During a few hours of a school day, a student might read textbook texts which are highly diversified in terms of abstraction. Abstraction is a central feature of specialized language and the transition from everyday language to specialized language is one of the most important things formal education can offer students. That transition is the focus of this thesis. This study introduces a new three-graded classification of abstraction including the levels of specificity, generalization and abstraction, based on a discussion of the concept of abstraction. The investigations performed, based on this classification, show that texts from different subject areas display distinct patterns of abstraction. The Swedish literary texts had the lowest degree of abstraction, the social science texts had an intermediate degree and the natural science texts were the most generalized and abstract. The results also show that the degree of abstraction in the textbook texts increases in later grade levels. The thesis presents a new way of analyzing shifts between levels of abstraction and their functions. Interestingly, the texts with a medium degree of abstraction, the social science texts, are the ones with the greatest variety in shifts. The functions of the shifts differ with respect to cultural domains. The shifts in the Swedish literary texts in general belong to the everyday domain while the shifts in the natural science texts belong to a specialized domain. The shifts in the social science texts had features of both domains. A secondary aim of the thesis is to develop the understanding of the relationship between author and reader in the texts. The results from my investigation of modality in the Swedish textbook texts confirm the earlier findings from English and Spanish textbooks. In comparison to other text types, textbook texts present knowledge in a more authoritative and less modalized way. From time to time, abstraction is described as a feature that hinders students accessing texts. Some researchers even suggest a removal of features of specialized language in textbook texts, in order to increase students’ understanding. However, in a society where specialized knowledge is necessary, the access to specialized texts is important. A democratic view of education and school mandates that children and adolescents have the opportunity to encounter and learn to encounter specialized language in school. In analyzing the texts special attention is paid to the relationship between the texts, the contexts of use and the student readers.

According to previous research, students show difficulties in learning redox reactions. By the historical development different redox models exist to explain redox reactions, the oxygen model, the hydrogen model, the electron model and the oxidation number model. This thesis reports about three studies concerning conceptions held by secondary school students of redox reactions. A textbook analysis is also included in the thesis. The first study was an investigation of the students’ use of redox models in inorganic contexts, their use of the activity series of metals, and the students’ ability to transfer redox knowledge. Then the students’ work with an open-ended biochemical task, where the students had access of the textbook was studied. The students talk about redox reactions, the questions raised by the students, what resources used to answer the questions and what kind of talk developed were investigated. A textbook analysis based on chemistry books from Sweden and one book from England was performed. The redox models used as well as the dealing with redox related learning difficulties was studied. Finally, the students’ conceptions about redox in inorganic, organic and biochemistry after completed chemistry courses were studied. The results show that the students were able to use the electron model as a tool to explain inorganic redox reactions and the mutuality of oxidation and reduction was fundamental. The activity series of metals became a tool for the prediction of reducing agent in some reactions. Most of the students rejected that oxygen is a prerequisite for a redox reaction. In the biochemical task the resource most used to answer the raised questions were the students’ consultation of the textbook – together or individually. Most questions resulted in short answers and the majority of these questions were answered. Questions concerning redox were analysed by the students and integrated into a chemical context but they could neither identify the substances oxidised or reduced nor couple the concepts to transfer of hydrogen atoms. The majority of these redox questions became unanswered. The textbook helped the students to structure a poster as well as to answer basic chemistry questions. For questions about organic and biochemical redox, the book was of no help. The textbook analysis showed that all historical redox models are used. Different models are used in inorganic, organic and biochemistry. The mutuality of oxidation and reduction is treated differently in subject areas. The textbooks did not help the reader linking the different redox models that were used. Few redox-related learning difficulties are addressed in the books. After completed chemistry courses the students had major problems to justify a redox reaction explained by transfer of hydrogen atoms both in the organic and biochemistry examples.

The purpose of this study is to examine, from a gender perspective, Utbildningsradions TV-program Hej Litteraturen! in the light of feminist literature studies conducted during the last twenty years. I want to examine if the feminist literature studies have had any impact on contemporary teaching material regarding the question of how much space in time is given to men versus women and which female authors are included in the literary canon. Hej Litteraturen! is a TV program produced in 2010 intended for high school teaching of literature history.    By conducting a content analysis in which I divide the study in a quantitative and a qualitative component, I have investigated how much space and time is given to female writers and how they are presented. My analysis draws on use Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the gender system.    The result shows that the female authors get 37 percent of the total reference space and 42 percent of the time-space. The program has sought to describe male and female authors equally and gives them weight and relevance to the sections in a similar manner.     In conclusion, Hej Litteraturen! is a tutorial which embraces parts of the criticisms that have existed in historical literature review papers in general and literary history textbooks in particular. Hej Litteraturen! has worked on gender aspects of the program and by picking up contemporary authors as reference points for literary history in the present, the program contributes not only not only in renewing the literary canon, but also in balancing out the dominance of male writers in the history of literature. / Syftet med denna studie är att ur ett genusperspektiv granska Utbildningsradions programserie Hej Litteraturen! mot bakgrund av den feministiska litteraturforskning som bedrivits under de tjugo senaste åren.  Jag vill undersöka om forskningen har haft någon inverkan på ett nutida läromedel i frågan om hur mycket utrymme som ges till män respektive kvinnor och vilka kvinnor som ingår i kanon. Hej Litteraturen! är ett TV-program avsett för gymnasieskolans litteraturhistoriska undervisning och är producerat 2010. Genom att göra en innehållsanalys där jag delar upp undersökningen i en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ del, har jag undersökt vilket faktiskt utrymme i tid och omnämnanden som ges de kvinnliga författarna och hur de presenteras. I denna analys har jag använt Hirdmans teori om genussystemets två principer som utgångspunkt. Resultatet visar att de kvinnliga författarna får 37 procent av det totala omnämnandeutrymmet och 42 procent av tidsutrymmet. I programmet har man försökt beskriva manliga och kvinnliga författare likvärdigt och ger dem tyngd och relevans i avsnitten på ett likvärdigt sätt. Slutsatsen blir att Hej Litteraturen! är ett läromedel som tagit till sig delar av den kritik som funnits mot litteraturhistoriska översiktsverk i allmänhet och litteraturhistoriska läromedel i synnerhet. Man har arbetat med genusaspekter i programmet och genom att låta nutida författare medverka som referenspunkter för litteraturhistorien i samtiden, bidrar man inte bara till att förnya kanon, utan väger också upp den dominans av manliga författare som finns i litteraturhistorien.

Ce mémoire vise à mettre en parallèle les recherches réalisées par les traductologues spécialisés en pédagogie et le contenu des manuels conçus pour l’enseignement professionnel de la traduction. Il a pour objet l’analyse des manuels de formation à la traduction pragmatique (générale ou spécialisée) de l’anglais vers le français publiés en Amérique du Nord et en Europe depuis 1992. Dans cette recherche, l’examen des principales approches en enseignement de la traduction a d’abord permis de dégager un ensemble de propositions pédagogiques. Celles-ci ont été regroupées pour former un noyau conceptuel dont certaines composantes sont à la base d’une définition du contenu pédagogique des ouvrages et ont servi de critères d’analyse pour les manuels recensés. Le noyau conceptuel employé pour l’analyse des ouvrages pourra éventuellement être utile dans le cadre de recherches portant sur les manuels conçus pour l’enseignement de la traduction dans d’autres paires de langues. L’analyse comparative des ouvrages recensés a permis de son côté de brosser un portrait actuel du manuel de traduction professionnelle tout en mettant en évidence les aspects du contenu pédagogique qui pourraient être exploités davantage dans la prochaine génération de manuels de traduction. L’étude donne également une idée du nombre de manuels offerts sur les marchés nord-américain et européen qui sont destinés aux apprenants de la traduction professionnelle. En plus de préciser la place qu’occupent les manuels de traduction au sein de la traductologie, les observations fournies dans cette étude constituent des pistes de réflexion pour la confection de nouveaux outils pédagogiques adaptés à la formation universitaire des futurs traducteurs de métier. / In this thesis, we shall explore the relationship between research in the pedagogical branch of translation studies and the content of textbooks designed for future professional translators. The textbooks under examination are used to teach English to French (pragmatic or specialized) translation. They have been published in North America and Europe and are dated no earlier than 1992. The study of the major approaches to translator training has provided us with a set of pedagogical suggestions. Along with other criteria (exercises and theories underlying the approaches), they were used to define the pedagogical content of the textbooks selected for our analysis. They are also part of a conceptual core that can serve as a basis for the analysis of textbooks designed for the teaching of translation in languages other than French and English. Our research not only gives a current perspective of existing textbooks, but also points to the various aspects of the pedagogical content that should be further considered in the conception of the new generation of translation textbooks. Additionally, it gives an idea as to the number of textbooks for future professional translators that are available on the North American and European markets. Through our observations, we thus hope to describe how these teaching tools are in line with the present state of research in translation pedagogy, as well as provide a few tips for designing new textbooks that meet the needs of university-level students and their teachers.

Popular culture is a phenomenon of growing importance in the society today. Children and teenagers are increasingly using popular culture in their everyday life to reflect and answer questions about their identities and the meaning of life. Swedish primary and upper secondary schools are expected to prepare their students for adulthood and to provide them with tools to explain understand and problematize contemporary society. From this perspective it is relevant to question whether the schools achieve this and whether the instruction given there represents the contemporary society. For the purpose of knowing more about how popular culture is perceived and dealt with in the Swedish education system, this study examines how eight textbooks in Religious Education (RE) and the national curriculum for upper secondary school discuss and treat popular culture.  The study focuses on when and in what ways the textbooks mention popular culture and if the curriculum provides any supportive base for including popular culture in religious education. The textual analysis of the RE textbooks illustrates that popular culture is seldom mentioned in the books and rarely discussed or reflected upon. The most common instances of popular culture in the textbooks are small references outside of the main text. The authors of the textbooks have thus not integrated thorough discussion about popular culture but rather added in some popular cultured references where they thought it would fit in the texts. With regard to the national curriculum for Religious Education, there is some recognition of how to use and discuss popular culture and its importance for students is acknowledged. However, this recognition is only explained in the comments to the curriculum and not in the document itself.   The apparent lack of popular culture in RE textbooks is in this study discussed from the perspective of power relations and popular culture perceived as a culture form with low status. As historians have asserted, cultural forms that have historically been called and perceived as low culture have also been used as objects for the exercise of power. While popular culture today has taken over functions that traditionally belong to the established religions, and while in some cases popular culture can be perceived as a form of religion, popular culture is still commonly viewed as a lower form of culture for the masses and consequently a cultural form with lower status.  This exercise of power has usually been downward in the social hierarchy, from middle class towards working class, to today’s groups of adults towards youth. It may be this trend that emerges when this study shows the lack of popular culture in RE textbooks. It is adults who write the curriculum, it is adults who write the textbooks and it is adults who teach in schools. Popular culture is said to belong to the young and therefore it does not have sufficiently high status to be brought in to the classroom.

This essay aims to examine if five high school textbooks represent Judaism as homogeneous or diverse. The purpose is to see if textbooks add a diverse or homogeneous view on Judaism. The methods for this essay are a qualitative content analysis and an image analysis. The results tells us that both homogeneous and heterogeneous tendencies can be found in the textbooks to a certain extent. The homogeneous tendencies can be explained as an aftereffect of the textbooks’ authors becoming limited by their schedule, amount of pages and so on. This results in a second-rate construction of how Judaism is represented and how it affects a person’s life. This homogeneity can also be explained as that the reader has to be able to get an understandable view of Judaism’s importance and uniqueness. These heterogeneous tendencies can be explained as an aftereffect of the ongoing debate on textbooks and a careful usage of the language in the books. The author has to be more thoughtful regarding where to compromise. In the end, it is the teacher that creates the diversity and it is up to him/her to evaluate the material to see what it actually says and how it affects the pupil’s view on religion. / Denna uppsats undersöker om fem läroböcker för gymnasiet porträtterar judendomen som homogen eller nyanserad. Syftet är för att se om läromedel bidrar till en nyanserad alternativt homogen syn på religionen. Vald metod för undersökningen är kvalitativ textanalys samt en bildanalys. Resultatet visar på såväl heterogena som homogena tendenser i alla läromedel, dock i mer eller mindre utsträckning. De homogena tendenserna kan bero på läroboksförfattarens begränsningar i skrivandet av ett läromedel, i form av tidsbegränsning, sidbegränsning med mera. Detta skapar en begränsad andrahandskonstruktion av hur judendomen representeras och påverkar en persons liv. Homogeniteten kan även bero på att läsaren måste få en greppbar syn på vad som ger religionen dess betydelse och särart. De heterogena tendenserna kan bero på exempelvis den pågående debatten kring läromedel samt ett mer eftertänksamt språkbruk. Författaren måste vara eftertänksam i sina kompromisser kring valet av text. Dock är det i slutändan alltid läraren som skapar nyansering och det är upp till denne att se till sitt material, hur det påverkar synen på religion hos eleven och vad materialet verkligen säger.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université d'Ottawa, 2000. / Comprend des réf. bibliogr.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:43:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 483595 bytes, checksum: 4892e3fc539cee257697228ee041c238 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work is based on the discussion about space and the treatment offered to oral genres in the teaching of mother tongue from the studies of Bakhtin (2000, 2006), the teaching of language, developed by Dolz & Schneuwly and other employees of the School of Geneva (2004), and the research developed here in Brazil by researchers such as Rojo (2000, 2003) and Marcuschi (2003, 2005), who debate on the relationship between speech and writing. In this dissertation, we argue in favor of a teaching of oral genres that consider multimodality as a constituent of meaning construction of the speeches and reflections of social practices that make visible those meanings. We analyzed the factors that inhibit the expansion of the work with orality: the teacher who usually does not know the nature of the genre and is limited to instructions of the teaching material and textbooks which do not explore the socio-discursive aspects, but reduces this work to poor considerations and imprecise. The research, outlined here, constitutes an analysis of a collection of textbook of Portuguese for the second phase of the elementary school (6th to 9th grade) and oral interactions in classrooms during the development of activities provided for in that collection that addressed some aspect involving orality. This way, we found that the absence of work with oral genres in school, as teaching object, is due to the omission of the teaching material related to the nature and specificity of oral genres. But the textbook is still the mainly subsidy for the conduction of activities which, for oral teaching, is not according to the main demands of National Curriculum Parameters (1997, 1998). The research also showed that the greatest number of activities that involve oral practice prioritizes the writing form of oral or spontaneous oral discussion. After the analysis, we found that oral, formal, public and private genres are used merely as strategies for presentation of specific content and, therefore, by way of illustration, we present a didactic sequence, as an alternative to systematize this teaching. / Este trabalho baseia-se na discussão sobre o espaço e tratamento oferecidos aos gêneros orais no ensino de língua materna a partir dos estudos de Bakhtin (2000, 2006), da didática da língua materna, desenvolvida por Dolz & Schneuwly e outros colaboradores da Escola de Genebra (2004), e das pesquisas desenvolvidas aqui, no Brasil, por pesquisadores, como Rojo (2000, 2003) e Marcuschi (2003, 2005), que debatem sobre as relações entre a fala e escrita. Nesta dissertação, argumentamos em favor de um ensino dos gêneros orais que considere a multimodalidade como constituinte da construção de sentidos dos discursos e na reflexão de práticas sociais que tornem visíveis essas significações. Analisamos os fatores que inibem a ampliação do trabalho com a oralidade: o professor que, geralmente, desconhece a natureza do gênero e se limita às instruções do material didático e o livro didático que, por sua vez, não explora os aspectos sócio-discursivos, mas reduz esse trabalho a considerações vagas e imprecisas. A pesquisa, aqui exposta, constitui-se da análise de uma coleção de livro didático de língua portuguesa destinada à segunda fase do ensino fundamental (6º ao 9º ano) e das interações orais em salas de aula, durante o desenvolvimento das atividades previstas na referida coleção que abordavam algum aspecto envolvendo a oralidade. Dessa forma, constatou-se que a ausência do trabalho com os gêneros orais na escola, enquanto objeto de ensino, deve-se, à omissão do referido material didático em relação à natureza e especificidade dos gêneros orais. Pois, o livro didático ainda é o principal subsídio para a realização das atividades, as quais, no âmbito do ensino do oral, não se enquadram nas principais exigências dos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (1997, 1998). A investigação também apontou que o maior número de atividades que envolvem a oralidade prioriza a oralização da escrita ou a discussão oral espontânea. Ao final da análise, percebemos que os gêneros orais, privados e formais públicos, são utilizados meramente como estratégias para apresentação de determinado conteúdo e, por isso, a título de ilustração, elaboramos uma sequência didática, enquanto alternativa para sistematizar esse ensino.

La présente étude s’intéresse particulièrement aux différents concepts physiques relatifs à l’électricité et à l’enseignement de ces concepts au collège en Syrie. Ces concepts étant souvent difficiles à comprendre par les élèves, et à enseigner par les enseignants, ils sont introduits formellement dès la classe de 5ème = CM2 au collège en Syrie. L’objectif de cette recherche a été, dans un premier temps, l’étude des différentes modes de présentation des notions de l’électricité dans le savoir de référence. Pour ce faire, nous avons choisi trois ouvrages universitaires de l’électricité. Puis nous sommes partie regarder les choix pris par les institutions pour enseigner ces notions ; nous précisons que nous intéressons aux choix des contenus et également des méthodes dans le programme de l’enseignement pré-universitaire en Syrie. Par la suite nous sommes parties regarder également ces derniers choix dans les manuels scolaires des classes de 5ème, 6ème, 8ème, 9ème en Syrie qui sont équivalentes à CM2, 6ème, 4ème et 3ème en France. Dans un deuxième temps, l’objectif de cette recherche fut de savoir une idée sur le point de vu des enseignants comme acteurs principaux de cette rénovation. Pour cela, un échantillon de 30 enseignants de physique chimie au niveau collège en Syrie, ont répondu à un questionnaire écrit portant sur l’enseignement des différentes notions de l’électricité. Le but est d’étudier les conceptions et les représentations sur l’électricité chez leurs élèves et les difficultés rencontrée en enseignant tel notions, en particulier à l’égard des différents concepts didactiques recommandés pour enseigner ces notions au collège. Enfin, notre étude permet de constater que malgré le grand appui dans le programme et les manuels scolaire sur l’importance d’aborder les notions électricité avec une méthode expérimentale, le recours expérimentale et analogique dans l’enseignement de collège en Syrie reste minoré. Afin de connaître les conceptions pédagogiques et épistémologiques des enseignants sur leur manière d’aborder l’enseignement de l’électricité, nous avons construit les données au moyen d’une enquête par questionnaire auprès de 30 enseignants. Les réponses à ce questionnaire ont été analysées suivant deux perspectives, pédagogique et didactique. Pour l’analyse à caractère pédagogique, une grille a été construite autour des modes de représentation privilégiés par les maîtres et autour des rôles respectivement réservés au maître et à l’élève. En parallèle, nous avons vérifié leur niveau maîtrise des différents concepts en didactique des sciences. Pour introduire les concepts de l’électricité, les enseignants affirment qu’ils laissent une large place aux activités expérimentales quand les circonstances sont pertinentes. L’analyse effectuée sur les manuels scolaires a été faite à l’aide d’une grille d’analyse, les résultats d’analyse de ces manuels montrent que les propositions de mise en œuvre d’une démarche expérimentale avec un recours modélisé restent minorées dans ces derniers. De plus, il ressort de l’étude du questionnaire destiné aux enseignants que ce processus expérimentale en lien avec une démarche d’investigation en électricité a du mal à vivre dans les pratiques des enseignants. En rajoute que, la volonté de programme de développer la notion de la pensée scientifique en électricité en lien avec l’expérimentation et la modélisation n’ait été que peu prise en compte dans les manuels, et soit difficilement stable dans les pratique des enseignants. Le manque des outils de laboratoire et les classes surchargées pourraient être un argument pour supprimer les activités expérimentales dans la majorité des cours en électricité. / The current studies are interested in different physics concepts which are related to the electricity and teaching these concepts at schools in Syria. Sometimes, these concepts are difficult to understand by the students, moreover, to the teachers to teach. These concepts are formally being taught to fifth class at Syrian schools. In the beginning, the goal of this research was to study the different ways to present the notions of electricity in the knowledge of reference. Therefore, we have chosen three university works of the electricity for this research. Then we have examined the choice which was taken by the institution to teach this notion. We specify that we are interested in the content of choices and also in the methods of their teaching suggested in the program of pre-university education in Syria. Afterwards, we also have viewed the choices which are existed in textbooks of the 5th,6th, 7th, 8th,and 9th class in Syria which are equivalent to the 6th , 4th, 3th, and CM2 class in France. Moreover, the aim of this research is to figure out an idea about the opinions of teachers who are considered the key players in this renovation. For this, a sample of 30 physics teachers at schools in Syria have answered a written questionnaire about the teaching of different concepts of the electricity. The goal is to study the conceptions and the representations on the electricity for their students. Besides, the difficulties encountered such concept especially with regard to various didactic notions recommended to teach these concepts at schools. Finally, our study shows that despite the big support in the programs and the textbooks on the importance of addressing the concepts of electricity with an experimental method, the use of experimental and analogue in the teaching at schools remain minus in Syria. Thus, in order to know pedagogical and epistemological concepts of teachers in their approaches while teaching electricity, we have constructed the data by a questionnaire of 30 teachers. The answers to this questionnaire were analyzed by two perspectives, the pedagogic and didactics perspectives. As for the pedagogical feature analysis, a grid was built around privileged methods of representation by the masters and around the roles reserved for the teachers and the students. In parallel, we have checked their mastering level of the concepts in science education. So the teachers have said that to introduce the concepts of electricity they had specialized ample room for experimental activities when the circumstances are appropriate. The analysis carried on the textbooks was made by using analytical framework, the results of analysis of these manuals show that the implementation of proposals for an experimental approach with a modeled recourse remained under valuable in the latter. Moreover, the study of this questionnaire tells us that for teachers this experimental process in connection with an electricity investigative approach is hard to be applied in teacher practice. The program will develop the concept of scientific thought in electrical connection with experimentation and modeling have been a little consideration in textbooks and are hardly stable in teachers 'practice. There is no room for discussion that the lack of laboratory tools and the overcrowded classrooms could be an argument to weaken experimental activities in the majority of current electricity.

The thesis consists of two equal parts - of a part dealing with didactic aspects of teaching linear algebra, and of an unconventionally approached textbook Fundamentals of Linear Algebra, which is appended as a separate attachment. The didactic part deals with teaching mathematics, especially linear algebra, at the University of Economics in Prague, namely from the historical and methodological point of view. The thesis also includes a detailed evaluation of students' knowledge tests. The conclusions are largely portable to other non- technically oriented universities. The textbook is designed with respect to two levels of difficulty; it is written in the form accessible for students with lighter assumptions for the study of mathematics. The textbook is designed especially for students of universities where mathematics is not the main focus; it may also serve to interested high schools students as an introduction to a more advanced study of linear algebra.