In an inner-city elementary school, students continue to lag in reading proficiency, and implementation of research-based, district-mandated teaching strategies is not well understood. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of mandated, read-aloud expository text strategies in K-2 classrooms. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's social constructivism model of learning, which envisions students learning by interacting with teachers and peers, in this case, using read-aloud strategies, until they become autonomous, expository readers. The research questions focused on benefits and challenges of the implementation of read-aloud expository text by K-2 teachers who were given a 5-year mandate by the school to use strategies of scaffolding, graphic organizers, think-alouds, and text talk. Data were gathered from 5 teachers who volunteered to participate and were trained in the strategies. Data collection included individual interviews, collaborating interviews, reflective journals, and field notes. Open coding and thematic analysis identified 6 themes of teacher perceptions, including benefits, situational strategies, and explanations for use, challenges, support, and implementation. Throughout the data collection process, teachers suggested the use of Text Talk Kit materials. These kits, in use by other districts, may be beneficial to all teachers and may lead to social change by allowing teachers to access materials to better instruct all struggling readers, a benefit across all curricular areas and for all students.

In an inner-city elementary school, students continue to lag in reading proficiency, and implementation of research-based, district-mandated teaching strategies is not well understood. The purpose of this case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of mandated, read-aloud expository text strategies in K-2 classrooms. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky's social constructivism model of learning, which envisions students learning by interacting with teachers and peers, in this case, using read-aloud strategies, until they become autonomous, expository readers. The research questions focused on benefits and challenges of the implementation of read-aloud expository text by K-2 teachers who were given a 5-year mandate by the school to use strategies of scaffolding, graphic organizers, think-alouds, and text talk. Data were gathered from 5 teachers who volunteered to participate and were trained in the strategies. Data collection included individual interviews, collaborating interviews, reflective journals, and field notes. Open coding and thematic analysis identified 6 themes of teacher perceptions, including benefits, situational strategies, and explanations for use, challenges, support, and implementation. Throughout the data collection process, teachers suggested the use of Text Talk Kit materials. These kits, in use by other districts, may be beneficial to all teachers and may lead to social change by allowing teachers to access materials to better instruct all struggling readers, a benefit across all curricular areas and for all students.

No description available.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

No description available.

In this dissertation, I investigate the cognitive processes integral to intertextual readings by referring to the cognitive linguistics framework known as conceptual blending. I refer to different genres of intertextual texts and then explain these intertexts in terms of cognitive principles and processes, such as conceptual blending networks. By applying the framework of conceptual blending to intertexts within different genres, I suggest that the underlying cognitive processes are universal for the interpretation of any type of intertextual text. My findings indicate that conceptual blending underpins intertextuality which is cognitive, creative and dynamic in nature. This means that the meaning we construct from intertexts is dependent on the context in which they appear and cannot be studied in isolation. Investigating intertextual texts from a cognitive linguistics perspective reveals new inferences (such as the influence of implicit knowledge as a type of intertext) and the creativity involved in the meaning-making process. / Linguistics / M.A. (Linguistics)

There are mounting concerns to ensure that children are prepared for the literacy demands of the 21st century. Reading inability at 9 years of age portends a lifetime of illiteracy for the majority of struggling readers. Given the greater weight placed on expository text from the junior grades onwards, children with reading disabilities become increasingly constrained by their reading deficits, putting them at risk of falling ever further behind their normally achieving peers. This ethnographic study, extending over an 8 month period and finishing on the last day of the school year, targeted older poor readers at the junior level. Less is known about their reading deficits, relative to younger struggling readers. Therefore, the first of three principal objectives aimed to extend understanding of the processes whereby older poor readers interact with expository text by providing a qualitative finer-grained assessment of their particular difficulties than presently exists. The second objective was focused on developing and implementing a cohesive program of research-based interventions that targeted critical requirements of successful interactions with expository text, including the ability to summarize, locate information, and attend to text structure. The third objective involved establishing and describing a collaborative, intensive research partnership with two classroom teachers at the junior level to implement and evaluate research-grounded interventions for their students with reading difficulties, working within the context of the regular classroom. The dual researcher role, as collaborator with the teachers and instigator of the intervention program, shaped a reconfigured model of special education, responsive to a diverse range of student needs and abilities, and situated within a content-rich, challenging curriculum. Parallel lessons afforded the opportunity to tier instruction with increasing intensity for the children with the highest needs. Results showed the critical importance of aggressively promoting self-efficacy, self-regulation, and metacognitve awareness for older struggling readers. As these children’s strategic repertoire increased, so, too, did their comprehension and comprehension-monitoring. Differentiated instruction that was tiered, flexible, and responsive supported social inclusion and social collaboration. Social context and authentic content became interwoven and instrumental in engaging the children, maintaining their motivation and sustaining their commitment to read to learn. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-27 15:10:03.202

In this dissertation, I investigate the cognitive processes integral to intertextual readings by referring to the cognitive linguistics framework known as conceptual blending. I refer to different genres of intertextual texts and then explain these intertexts in terms of cognitive principles and processes, such as conceptual blending networks. By applying the framework of conceptual blending to intertexts within different genres, I suggest that the underlying cognitive processes are universal for the interpretation of any type of intertextual text. My findings indicate that conceptual blending underpins intertextuality which is cognitive, creative and dynamic in nature. This means that the meaning we construct from intertexts is dependent on the context in which they appear and cannot be studied in isolation. Investigating intertextual texts from a cognitive linguistics perspective reveals new inferences (such as the influence of implicit knowledge as a type of intertext) and the creativity involved in the meaning-making process. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)