I denna litteraturstudie undersöks litteraturens roll vid språkinlärning. Studien fokuserar på hur den skönlitterära läsningen inom engelskinlärning bidrar till ett utvecklat och tryggt ordförråd i de tidiga skolåren. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att undersöka effekterna som framkommer då läsning används i syfte att utveckla elevers språk. Vi har utgått från forskningsfrågan: Hur bidrar läsning till en ökad säkerhet gällande språkförmågan, med fokus på ett bredare ordförråd, för annat språk än modersmålet? Forskning som vi utgått ifrån samt våra studier svarar på den fråga som varit i fokus under studiens utveckling och lyft vikten av att involvera litteratur på olika sätt i undervisningen. Enligt vår studie är det fördelaktigt att använda litteratur i engelskundervisningen, då det kan öppna möjligheter för eleverna att använda sitt språk, utveckla det samt motiveras till en livslång läsglädje. Denna studie kan bidra till att lärare involverar skönlitteratur i engelskundervisningen där språkutveckling får vara i fokus. Eftersom vi, under arbetets gång, blev varse om att ett elevperspektiv saknades i artiklarnas resultat, hade det hade varit intressant att titta vidare på till exempel elevers inställning till litteraturläsning på engelska. Detta är något som kan vara i fokus vid framtida forskning.

Educators have never had the possibility of incorporating technology into the classroom like they do today. Although technology can have its difficulties, it can truly help the development of reading for struggling students. Reading research is providing more and more clarity about how to use technology effectively within our school communities to support and enhance the academic performance of today's students (i.e. Gallagher, 2009; Isazadeh, 2004; Rice, 2011). A review of studies conducted by the CEO Forum (2001)emphasizes: "technology can have the greatest impact when integrated into the curriculum to achieve clear, measurable educational objectives." This meaning that with the help of technology and all of the resources it provides, if used within the curriculum correctly teachers can reach their learning goals better. Technology can aid the growth of reading development in students with, or without, a learning disability. The beginning chapter will define students who are struggling readers and outline the effects technology will have on these students. Following, will be a present case study of a student who struggles with reading in order to frame the research in a contemporary setting. There will also be a personal experience with technology,focusing primarily on the IPAD, and a self-reflected journey within each chapter in a quest in becoming a technology savvy teacher. The next chapter will present the use IPADs within the classroom. It will then describe ways teachers can spark their students' interests in reading with alternative practices. With the help of a local, technology savvy teacher, there will be a real-life circumstances that have aided struggling readers at any specific grade level.

Several studies have provided evidence regarding factors that contribute to the mathematics achievement gap between African American and White students. Byrnes (2003) found that 45%-50% of the difference in White and African American students' performance in mathematics was associated with socioeconomic status, exposure to learning opportunities, and motivational aspects of math while 4.5% was explained by ethnicity. The goal in this mixed method study was to examine the mathematics attitude of African American (n = 22) and White (n = 10) high school students and to allow students to voice what practices and supports they perceived enabled them to learn mathematics. The students discussed practices and supports specific to their school, home, and community. The Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory data were examined across race and performance levels. The performance levels, excelling and struggling, were based on each student's cumulative performance in mathematics. The attitude results yielded one positive significant differences between performance groups on the self-confidence construct. As for qualitative data, there were few differences across the racial groups. Unlike White excelling students (n=6), African-American excelling students (n=11) reported that they received limited encouragement from teachers to take advanced mathematics courses or to participate in extracurricular activities related to mathematics. In examining the students' responses, there were more similarities than differences across groups. Groups spoke of the need for teachers to be more patient and willing to provide additional support. Students reported that some teachers assumed something within them [students] was the reason that they had not grasped a concept (e.g., lack of attention during instruction). The question of why African American students' mathematics performance lags behind their White counterparts remain pertinent. Many of the reasons for the achievement gap reported in the literature were not explicitly expressed by the students in this study. However, the intent to have students express their perspectives and needs related to mathematics was accomplished. Thus, this insight can only enhance our efforts to improve African American students' mathematical experiences and success.

High cognitive demand (HCD) tasks can help students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. Teachers need interventions that encourage students to engage in HCD activities. Small-group discourse provides HCD opportunities for students while solving mathematics problems. Discourse can take place after students solve problems individually (reflective) or in groups as students solve problems (exploratory). This study looks at the relationship between these two types of small-group discourse and student-enacted cognitive demand. This study looks at how students engage with tasks that were designed at four different cognitive demand levels using Webb’s depth of knowledge (DOK) framework. Ninety-seven grade 5 students from four different classrooms were grouped in small groups of two or three students to solve two sets of mathematics problems on operations with fractions and decimals. Each class engaged in Reflective Discourse after solving one set and engage in Exploratory Discourse while solving the other set. To help understand any order effects, half the classes used Reflective Discourse with Set 1 while the other half used Exploratory Discourse with Set 1. Then, they switched for Set 2, so that whoever used Reflective Discourse with Set 1 used Exploratory Discourse with Set 2 and vice versa. The researcher analyzed whether there were patterns in levels of cognitive demand and quality of the discussion when students engaged in each type of discourse for math problems at four different levels. First, the researcher looked at any numerical differences between the intended cognitive demand of the problems and how students engaged with the problems using frequency tables, heat maps, and statistical analyses. Next, the researcher looked at differences in student actions and the way they talked about the math problems. Findings showed that both Reflective and Exploratory Discourse can be used by teachers to promote high student-enacted levels of cognitive demand. Results also showed that a supportive environment, such as the environment created by Reflective Discourse, can help support typically struggling students. Finally, this research reinforced the importance of dissonance in prompting students to engage with the tasks at higher levels of cognitive demand.

There is a growing body of research that suggests that video-based interventions, such as video modeling and video prompting, are effective tools for teaching academic skills to students with disabilities. This study used a single subject, multiple-baseline-across-subjects design to evaluate whether a video-prompting intervention could effectively assist second grade students who had been identified by their teachers as "struggling"in mathematics to better solve multiplication story problems. Five second grade students (one female and four males) ages 7 to 8 viewed the intervention videos on an iPad that modeled how to solve multiplication word problems. To evaluate the effectiveness of the videos, a rubric was used as the primary measure to assess the domains of problem-solving, communicating, and representing with numbers. Based on visual analysis between baseline and intervention, there was a functional relationship between the introduction of the intervention and the performance on the math problems. In addition, a visual analysis between intervention and maintenance appeared stable for all participants. These results indicate that technology can be used to implement interventions for struggling learners and may be utilized in regular classrooms. Results also demonstrate that video modeling can be a useful instructional tool for helping many individuals, not just those with an identified disability, to learn complex tasks. Implementing video models in a classroom setting could enable teachers to consistently provide interventions to students that work more independently, allowing teachers to work on a more one-on-one or small group basis with their students.