Reading comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language (Snow, Science and Technology, and States, 2002). For many students, there is a decrease in reading achievement as early as fourth grade as a result of increased demands in complexity of intermediate text (Williams et al., 2005). Reading attitude is “a system of feelings related to reading which causes the learner to approach or avoid a reading situation” (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, p. 1). McKenna, Kear, and Ellsworth (1995) found that attitude towards reading grew increasingly negative as students moved from first to sixth grade. In addition, the Common Core Standards requirement on students to read and write from informational text has made an even greater demand on teachers to improve reading comprehension. The study aimed to advance the research on the impact of reading strategy instruction towards reading comprehension and reading attitude. Reading strategies are deliberate attempts to modify the reader’s efforts to construct meaning of text. The current quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of the Reciprocal Mapping (Fine, 2004) approach on third-grade students’ reading comprehension achievement and reading attitude. Reciprocal Mapping (Fine, 2004) is an integrated reading/writing strategy, using visual representation to make concrete the process of examining the text structure of science informational text. The theoretical framework for the proposed study stems from a sociocultural perspective. This perspective incorporates readers’ backgrounds while developing their cognitive strategies and metacognitive skills for comprehending text. The investigator developed a pretest/posttest comparison group quasi-experimental design. The study’s independent variable was group membership, with the dependent variables being reading comprehension achievement and reading attitude. An ANCOVA indicated that there was a significant difference for overall reading comprehension between the two groups on the basis of the post reading test scores when controlling for the pre-test scores. However, when analyzing for reading attitude, there was not a significant difference for overall reading attitude. The findings suggest that standards-based instruction on science informational text with the Reciprocal Mapping (Fine, 2004) approach was an effective method for increasing third-grade students’ reading comprehension.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional program designed to explicitly teach text structure awareness to fourth grade students to assist in their understanding of science content in a unit of study on weather. The changes that occurred in teacher thinking and practice were also examined throughout the process of developing and implementing the instructional program. A quantitative analysis was performed to reveal any differences in mean posttest scores between a control group and a treatment group. Results indicated that the treatment group students' science content knowledge was increased significantly more than the students in the control group. A qualitative analysis was also performed to reveal the changes that occurred while this program was implemented into science instruction. Results indicated that by using research and results to guide her instruction, the researcher became more refined as a teacher. Recommendations for further research are discussed.

HYBNER, Otakar. Bachelor Diploma Thesis: Genre of the Bachelor Diploma Thesis, its Formation and Contemporary Form. Prague, 2019. Master thesis. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Education, Department of Czech Language. Supervisor PhDr. Radka Holanová, Ph.D. This master thesis deals with the context of conditions leading to the existence of the bachelor thesis genre. A style norm of this expert communication genre is interpreted on the basis of the available literature. The overall conception of this issue in the available literature is evaluated. With respect to the style norm, criteria that are expected to be fulfilled in a bachelor thesis are set. The fulfilment of the criteria is tested on a randomly selected sample of bachelor theses.

This study evaluated the effect of an explicit comprehension read-aloud routine of science content on first grade students’ listening comprehension.The read-aloud routine taught the structures common in the informational text (compare, contrast, and compare-contrast) and found in first grade science big books with the goal of improving understanding of the science content. Students who received the intervention showed improvements in their ability to understand the compare-contrast text structures compared to students who were taught the same content without the routine or students who were taught typical science read-aloud content without the routine. Observations revealed that teachers who were most consistent in implementing high quality comprehension strategies during the read aloud had students who made the best gains in listening comprehension of the content, regardless of whether the teachers used explicit text the compare-contrast text structure routine.The results demonstrated that even though the instruction of the compare-contrast text structures was not necessary to produce listening comprehension of science content, the compare-contrast instruction added value to the high quality comprehension instruction for students assigned to the intervention group. The results of the study are discussed in terms of the available research on instruction of informational text structures in the early grades. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Within the genre of young adult literature, a growing trend is the use of epistolary messages through electronic methods between characters. These messages are set apart from the formal text of the narrative of the novel creating a break in the text features and layout of the page. Epistolary texts require a more sophisticated reading method and level of interpretation because the epistolary style blends multiple voices and points of view into the plot, creating complicated narration. The reader must navigate the narrator’s path in order to extract meaning from the text. In this hermeneutic study, I examined the text structures of three young adult novels that contained epistolary excerpts. I used ethnographic content analysis (Altheide 1987) to isolate, analyze, and then contextualize the different epistolary moments within the narrative of the novel. The study was guided by two research questions: 1. What types of text structures and features did authors of selected young adult literature with epistolary interruptions published since 2008 use across the body of the published work? 2. How did the authors of selected young adult literature situate the different text structures of interruption into the flow of the narrative? What happened after the interruption? I used a coding system that I developed from a case study of the novel Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray (2011). Through my analysis I found that the authors used specific verbs to announce an interruption. The interruptions, though few in number, require readers to consider context of the message for event, setting, speaker, purpose and tone as it relates within the message itself and the arc of the plot. In addition, following the interruptions, the reader must decide how to incorporate the epistolary interruption into the narrative as adding to the conflict, adding detail, ending a scene, or simply returning to the narrative. . Therefore, the interruptions in epistolary young adult novels incorporated the text or literacy practices of young adults. Such incorporation reflects the changes in literacy practices in the early 21st century that may render novels of this style a challenge to readers in creating meaning. The study further incorporates Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia (1980) that a novel does not contain a single language but a plurality of languages within a single langue and Dresang’s Theory of Radical Change (1999) of connectivity, interactivity, and access. Texts of this nature offer teachers of reading opportunities to guide students through text features to synthesize information in fiction and non-fiction texts.

Analisar a ficção Água Viva, de Clarice Lispector, é o desafio desta dissertação, que integra autor, texto e leitor em uma discussão acerca de experiência estética e estrutura textual. Partindo de conceitos desenvolvidos pela Teoria do Efeito Estético, de Wolfgang Iser, o objetivo a ser atingido é o de identificar as ferramentas utilizadas pela autora Clarice Lispector que fazem de seu texto potência estética a ser desencadeada pelo leitor no ato da leitura. Ao investigar a estrutura desta obra, encontram-se elementos que tornam vulneráveis concepções pré-estabelecidas acerca da literatura, abrindo-se em vazios constitutivos que convidam o leitor a participar da criação de significações e da experimentação dos sentidos. A aproximação entre texto e artes plásticas, principalmente à pintura, tem forte presença nesta obra, que provoca a formação de imagens no momento do contato com o texto, acontecimento em que se fundem tempo e espaço para a irrupção do instante-já. Procurou-se, ainda, identificar tendências comuns entre a produção deste texto de Clarice Lispector e os questionamentos presentes em outras manifestações artísticas da época, notadamente quanto ao caráter transitório que a arte dos anos 70 assume, fazendo com que o próprio movimento, a própria transformação, tornem-se estrutura da arte de então / To analyse the ficction Água Viva, by Clarice Lispector, is the challenge of this lecture, that interacts author, text and reader in a debate about aesthetic experience and text structure. Starting with Aesthetic Effects Theory concepts, by Wolfgang Iser, the goal is identify the authors tools that makes a text aesthetic potency to be unchainned by the reader on the act of reading. Search into the text structure, is possible to find elements that turn vulnerable established conceptions about literature, beside open constitutives vacuities that invites the reader to join the creation of meanings and experimentation of senses. Put together text and plastic arts, meanly paint, has a strong appearence in this text, that incites images rise at the moment of contact with text, happening in which time and space comes together to the iruption of instante-já. Identify common tendencies between this text production and the artistic questions of that age has been seek, notedly about transitory feature thar 70 arts assume, making the movement, the transformation itself, turn the art structure of this time

Analisar a ficção Água Viva, de Clarice Lispector, é o desafio desta dissertação, que integra autor, texto e leitor em uma discussão acerca de experiência estética e estrutura textual. Partindo de conceitos desenvolvidos pela Teoria do Efeito Estético, de Wolfgang Iser, o objetivo a ser atingido é o de identificar as ferramentas utilizadas pela autora Clarice Lispector que fazem de seu texto potência estética a ser desencadeada pelo leitor no ato da leitura. Ao investigar a estrutura desta obra, encontram-se elementos que tornam vulneráveis concepções pré-estabelecidas acerca da literatura, abrindo-se em vazios constitutivos que convidam o leitor a participar da criação de significações e da experimentação dos sentidos. A aproximação entre texto e artes plásticas, principalmente à pintura, tem forte presença nesta obra, que provoca a formação de imagens no momento do contato com o texto, acontecimento em que se fundem tempo e espaço para a irrupção do instante-já. Procurou-se, ainda, identificar tendências comuns entre a produção deste texto de Clarice Lispector e os questionamentos presentes em outras manifestações artísticas da época, notadamente quanto ao caráter transitório que a arte dos anos 70 assume, fazendo com que o próprio movimento, a própria transformação, tornem-se estrutura da arte de então / To analyse the ficction Água Viva, by Clarice Lispector, is the challenge of this lecture, that interacts author, text and reader in a debate about aesthetic experience and text structure. Starting with Aesthetic Effects Theory concepts, by Wolfgang Iser, the goal is identify the authors tools that makes a text aesthetic potency to be unchainned by the reader on the act of reading. Search into the text structure, is possible to find elements that turn vulnerable established conceptions about literature, beside open constitutives vacuities that invites the reader to join the creation of meanings and experimentation of senses. Put together text and plastic arts, meanly paint, has a strong appearence in this text, that incites images rise at the moment of contact with text, happening in which time and space comes together to the iruption of instante-já. Identify common tendencies between this text production and the artistic questions of that age has been seek, notedly about transitory feature thar 70 arts assume, making the movement, the transformation itself, turn the art structure of this time

Denna uppsats undersöker hur Instagramprofiler använder språket för att skapa en relation till sina följare och analyserar språkhandlingar utifrån den interpersonella textstrukturen. Syftet är således att analysera användningen av språkhandlingar hos profiler inom tre temaområden på Instagram, samt undersöka om det finns skillnader mellan dessa temaområden. Materialet består av totalt 180 Instagraminlägg och samlades in genom Instagramappen. Instagram­inläggen undersöktes genom att analysera textpartierna för att fastställa vilka språkhandlingar som används. Resultatet visar att påstående och indirekta språkhandlingar är de vanligaste språkhandlingarna hos alla tre temaområden, samt att två temaområden använder språkhandlingar på ett likartat sätt. / This essay examines how Instagram profiles use language to create a relationship with their followers and analyzes language actions based on the interpersonal text structure. The purpose is thus to analyze the use of language actions in profiles within three theme areas on Instagram, and to investigate whether there are differences between these theme areas. The material consists of a total of 180 Instagram posts and was collected through the Instagram app. The Instagram posts were examined by analyzing the text sections to determine which language actions are used. The results show that assertion and indirect language actions are the most common language actions in all three theme areas, and that two theme areas use language actions in a similar way.

Students in upper secondary school write in a number of different genres, and do this in school contexts as well as in their spare time. The study presented here is an overview of this activity and the genres concerned. The theoretical framework of the study is that of genre theory whereby genre is understood as a socially situated concept. The study is based on 2 000 texts gathered from students on different study programmes all over Sweden in the school year of 1996-97. The texts were written in different situations. The most important distinction made here is between test texts (i.e. texts from national tests) and self-chosen texts, which may come from schoolwriting or spare-time writing. The texts are categorized according to genre. This text inventory shows a repertoire of 33 different genres in the text material. A small number of genres, such as story, book-review and expository essay dominate the school writing. The test genres differ from this pattern in that they clearly imitate texts with a genuine communicative intent. The most frequent genres are studied further and each of them is demonstrated by an interpretative reading. This reading shows that the genres differ considerably with respect to genre character and stability of text structure. A quantitative study of text length and variation in vocabulary further shows that texts written by two categories of students, those on vocationally oriented programmes and those on programmes preparing for higher education, differ significantly. Reference cohesion is studied in a smaller sample of the texts. This lexico-semantic mechanism of cohesion proves to exhibit an interrelation with variation in vocabulary as well as with text type. One particular cohesive tie, inference, shows different patterns in texts written by the two categories of students mentioned above.

本研究旨在探討文章結構與主題知識對國小學童說明文寫作表現的影響。 正式實驗的受試包括台北縣秀朗國小五年級三個班級共 138名學童，分別 接受文章結構明示、暗示與不提示三種實驗處理，然後受試均各寫一篇對 主題知識熟悉與不熟悉的說明文，依變項為組織結構與內容觀念兩個寫作 表現的成績。研究結果發現，在扣除智力與國語科成績的影響後，在寫作 組織結構的表現上，提示文章結構並沒有幫助，反而是以不提示文章結構 的控制組表現最優；在內容觀念向度的表現上，以暗示文章結構的方式最 有助於寫作表現，而且文章結構的提示方式與寫作主題知識對內容觀念產 出也具有交互作用的效果，當寫作主題熟悉時，暗示文章結構最能提高內 容觀念向度的寫作表現。無論是在內容觀念或組織結構，都是以當寫作者 對寫作主題知識熟悉時的表現優於當寫作者對寫作主題知識不熟悉時，因 此本研究建議，在寫作教學上，教師應該針對學生所熟悉的事物來命題， 同時與其他學科的領域知識相結合，以豐富寫作內容。