Elever i grundskolan ska ges möjlighet att genom sin engelskundervisning utveckla en allsidig kommunikativ förmåga. Denna förmåga innebär att kunna anpassa sitt språk till olika situationer, syften och mottagare i det engelska språket. När en person talar med flyt utan pauser och stakningar har den ett utvecklat oral fluency. Det krävs en god förkunskap inom språket gällande bland annat vokabulär och grammatik, för att göra det möjligt att kunna tänka och prata samtidigt och på så sätt tala med oral fluency. Syftet med denna kunskapsöversikt är att bidra med en sammanfattning av vad forskning säger om grundskoleelevers utveckling i flyt i talad engelska och mer specifikt besvara frågeställningen: vilka faktorer påverkar grundskoleelevers oral fluency i ämnet engelska? De systematiska sökningar som gjorts har resulterat i ett empiriskt material bestående av 10 vetenskapliga studier, som bearbetats och analyserats. Resultatet av studien säger att de viktigaste faktorerna för att utveckla oral fluency är att bli exponerad för språket, få tillgång till effektiva undervisningsmetoder samt att befinna sig i en trygg studiemiljö.

L’approche constructiviste de l’émotion considère que les traits émotionnels ne sont pas des propriétés intrinsèques des objets mais se construisent « ici et maintenant » lors de l’interaction sensorimotrice individu/environnement. Notre objectif dans ce travail de thèse était de mettre en évidence des effets réciproques entre l’action et l’évaluation émotionnelle, fondés sur le caractère hédonique de la fluence motrice, c’est-à-dire l’aisance avec laquelle une action est réalisée. Nous avons choisi de manipuler la fluence motrice par des mouvements latéralisés des mains exécutés lors d’une tâche de jugement de valence. En effet, il existe des liens marqués entre valence et latéralité, de sorte que le côté dominant d’un individu est associé à la valence positive (Casasanto, 2009). Nous comparons des conditions de congruence et de non-congruence entre la valence des items et le geste de réponse. Nos résultats ont montré des influences bidirectionnelles des actions et de l’évaluation basées sur deux processus distincts. D’une part lors d’un jugement de valence, un effet de compatibilité facilite la réalisation du geste de réponse compatible grâce à la fluence motrice. D’autre part la fluence d’un comportement moteur entraine, par un effet d’attribution, des variations dans l’évaluation de mots neutres ou connotés positivement et négativement. De plus, nos travaux ont mis en évidence le rôle du dispositif de réponse (échelle de jugement de valence et localisation des touches de réponse) sur l’évaluation émotionnelle, soulignant le caractère situé du jugement. Ces résultats sont discutés à la lumière de la conception constructiviste de l’émotion en accord avec une approche incarnée et située de la cognition. / The constructivist approach of emotion considers that emotional features are not intrinsic properties of objects but are rather constructed « right here, right now » during the sensorimotor interactions between an individual and his environment. Our objective in this work was to demonstrate the mutual effects of action and emotional evaluation, grounded on the hedonic character of motor fluency (i.e. the ease with which an action is executed). We manipulated motor fluency by the use of lateralized hand movements in a valence judgment task. Indeed, valence and laterality appear to be linked since our dominant side is associated to positive valence (Casasanto, 2009). We compared conditions based on the congruency and non-congruency between the valence of items and the affective connotation of response movements. Our results indicated bidirectional influences of actions and evaluation based on two separate processes. On one hand during valence judgment, a compatibility effect facilitated the execution of a movement that was consistent due to motor fluency. On the other hand an attribution effect allowed the fluency of a movement to induce variations in the evaluation of neutral and emotional words. Furthermore, our works demonstrated the impact of the response device (orientation of a valence judgment scale and localization of response keys) on emotional judgment, underlying the situated character of evaluation. Those results are discussed in the light of the constructivist conception of emotion, in accordance with an embodied and situated approach of cognition.

nÃo hà / Este trabalho objetivou investigar aspectos da consciÃncia fonolÃgica e as relaÃÃes grafofonÃmicas no desenvolvimento da fluÃncia e da precisÃo leitoras de alunos com distorÃÃo idade-sÃrie. O estudo foi dividido em quatro etapas: teste piloto, prÃ-teste, intervenÃÃo e pÃs-teste. Participaram do teste piloto 94 alunos do 5 ano do Ensino Fundamental I de uma escola pÃblica municipal de Fortaleza, CE. A partir do teste piloto, foram identificados os alunos com distorÃÃo idade-sÃrie, destes, 16 alunos formaram dois grupos da pesquisa: Grupo de Estudo, GE (8 alunos) e Grupo Controle GC (8 alunos). Para realizaÃÃo do PrÃ-teste e PÃs-teste foram empregados dois instrumentos: Teste de PrecisÃo e FluÃncia Leitora com base em Carvalho e Pereira (2009) e um Teste de ConsciÃncia FonolÃgica: Instrumento de AvaliaÃÃo Sequencial â CONFIAS (MOOJEN, 2011). Identificaram-se dÃficits na fluÃncia e na precisÃo leitora, assim como baixo rendimento nas habilidades de manipulaÃÃo fonÃmica dos alunos com distorÃÃo idade/sÃrie, em proporÃÃes maiores do que nos alunos sem distorÃÃo. Foram organizadas e desenvolvidas 15 oficinas com procedimentos voltados para o desenvolvimento da consciÃncia fonolÃgica e a explicitaÃÃo das relaÃÃes grafofonÃmicas dos alunos do GE. ApÃs as oficinas, aplicou-se o pÃs-teste a fim de comparar os desempenhos dos alunos do GE e do GC e chegou-se a uma relaÃÃo recÃproca entre o baixo nÃvel de consciÃncia fonolÃgica e o baixo desempenho na fluÃncia e precisÃo leitoras. Percebeu-se que as metodologias voltadas para reflexÃo acerca dos mecanismos fonÃmicos e a explicitaÃÃo das relaÃÃes grafo-fonolÃgicas contribuÃram para melhorar habilidades de leitura dos alunos do GE, os quais obtiveram ganhos mais expressivos em fluÃncia, precisÃo e consciÃncia fonolÃgica do que os demais alunos. A partir dessas conclusÃes, foi elaborada uma proposta didÃtica com instruÃÃes de aplicaÃÃo aos professores, objetivando subsidiar o trabalho em sala de aula. A proposta contÃm uma sequÃncia de 15 oficinas com atividades voltadas para a compreensÃo das relaÃÃes grafofonÃmicas e o desenvolvimento de habilidades de consciÃncia fonolÃgica, sua aplicaÃÃo à indicada tanto para alunos que se encontram na fase inicial da aquisiÃÃo da leitura, bem como para alunos com dÃficits em fluÃncia e precisÃo leitoras. / This work aimed to investigate aspects of phonological awareness and graphophonemic relations in the development of reading fluency and accuracy of students with age-grade distortion. The study was divided into four stages: pilot test, pre-test, intervention and post-test. A total of 94 students from the 5th grade of Elementary School I of a municipal public school in Fortaleza, CE, participated in the pilot test. From the pilot test, students with age-grade distortion were identified. Of these, 16 students formed two research groups: Study Group, GE (8 students) and Control Group GC (8 students). In order to perform the Pre-test and Post-test two instruments were used: Precision Test and Reading Fluency based on Carvalho and Pereira (2009) and a Phonological Consciousness Test: Sequential Assessment Tool - CONFIAS (MOOJEN, 2011). Deficits in reading fluency and accuracy were identified, as well as poor performance in the phonemic manipulation skills of students with age-grade distortion, with higher proportions than in students without distortion. Fifteen workshops were organized and conducted with procedures aimed at the development of phonological awareness and the explication of the graphophonemic relations to the students of the experimental group. After the workshops, the post-test was administered in order to compare the performances of the students from the experimental and control groups, reaching a reciprocal relation between the low level of phonological awareness and the low performance in reading fluency and accuracy. It was observed that the methodologies focused on the reflection of phonemic mechanisms and the explanation of the grapho-phonological relations contributed to improve reading skills of the students in the experimental group, who obtained more expressive gains in fluency, accuracy and phonological awareness than the other students. From these conclusions, a teaching proposal was elaborated with instructions of application to teachers, aiming to aid their work in the classroom. The proposal contains a sequence of 15 workshops with activities aimed at understanding the graphophonemic relations and the development of skills of phonological awareness. Its application is indicated both for students who are in the initial phase of reading acquisition as well as for students with deficits in reading fluency and accuracy.

Este estudo tem como objetivo traçar o perfil da fluência verbal de surdos oralizados em Português Brasileiro, usuários de Língua Brasileira de Sinais, em relação aos aspectos de velocidade da fala, tipologia das disfluências da fala, e freqüência de rupturas da fala, tanto na produção oral quanto na produção multimodal. O perfil da fluência foi investigado através da análise perceptual de amostras de fala de 12 indivíduos adultos surdos profundos congênitos. A metodologia de coleta e a análise da fluência foi baseada em protocolo brasileiro de avaliação da fluência. Os dados obtidos foram comparados intra-grupo, ou seja, a produção oral dos surdos com sua produção multimodal, e inter-grupos, a produção dos surdos com os parâmetros de fluência de ouvintes falantes de Português Brasileiro. Os resultados indicam que a fluência da fala dos surdos, tanto na produção multimodal quanto na produção oral são diferentes da fluência dos ouvintes. A velocidade da fala dos surdos é mais lenta que a dos ouvintes. Quanto à tipologia das disfluências da fala, os surdos apresentam resultados diferentes dos ouvintes (exceto na produção oral, para disfluências comuns). A freqüência de rupturas da fala dos surdos é superior à dos ouvintes (exceto na produção multimodal, para a porcentagem de descontinuidade de fala). Este estudo evidencia a necessidade de novas pesquisas sobre a fluência verbal dos surdos. / This research aimed to determine the verbal fluency profile of deaf individuals with oral Brazilian Portuguese language and users of the Brazilian Sign Language, in relation to speech rate, type of disfluencies and frequency of speech disruptions, in the oral and multimodal production. The fluency profile was investigated through the perceptual analyses of the speech samples of 12 deaf adults with severe congenital hearing loss. The adopted methodology and the fluency analyses were based on the Brazilian protocol of fluency analyses. The obtained data was analysed within the group, that is, comparing the oral production of the deaf individuals to their multimodal production, and between groups, that is, comparing the oral production of the deaf individuals to the oral production of hearing individuals speakers of the Brazilian Portuguese. The results indicate that the fluency of speech of deaf individuals, in the multimodal and in the oral production, are different than hearing individuals. The speech rate of deaf individuals is slower than that presented by hearing individuals. In relation to the type of disfluencies presented, the deaf individuals present different results than that observed in hearing individuals (except in the oral roduction for the common disfluencies category). The frequency of the speech disruptions presented by the deaf individuals is superior to that of the hearing group (except for the multimodal production for the percentage of speech discontinuity category). This study emphasizes the need of more research about the verbal fluency of deaf individuals.

The focus in this article is on integrating instruction in reading fluency with mathematical concept development in the primary grades. Procedures are described herein for having students engage in hands-on mathematics while reading children's literature. In addition, students produce an audio compact disk and engage in performance reading in a readers' theater ormat with stick puppets. The strategies presented can be adapted in a variety of learning environments.

While a number of studies have sought to investigate ESL speakers' fluency gains over the course of one 15-week semester, few if any studies have investigated these changes over a longer developmental period. A critical factor in researching longitudinal change is that students do not often remain in an intensive English program (IEP) for more than two semesters before moving to a new school, applying to an American university, or returning to their home country. Longitudinal research, therefore, is necessary as program administrators, teachers, and learners all seek to understand points where change in oral fluency actually occurs. For this study data were collected from students in a large intensive English program over a 45-week period. For 39 ESL learners audio files from speaking tasks that were part of placement and end-of-semester level achievement tests were collected and analyzed. Specific oral fluency features such as speech rate, articulation rate, and pause frequency were investigated. This thesis will share the results of the analysis while also discussing the implications of the data for program administrators, teachers, and learners. Particular focus will be given to helping stakeholders understand specific changes that occurred in learners' fluency over the time period of three semesters.

Over the past several years, much research has investigated the role of pre-task planning, including solitary, group, and teacher-led planning, on the variables of complexity, fluency, and accuracy in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. (Foster & Skehan, 1996; Gaillard, 2013; Geng & Ferguson, 2013). Additionally, other studies have investigated L2 learners' use of paragraphs and/or the role of conjunctions, i.e. transition words and expressions, in developing ideas and increasing cohesion (Mendelson, 2012; Rass, 2015). A gap remains, however, in seeing how pre-speaking and transition word activities together can promote proficiency in terms of text type, i.e. the move from word level speech and producing strings of sentences to paragraph level discourse. This study seeks to fill this gap by examining two teaching methods, namely Prelude to Conversation, or pre-speaking (Thompson, 2009), and transition word activities, to investigate the effect that these teaching methods have on increasing complexity and fluency among Intermediate-level learners of French. Complexity was measured by investigating the sub-components of total transition words, taught transition words, total clauses, words per clause, and total words. Fluency was measured by investigating the sub-components of time duration (total minutes) and words per minute. Furthermore, a case study illustrates the implications of increases in complexity and fluency for text type. Subjects were recruited from third semester French courses at Brigham Young University and were subsequently divided into three groups with each group receiving a different teaching method: Group 1 received transition word pre-activities, Group 2 received pre-speaking with a focus on content and forms needed to respond to the task, and Group 3 received a combination of both teaching methods. The study lasted four weeks with a Pre-Test in week one, followed by two weeks of treatments before completing the Post-Test in the fourth week. During the second and third weeks, each group received their respective treatments before responding to prompts that were identical for each group. Following the data collection, the speech samples were transcribed and analyzed for the sub-components of complexity and fluency. Results show, when comparing the Pre-Test to the Post-Test, that pre-speaking has a broader impact on complexity and fluency, either alone or when combined with transition word activities, impacting in particular total clauses, total words and response duration. When transition word activities were taught alone, there were greater gains in the use of taught transition words. The findings also demonstrate that even simply practicing providing oral responses regardless of treatment did help learners make overall increases that led to Post-Test responses (without scaffolding) that did not return to Pre-Test levels.

Written expression can be a critical skill for academic, vocational, and social pursuits. Unfortunately, research suggests that students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) struggle to develop writing skills. Paragraph text-writing is a component of written expression and refers to constructing multiple sentences about a singular topic with appropriate capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. The present study investigated the effects of a multicomponent intervention of explicit instruction and timed practice on the paragraph text-writing skills of four secondary student with IDD. The study included four dependent measures (paragraph text-writing rubric, total words written, and correct and incorrect writing sequences) and used a multiple-probe across participants design. Visual analysis and effect sizes revealed modest results. Three participants showed improvement on at least one of the dependent measures; one participant showed no improvement at all. The practical implications of this study are discussed within the context of existing writing literature, and the limitations are presented.

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency Scores in the fall of first grade as a predictor of SAT-10 results. A comparison of boys and girls, three ethnic groups (Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American), and three different reading risk groups were examined using multiple regression analyses. Analysis of data from a total of 27,000 participants from a cohort of Reading First schools in 2003/2004 confirmed Nonsense Word Fluency scores in the fall of first grade to be a significant predictor of the SAT-10 reading scores in the spring. Differences found between and within groups were determined very small when Cohen's effect size was calculated. These results support for the use of Nonsense Word Fluency as a valid and useful early literacy assessment tool for determining which children likely need early additional reading instructional support in order to be successful readers.

Singing exaggerates the language of reading. The students find their voices in the rhythm and bounce of language by using music as an alternative text. A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted to investigate the use of an interactive sing-to-read program Tune Into Reading (Electronic Learning Products, 2006) as an alternative text, embedded within a heterogeneous music classroom. Measured by the Qualitative Reading Inventory-4 (QRI-4) (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006), the fluency, word recognition, comprehension, and instructional reading level of the treatment students were compared to their counterparts who sang as part of the regular music program. Concurrently, this investigation also provided a description of the peers’ interactions during the literacy task assigned by the music teacher. The intent of this study was to address the following three research questions. First, what is the difference in reading outcomes for students who used the singing software verses the students who sang as part of their regular music curriculum? Second, are the reading outcomes different when the students were grouped by FCAT reading levels? Third, how do the peers interact during the literacy task of singing to read? The first two questions addressed the quantitative phase of this study to assess the collective differences on the dependent variables overtime and by group. The qualitative phase in this study used an interpretive case study approach to describe peer interactions during the assigned literacy task. The study findings suggest that rereading through singing, using the interactive singing program, Tune Into Reading, was more effective regardless of the reading levels for treatment students compared to control students. In addition, prosody appeared to have a direct connection to reading comprehension. Furthermore, the use of the interactive program provided opportunities for differentiated reading level achievement. Finally, group dynamics highly influenced the early adolescent’s motivation, engagement, participation, and successful outcomes in reading fluency.