Developing reading fluency in a first language (L1) is a topic that has received a considerable amount of attention. Developing reading fluency in a second language (L2), however, has received relatively little attention (Grabe, 2009). Anderson (2008) defines reading fluency as "reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension." For adult ESL learners, Anderson suggests a minimum rate of 200 wpm with at least 70% comprehension. Previous studies that have been conducted on L2 reading fluency focus primarily on reading rate development. This study seeks to combine rate development and comprehension development to effectively foster L2 reading fluency. Doing so will provide an answer to the question, what effect does consistent reading fluency instruction have on adult ESL readers in terms of their reading rate and reading comprehension scores? The 362 participants involved in this study are adult ESL students enrolled at the English Language Center at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. At the beginning and the end of each semester of the four semester-long study, each participant's reading rate and reading comprehension were evaluated. Each pretest and posttest used for evaluation included a reading passage and comprehension questions. The reading passages in each test were level appropriate with the posttest always being more difficult than the pretest to account for the natural learning that takes place during the duration of a semester. In between the pretest and posttest assessments, reading teachers were asked to implement one rate development activity or one comprehension development strategy on a daily basis. The results from the McNemar procedure support the hypothesis that consistent reading fluency instruction effectively builds reading fluency by positively influencing rate development and comprehension development (p < .001374). The majority of the participants were not able to attain Anderson's (2008) standard of reading fluency by reading 200 wpm with 70% comprehension. Of the 362 participants that received one semester of treatment, 52 (14.36%) reached Anderson's standard of fluency. Of the 139 participants that received two semesters of treatment, 31 (22.30%) reached Anderson's standard of fluency. An analysis of reading rate and reading comprehension scores shows that the average participant, although still not considered a fluent reader, made notable progress toward fluency. Implications of these results, limitations, and suggestions for future are discussed at the conclusion of this thesis.

Master of Philosophy in Education / Literacy skills include expressive language, oral and written, and receptive language, comprehension. This study explores both aspects of language in six Kindergarten children differing in early literacy development- three judged by teacher assessment to be 'at risk', and three acquiring Kindergarten skills as expected. Oral retellings of a familiar narrative and an unfamiliar story just heard, and a personal recount were taped and analysed using Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. Comprehension responses to individually shared narratives were also collected and analysed. The children's use of language and comprehension responses varied significantly. Those 'at risk' were unable to retell narratives, needed high levels of support to comprehend texts and produced less cohesive personal recounts. The linguistic analysis revealed vocabulary and rhetorical organisation affected the reconstruction of oral narratives. These children also seemed to find comprehending difficult when questions or recall involved following reference, negotiating marked Theme or drawing inferences. The study was designed as a series of one to one literacy experiences. A listening comprehension test showed that all children except one benefitted from the experience. The findings underline the importance of oral language development and the value of interactive teaching experiences to the attainment of sophisticated literacy skills.

Master of Philosophy in Education / Literacy skills include expressive language, oral and written, and receptive language, comprehension. This study explores both aspects of language in six Kindergarten children differing in early literacy development-three judged by teacher assessment to be 'at risk', and three acquiring Kindergarten literacy skills as expected. Oral retellings of a familiar narrative and an unfamiliar story just heard, and a personal recount were taped and analysed using Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. Comprehension responses to individually shared narratives were also collected and analysed. The children's use of language and comprehension responses varied significantly. Those 'at risk' were unable to retell narratives, needed high levels of support to comprehend texts and produced less cohesive personal recounts. The linguistic analysis revealed vocabulary and rhetorical organisation affected the reconstruction of oral narratives. These children also seemed to find comprehending difficult when questions or recall involved following reference, negotiating marked Theme or drawing inferences. The study was designed as a series of one to one literacy experiences. A listening comprehension test showed that all children except one benefitted from the experience. The findings underline the importance of oral language development and the value of interactive teaching experiences to the attainment of sophisticated literacy skills.

Master of Philosophy in Education / Literacy skills include expressive language, oral and written, and receptive language, comprehension. This study explores both aspects of language in six Kindergarten children differing in early literacy development- three judged by teacher assessment to be 'at risk', and three acquiring Kindergarten skills as expected. Oral retellings of a familiar narrative and an unfamiliar story just heard, and a personal recount were taped and analysed using Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. Comprehension responses to individually shared narratives were also collected and analysed. The children's use of language and comprehension responses varied significantly. Those 'at risk' were unable to retell narratives, needed high levels of support to comprehend texts and produced less cohesive personal recounts. The linguistic analysis revealed vocabulary and rhetorical organisation affected the reconstruction of oral narratives. These children also seemed to find comprehending difficult when questions or recall involved following reference, negotiating marked Theme or drawing inferences. The study was designed as a series of one to one literacy experiences. A listening comprehension test showed that all children except one benefitted from the experience. The findings underline the importance of oral language development and the value of interactive teaching experiences to the attainment of sophisticated literacy skills.

Master of Philosophy in Education / Literacy skills include expressive language, oral and written, and receptive language, comprehension. This study explores both aspects of language in six Kindergarten children differing in early literacy development-three judged by teacher assessment to be 'at risk', and three acquiring Kindergarten literacy skills as expected. Oral retellings of a familiar narrative and an unfamiliar story just heard, and a personal recount were taped and analysed using Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. Comprehension responses to individually shared narratives were also collected and analysed. The children's use of language and comprehension responses varied significantly. Those 'at risk' were unable to retell narratives, needed high levels of support to comprehend texts and produced less cohesive personal recounts. The linguistic analysis revealed vocabulary and rhetorical organisation affected the reconstruction of oral narratives. These children also seemed to find comprehending difficult when questions or recall involved following reference, negotiating marked Theme or drawing inferences. The study was designed as a series of one to one literacy experiences. A listening comprehension test showed that all children except one benefitted from the experience. The findings underline the importance of oral language development and the value of interactive teaching experiences to the attainment of sophisticated literacy skills.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om hur lärare i årskurs 4-6 beskriver att elevers läsförståelse kan utvecklas med hjälp av samtal om texter inom svenskämnet. Syftet uppfylls genom att följande frågeställningar besvaras: Hur använder sig lärare av samtal om texter i läsförståelseundervisningen? Hur beskriver lärare att samtal om texter kan påverka elevers läsförståelse? Intervjustudien har sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i den sociokulturella teorin om hur lärande sker i en social kontext samt i Vygotskijs teori om den proximala utvecklingszonen. Intervjustudien har en kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer använts som metod för datainsamling. Fyra lärare som undervisar i svenska i årskurs 4-6 har intervjuats. Resultatet visade att lärarna beskriver att de använder sig av samtal om texter för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse. Det framkom att eleverna får samtala om olika typer av texter i skilda sammanhang men att läsförståelseutveckling förutsätter att eleven får möta texter på rätt nivå och som engagerar. Slutsatsen i intervjustudien är att de intervjuade lärarna uppfattar att samtal om texter har betydelse för elevernas utveckling av läsförståelsen och att lärarna använder sig av det i undervisningen. Eleverna behöver med stigande ålder bli mer självständiga i arbetet med läsförståelse och i samtal om texter, för att det ska bli möjligt behöver lärarna modellera olika strategier för både läsförståelse och textsamtal. Lärarna beskriver dock inte hur de konkret gör för att med tiden överlämna ansvaret för samtal om texter till eleverna. / The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how teachers in the grades 4-6 describes that pupils can develop their reading comprehension by using text talks within the Swedish subject. The aim is to be fulfilled through answering the following questions: How do teachers use text talks in the reading comprehension education? How do teachers describe that text talks can affect pupils reading comprehension? The interview study has its theoretical starting point in the socio-cultural theory and how learning takes place through a social context and in Vygotskijs theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. The interview study has a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews have been used as a method for collecting data. Four teachers who teach Swedish in grades 4-6 were interviewed. The results of the study shows that teachers describes that they use text talks to develop pupils reading comprehension. The result also showed that the pupils get to talk about several types of texts in different contexts, but that reading comprehension development requires students to be exposed to engaging texts at the right level. The conclusion of the interview study is that the teachers who were interviewed perceives that text talks are important for students’ development of reading comprehension and that the teachers use text talks in their teaching. With increasing age, the students need to become more independent in the work with reading comprehension and in text talks, for this to be possible the teachers need to model different strategies for both reading comprehension and text talks. However, the teachers do not describe exactly how they hand over the responsibility for text talks to the students over time.

Att elever kan läsa och förstå innehåll i texter är avgörande för att elever ska vara en del av samhället. I skolan och i vardagen möts elever av olika texttyper vilket medför att det ställs krav på elever att kunna läsa och förstå texter. Det ställs därför krav på lärare att ge elever strategier att använda sig av vid sitt läsande och vid arbete med olika texter för att bidra till att elever utvecklar läsförståelse. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att bidra med ökad kunskap om lärares beskrivningar om hur de hjälper elever att utveckla sin läsförståelse. Det sociokulturella perspektivet ligger till grund för studien då läsförståelseutveckling kan förklaras genom att mening skapas i en social kontext. Den metod som studien grundas på är kvalitativ metod och semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med fem legitimerade lärare som arbetar i årskurs 4-6. Studiens resultat visar att olika strategier för att elever ska utveckla sin ordförståelse utgör en central del i lärarnas läsförståelseundervisning. Att tillsammans samtala om texter på olika sätt är även ett vanligt förekommande element i lärarnas undervisning. Lärarna beskriver att de på olika sätt arbetar med att elever ska utveckla en förmåga att kunna läsa och att svara på frågor som finns mellan och bortom raderna för att utveckla en djupare förståelse för texters innehåll. Lässtrategierna som ingår i undervisningsmodellen Reciprocal Teaching beskrivs av några lärare som en del av läsundervisningen och dessa lässtrategier är: att förutspå, att reda ut oklarheter, att ställa frågor på texten och att sammanfatta. Samtliga lärare arbetar på olika sätt för att tydliggöra för eleverna att ta sig an en text och detta görs genom modellering, att lärarna påminner eleverna om sin lässtrategianvändning, att få en översikt över texter och att ge elever en förförståelse för texters innehåll och struktur. Resultatet visar även att elever får arbeta tillsammans i arbetet med lässtrategier och läsförståelse för att stötta och hjälpa varandra, vilket kopplas till det sociokulturella perspektivet. Slutligen visar studiens resultat att de lässtrategier som är effektiva för elevers läsförståelseutveckling är en kombination av flera. Att läsa mellan raderna, att göra förutsägelser, att läsa om och att ta reda på svåra ord är de lässtrategier som av lärarna beskrivs som effektiva för elevers läsförståelseutveckling. Slutsatsen med föreliggande studie är att lärare i årskurs 4-6 på olika sätt undervisar om lässtrategier för att bidra till elevers läsförståelseutveckling och att lässtrategier utgör en central del i lärares svenskundervisning. / That students can read and understand the contents of texts is critical for students to be a part of the society. In school and in everyday life, students encounter different text types, which means that students are required to be able to read and understand texts. As a result, teachers are required to provide students with strategies to use when reading and when working with different texts to help students develop their reading comprehension. The purpose of this study is to contribute to increased knowledge about teachers' descriptions of how they help students develop their reading comprehension. The sociocultural perspective forms the basis of the study as reading comprehension development can be explained by the creation of meaning in a social context. The qualitative study is based on semi-structed interviews with five licensed teachers who work in grades 4-6. The result of the study shows that different strategies for students to develop their vocabulary comprehension form a central part of the teachers' teaching of reading comprehension. Discussing texts together in different ways is also a common element in teachers' teaching. The teachers describe that they work in different ways with students to develop an ability to be able to read and to answer questions that are between and beyond the lines, to develop a deeper understanding of the content of texts. The reading strategies included in the teaching model Reciprocal Teaching are described by some teachers as part of reading teaching and these reading strategies are: predicting, clarifying ambiguities, asking questions about the text and summarizing. All teachers work in different ways to make it clear for the students to deal with a text and this is done through modeling. The teachers remind the students of their reading strategy use, to get an overview of texts and to give students a pre-understanding of the content and structure of texts. The result also shows that students can work together using reading strategies and reading comprehension to support and help each other, which is linked to the sociocultural perspective. Finally, the result of the study shows that the reading strategies that are effective for students' reading comprehension development are a combination of several. Reading between the lines, making predictions, re-reading and figuring out difficult words are the reading strategies described by the teachers as effective for students' reading comprehension development. The conclusion of the present study is that teachers in grades 4-6 teach reading strategies in different ways to contribute to students' reading comprehension development and that reading strategies form a central part of the teachers' teaching of Swedish.