shows that the accuracy of the proposed Learner model is statistically significant. Further, opening Learner model reduces uncertainty, and the fuzzy rules are simple and resemble human reasoning processes. Therefore, it is argued that opening a fuzzy Learner model is both easy and effective. Scaffolding requires formative assessments. In this research, a confidence based multiple test marking scheme is proposed as traditional schemes are not suitable for measuring partial knowledge. Subjective evaluation confirms that the proposed schema is effective. Finally, a step-by-step methodology to transform simple UML class diagrams to Object-Z schemas is designed in order to implement problem transformation. This methodology could be extended to implement a semi-automated translation system for UML to Object Models.

<p>Peer response is a method which is widely used on higher levels of second-language learning in Sweden, such as universities. The approach is not used as much in upper secondary school; and, the aim of this paper is to investigate upper secondary students' opinions of the value of peer response. The aim is also to investigate if the teacher's grading differed between the first version of a text and the final vesrion that had been revised after peer response.</p><p>Research has shown that there seems to be more negotiation of meaning when students are working collaboratively and this can lead to better revisions of written texts, especially in terms of content development. On the other hand, collaborative writing can also create anxiety in some students who therefore dislike peer response. This investigation has shown that students taking part in the investigation are generally positive towards the approach. They also believe that giving and receiving feedback can help them improve their writing. There are, however, a few students who dislike it and want the texts to be read only by the teacher. The investigation has also shown that students mainly focus on formal aspects such as spelling and grammar when giving feedback to each other, whereas content was rarely commented on. Moreover, the results have shown that many of the students' grades improved on the final version compared to the first version. In conclusion, this investigation indicates that peer response could be used as an alternative, or complement, to ordinary teacher-student feedback in upper secondary school.</p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> <p align="left">The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of biology practical work and associated discourses in two Namibian secondary schools. The purposive sample consisted of three biology teachers and 36 grade 11 students who enrolled for NSSC Higher- and Ordinary-level biology in 2004 and 2005. The study adopted a descriptive and an in-depth qualitative design involving the use of interviews and observation schedules (Video Observation Quoting Schedules-VOQS). The quality of VOQS instruments were established through a panel of independent experts who critically assessed the quality of the items and later discussed to reach consensus. Their rating of the items helped in the establishment of interrater reliability.</p> </font></font></p>

The thesis describes what happens when twelve students learn to read and write. The main purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the learning process of the students, with respect to reading and writing, based on the specific learning environment. Special attention is given to the relationship between the individual and the environment. It is the author's strong belief that one needs to look at both these aspects together. Further, the intention of the thesis is not to compare different environments in terms of good or bad, but rather to use them as examples of situated social practices for reading. The investigation has an ethnographic approach and is based primarily on qualitative data collected by personal studies of the students' reading and writing processes in the classroom environment. Secondly, estimations of the students' reading abilities have been performed in order to validate various kinds of data. Twelve students have been studied from August 1998 when they started in first grade and until March 2001. The analysis derives from Vygotskij's theory, the sociocultural perspective, and to get a better understanding of differences and similarities between the environments, Bernstein's theory about the visible and invisible pedagogic was used. The result indicates that in a classroom, students show a variety of specific behaviours related to the setting in different ways. The conclusion of this thesis is that it is urgent to make teachers observe and pay attention to the behaviour pattern of each group of readers. Teachers hereby receive a tool that gives them a chance to identify students with negative patterns in purpose to make them choose a constructive way of learning. Through guidance the teacher may transfer successful strategies and/or design situations that make it possible for the students to discover an alternative way of learning.

The purpose of this study is to describe some primary school teachers understanding of language development and approach of first and second language speakers with Arne Tragetons Writing to reading, for pupils in early ages. By using a qualitative method with interviews and participant observations and informal conversations, the basis for the survey was collected. Four teachers in three schools participated. The proportion of second-language pupils at each school was 35%, 17% and 0%. My theoretical starting point in the study was the hermeneutic research tradition, which has been used to interpret and understand the collected material. Theories of behaviorism, constructivism and socio-cultural perspective has been used in the analysis part of this study. Furthermore, the material has been compared against previous research on reading and writing development using computers. The development of reading and writing has been studied by the concept of functional reading and writing, theories of motivation, and pupil-oriented scaffolding of the proximal development zone. The results indicate that the teachers mainly use a sociocultural approach. They have a student close thinking in terms of both knowledge and interest in the implementation of teaching. The teachers take a positive view on learning with the aid of computer. They see the benefits that pupils have a good production of texts and that students have the opportunity to develop a meta-language through cooperation and dialogue when working with computers. A further result is that what is supportive for second language speaking pupils is also supportive for native language speaking pupils.

Dagens samhälle är i stort förändrat och den mängd information som samhället utgörs av ställer stora krav av kunnighet på läs- och skrivförmåga. Läs- och skrivkunnighet handlar om att för att kunna fungera i samhället ska en individ ha förmåga att använda språk och text, att kunna tillgodose de behov och de personliga mål som finns, samt att utvecklas i enlighet med sina personliga förutsättningar. Det finns dock stora skiljelinjer mellan det muntliga och skrivna uttrycket som kan göra det hela än svårare för eleverna i skrivundervisningen. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om och i så fall vilka utmaningar några lärare i årskurs tre uppfattar att elever kan ställas inför i samband med att de utvecklar sitt skriftspråk samt vilka möjligheter som undervisningen kan erbjuda. Studien bygger på den kvalitativa metoden med intervjuer som datainsamling och har det sociokulturella perspektivet enligt Vygotskijs teori. Studien visar enligt lärarnas uppfattningar att undervisningen kan innehålla många bidragande positiva faktorer för att en elev ska bli motiverad till att skriva men det kan också vara en utmaning. En viktig och betydande förutsättning för att eleven ska kunna arbeta med sina skriftliga texter är den runtomliggande miljön. Lärarna uppfattar att elevernas intressen och erfarenheter kan tillvaratas. Eleven kan dock finna svårigheter att följa textstrukturens skriftliga regler. Genom undervisningen kan läraren åskådligöra för eleven skriftliga strategier för att medvetandegöra språkets struktur. Datorn kan skänka många möjligheter för eleverna, framförallt de med finmotoriska svårigheter. / Today´s society is basically changed and the amount of information that the society is constituted of sets big requirements on read- and typing ability. Literacy stands for that to function in the society we need the capacity to use the language and text, to be able to use individual needs and personal goals and to develop within the personal conditions. The verbal and written language is different in many ways that can make it a lot more difficult for the pupil in teaching of the written language. The aim with this study is to examine if and in that case which challenges teachers’ in third degree apprehension that pupils can meet when they develop their written language and which possibilities teaching can offer.   This study builds on the qualitative method with interviews as collection of data and has the sociocultural perspective according to Vygotskijs theory. According to the teachers apprehensions the study shows that teaching can contain many positive contributions for a pupil to be motivated to write but can also be challenging. The social context is an important and considerable condition for the pupil to be able to write. The pupils’ interests and their experiences can according to the teachers be used as teaching content. The pupil can however find difficulties to follow text structure. Throughout the teaching the teacher can illustrate written strategies towards the awareness of the written languages structure. The computer provides many possibilities for the pupils, above all the pupils with practical difficulties to write.

The educational community is increasingly concerned about the limitations of traditional teacher education programs to support teachers&rsquo / professional development. Beside the theoretical knowledge, the importance of the experience cannot be debated. The main problem of the teacher education institutions is that they fail to close the gap between the theoretical principles taught in the faculties of education and the experiences of teachers in the classrooms. Microteaching is the most popular method to prepare the PSTs for real-world teaching profession. However, literature showed that there are some barriers that PSTs face during the microteaching process, including limited and unreflective peer-feedback (Huang, 2001). In order to facilitate PSTs&rsquo / peer-interaction and reflective thinking during their microteaching process, a web-based video analysis environment was designed. In addition, in teacher education observation has a critical place. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of question prompts embedded within this environment on PSTs&rsquo / reflective thinking and self-efficacy levels. For this purpose, a true experimental study was designed and applied. 55 pre-service teachers were enrolled in this study. First finding of this study is that the use of question prompts embedded in a web-based video analysis system have a positive significant effect on pre-service teachers&#039 / reflective thinking level. Second finding of this study is that the use of question prompts embedded in a web-based video analysis system did not have a significant effect on pre-service teachers&#039 / self-efficacy. However, there was a significant linear trend indication for all types of self-efficacy factors for both control and experimental group over the time. For both groups this linear trend showed that self-efficacy scores of instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement developed over the time.