Past research shows that feelings toward aesthetic reading, or reading for enjoyment, are down across the nation, even in those pursuing a degree in elementary education (Applegate & Applegate, 2004; National Endowment for the Arts , 2004). As reading rates drop, it becomes even more imperative that our future educators have a passion for reading, and are able to intrinsically motivate their students (McKool & Gespass, 2009; Nathanson, Pruslow & Levitt, 2008). The recommended practices for breaking the cycle of aliteracy are to deemphasize textbook driven lectures (Krashen, 1993; Nathanson et al., 2008; Sardo-Brown & Beeghly, 1996), enable text self-selection (Applegate & Applegate, 2004; 2014; Cardarelli, 1992; Krashen 1993; McKool & Gespass, 2009; Nathanson et al., 2008), include reflective journals (Nathanson et al., 2008), encourage open discussion (Applegate & Applegate, 2004; 2014; Krashen, 1993; McKool & Gespass, 2009; Nathanson et al., 2008; Sardo-Brown & Beeghly, 1996), provide opportunities to reflect on students' own personal views of literacy (Gomez, 2005), and incorporate "well-planned instructional experiences to allow students to experience what it feels like to be enthusiastic about reading" (Applegate & Applegate, 2004; Applegate et al., 2014; Gomez, 2005; Krashen, 1993; McKool & Gespass, 2009; Morrison, Jacobs, & Swinyard, 1999; Nathanson et al., 2008; Powell-Brown, 2003; Ruddell, 1995; Sardo-Brown & Beeghly, 1996). The intent of this thesis is to explore if a positive shift in the perceptions and motivations of pre-service elementary education teachers can occur through enrollment in a course on Literature for Children. Literature for Children, LAE 3414, is a required course for those pursuing a degree in elementary education at the University of Central Florida. The course's design follows the recommended practices for teaching a love of literature. This study tracked the perceptions and motivations of pre-service teachers enrolled in two class sections of this course over the fall 2014 semester, in order to see if a positive change in their feelings toward aesthetic reading occurred, and to what extent their enrollment in this course on Children's Literature affected this change. At the beginning of the semester, out of a total of 63 participants for the pre-survey, 68.3% reported that they felt enthusiastic toward reading, while 31.7% reported that they felt unenthusiastic. By the end of the course, out of 54 post-survey participants, 87% of participants reported that they felt enthusiastic toward reading, while 13% reported that they felt unenthusiastic. Both class sections surveyed experienced a positive shift in their perceptions and motivations toward aesthetic reading, as a result of enrollment and participation in this course.

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The purpose of this study is to get an insight into how fiction tutoring in Swedish can be practised and how the reading is encouraged. A teacher can through her working methods control how the pupils relate to fiction and has therefor an important role, because of this the subordinate purpose of this study is to problematize and highlight how the teacher can encourage her pupils into different styles of reading. Questions:•What didactic choices does the teacher make in literature teaching?•What does the teacher want the pupils to pay attention to? •What are the learning methods for the pupils? This study has been made through observations and interviews with teachers who teach in primary school in Sweden. The empirical data have been analyzed based on Rosenblatt’s reading concepts and Langer’s conceptual worlds and furthermore their view of literature teaching and the teacher's role in it. The study shows that all of the teachers combine reading with writing assignments, where linguistic approaches are most common and usually primary. Even though the teachers showed an awareness of the importance of an aesthetic reading, they did not support aesthetic reading in their lessons. In the observed lesson it was shown that the method used by the teachers stimulated phase one in the imaginary worlds and an efferent reading which both pay attention for the impersonal and the general aspects that can be verified in a text. It should be noted that this study had a teacher’s perspective and not the perspective of the pupils.

The purpose of this degree project has been to examine the implications of the provision of certain methodological support mechanisms, what has often been referred to as "instructional scaffolding" in literary didactics, to assist students in the ESL/EFL classroom in their interaction with the various literary texts into which they come into contact during their English language education at the upper secondary level in Sweden. My primary interest has been to gauge the response of the students involved in this study to the particular types of literary didactic methods utilized, for example, regarding their effectiveness in aiding the learning process as well as their impact on the literary, or aesthetic, experience itself. An analysis of student responses to a literature instruction module based on a reading of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness will demonstrate that certain forms of literary didactic methods in general, and significantly, particular forms of what can be conceptualized as instructional scaffolding, play a crucial role for both the learning process and the student's aesthetic experience of literature.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to focus on the cause and effect of what has been referred to as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation when it comes to second language learning through literature, where the novel To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee served as an example. The study started off by presenting a definition of the so called intrinsic and extrinsic motivation respectively, as well as the three perspectives psychodynamic, cognitive and socio-cultural by which it was discussed, in order to cement the framework of it and problematize its boundaries accordingly. It later focused on where and how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation respectively came into play, and what possible outcome the two different types might result in when discussing language learning. The applied method was to do a qualitative hermeneutic study by presenting earlier research and having it as a basis when hypothesizing in order to solve the research questions. This study was limited to discussing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation respectively in order to ascertain how both phenomena manifest themselves and ultimately how they affect learning, and by presenting numerous examples in the analysis it was concluded that: a) extrinsic and intrinsic motivation tend to inescapably intertwine during the process of learning and thereby end up being in need of each other, and b) that the order to how one musters extrinsic motivation, when undertaking in the educational enterprise of reading a novel, was opposite from that of the intrinsic motivation as extrinsic motivation is based on an external source of reward and therefore merely in need of an external source rather than an intrinsic curiosity. Keywords Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation, Cognitive perspective, Psychodynamic perspective, Sociocultural perspective, Zone of proximal development, Efferent reading, Aesthetic reading.

Book talks have become widespread in school as they are considered to be beneficial for pupils’ potential to develop their analytical and communicative skills. The study aims to investigate book talks from a teacher’s perspective in order to compare different teachers’ experiences of book talks in relation to research. To explore this, interviews were conducted with four teachers who have experience of book talks in the intermediate level of compulsory school. To identify the teachers’ perspectives on book talks and what they value in the method, their interviews were analysed, among other things, in relation to Michael Tengberg’s concept of readings and Louise Rosenblatt’s theory of efferent and aesthetic reading. The result shows that the teachers’ descriptions of the conversations encompass a variety of readings and reading activities. They choose to highlight different themes from the literature, ranging from questions of basic values to word comprehension. The teachers support their pupils through scaffolding in the conversations so that they can potentially develop new knowledge and become more autonomous in their way of working. Autonomy in the conversations among older pupils can also be identified as a difference between grades four and six. The teachers think that book talks are rewarding because the pupils have a chance to speak and share each other’s experiences. The challenges include finding good books and getting the pupils to feel a sense of engagement.

High-stakes testing and accountability have infiltrated the education system in the United States; the top priority for all teachers must be student progress on standardized tests. This has resulted in the predominance of reading for test-taking, (efferent reading), in the English, language arts, and reading classrooms. Authentic uses of print activities, like aesthetic reading, that encourage students to engage individually with a text, have been pushed aside. During a 3-week time period, regular level, English 3/American literature students in a Title I magnet high school, participated in this quasi-experimental study (N = 62). It measured the effects of an intervention of reading American literature texts aesthetically and writing aesthetically-evoked reader responses on students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. One trained teacher and the researcher participated in the study: student participants were pre- and post- tested using the Confidence in Reading American Literature Survey which examined their self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Several statistical analyses were performed. The results of the linear regression analyses partially supported a positive relationship between aesthetically-evoked reader responses and students’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their comprehension of American literature. Additionally, the results of the 2 (sex) x 2 (treatment) ANCOVAs conducted to test group differences in self-efficacy beliefs regarding the comprehension of American literature between treatment and control groups indicated a main effect for treatment (but not sex; nor was there a significant sex x treatment interaction), suggesting the treatment was partially effective in increasing students’ self-efficacy beliefs. Seven of the twelve ANCOVAs indicated a statistically significant increase in the treatment group’s adjusted group mean self-efficacy belief scores as a result of being exposed to the intervention. In six of these seven analyses, increases in self-efficacy beliefs occurred in tasks that required three or more higher-order levels of thinking/learning. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical, empirical and practical significance. Future research is recommended to extend the intervention beyond the narrow confines of a Title I magnet school to settings where the intervention could be tested longitudinally, e. g., honors and gifted students, elementary and middle schools.

<p>This dissertation deals with Swedish upper secondary school students’ encounter and reception of various fictional texts in and outside of school. The focus of the study is how literary instruction, based on an expanded text concept, succeeds in meeting the students’ expectations and previous experiences of fictional texts. The theoretical framework consists of theories that approach reading as a transaction between text and reader in a social and cultural context.</p><p>The study is founded on qualitative methods, and the empirical material was collected through participant observation and interviews with students and teachers in four upper secondary school classes between 2001 and 2003. The research questions are: How does literary instruction develop students’ knowledge of fictional texts and reading? In what ways are the students’ textual worlds in and outside of school dialogically interrelated? How do students use different fictional texts in building their identities? Which values regarding different texts are visible in the classroom?</p><p>Findings indicate that mismatches between teachers’ and students’ literary repertoires are common in upper secondary school literary teaching. Since the literary instruction mainly drew upon traditional fiction, the students’ construction of literary worlds was not sufficiently supported. The students’ expectations of fiction reading were characterized by strong emotional involvement, and this was particularly true for the male students. The female students reported that there was a lack of female perspectives in the literary teaching.</p><p>The pedagogical implications of the study concern the importance of identifying the students’ literary repertoires and matching those with the literary instruction. Literary pedagogy should aim to expand these repertoires, and to help students acquire new reader roles. One way of achieving this is to promote dialogical teaching that encourages both efferent and aesthetic reading. Findings of the present study also indicate that teachers’ resources for working with an expanded text concept are limited. Consequently, current teacher education programmes and further training of working teachers must deal with reading of fictional texts from new and broader perspectives.</p>

This dissertation deals with Swedish upper secondary school students’ encounter and reception of various fictional texts in and outside of school. The focus of the study is how literary instruction, based on an expanded text concept, succeeds in meeting the students’ expectations and previous experiences of fictional texts. The theoretical framework consists of theories that approach reading as a transaction between text and reader in a social and cultural context. The study is founded on qualitative methods, and the empirical material was collected through participant observation and interviews with students and teachers in four upper secondary school classes between 2001 and 2003. The research questions are: How does literary instruction develop students’ knowledge of fictional texts and reading? In what ways are the students’ textual worlds in and outside of school dialogically interrelated? How do students use different fictional texts in building their identities? Which values regarding different texts are visible in the classroom? Findings indicate that mismatches between teachers’ and students’ literary repertoires are common in upper secondary school literary teaching. Since the literary instruction mainly drew upon traditional fiction, the students’ construction of literary worlds was not sufficiently supported. The students’ expectations of fiction reading were characterized by strong emotional involvement, and this was particularly true for the male students. The female students reported that there was a lack of female perspectives in the literary teaching. The pedagogical implications of the study concern the importance of identifying the students’ literary repertoires and matching those with the literary instruction. Literary pedagogy should aim to expand these repertoires, and to help students acquire new reader roles. One way of achieving this is to promote dialogical teaching that encourages both efferent and aesthetic reading. Findings of the present study also indicate that teachers’ resources for working with an expanded text concept are limited. Consequently, current teacher education programmes and further training of working teachers must deal with reading of fictional texts from new and broader perspectives.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T18:49:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao.pdf: 30140054 bytes, checksum: c5f54ca62713b24505a238af3d1f37a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-13 / The research entitled " The children s literary prose in textbook: an instrument of pedagogical utilitarism or object of pleasure?" involves, thematically, the identification and analysis of the theoretical and methodological concepts, guiding the proposed practices by the textbook of Elementary Education (4th and 5th grades) for the reading of literary texts for children. The study, centered in the dialogic discourse (bakthinian and peircean) and the theory of intertextuality, it aims to reflect on the dual function of children s literature in the classroom: to instruct and amuse, to delight and teach, investigating the relationship between the quality of children s text and the methodology that is dispensed by the textbooks, its potential to arouse the reader reactions of sensible knowledge of the world or simply to serve as an educational tool-utility in carrying out diverse activities of the superficial nature on the read text (fill in forms, reading limited to scripts built of peripheral issues about the content of the text, copies, grammatical notes unrelated of the poetic message constructed by literary language in texts). We opted for Qualitative Research, defining it as a method of data collection for the case study, the Document Analysis. The objects of analysis are selected by the researcher Textbooks, among the examples listed by the guide of the National Textbook Program (NPDB) 2010. We found, with this investigation, that the literary text is treated, in the researched textbooks, as utilitarian object, as a monossemic discourse, unlinked from the real, human and social world. / A pesquisa intitulada A prosa literária infantil em livros didáticos: instrumento de utilitarismo pedagógico ou objeto de prazer? envolve, tematicamente, a identificação e análise das concepções teóricas e metodológicas, norteadoras das práticas propostas pelo livro didático da Educação Fundamental (4º e 5º anos) para a leitura do texto literário infantil. O estudo, centrado no discurso dialógico (bakthiniano e peirceano) e na teoria da intertextualidade, objetiva refletir sobre a dupla função da literatura infantil na sala de aula: instruir e dar prazer, investigando a relação existente entre a qualidade dos textos infantis e a metodologia que lhes é dispensada pelos livros didáticos, sua potencialidade para despertar no leitor reações prazerosas de conhecimento sensível do mundo ou simplesmente para servir de instrumento pedagógico-utilitário na execução de atividades diversas de natureza superficial sobre o texto lido (preenchimento de fichas; leitura limitada a roteiros constituídos de questões periféricas sobre os conteúdos do texto; cópias; observações gramaticais desvinculadas da mensagem poética construída pela linguagem literária dos textos). Optou-se pela Pesquisa Qualitativa, definindo-se como método de coleta de dados para o estudo de caso, a Análise Documental. Os objetos de análise são Livros Didáticos selecionados pela pesquisadora, dentre os exemplares indicados pelo guia do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD) 2010. Constatou-se, com esta investigação, que o texto literário é tratado, nos livros didáticos pesquisados, como objeto utilitário, como um discurso monossêmico, desvinculado do mundo real, humano, social.