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.

This study investigated the interaction of mathematics teachers with learners’ mathematical errors. The teachers’ verbal interaction with learners’ errors during learning periods and their written interaction in assessment tasks were explored. The study was contextualized in grade 9 secondary school classrooms in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The investigation was epistemologically underpinned by constructivism/socio-constructivism. The investigation was qualitatively approached through four case studies. Structured and semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and learners’ written assessment tasks were employed as sources of data. The participating teachers were described in terms of their beliefs about mathematics, their beliefs about learners’ mathematical errors, their observed prevalent teaching approach and their professed and enacted interaction with learners’ mathematical errors. Within-case and cross-case comparisons ensued. The findings proposed that when teachers believed that the value of learners’ errors was vested in the corrections thereof, rather than employing these opportunities for discussion, valuable opportunities for learners to develop and improve their meta-cognitive abilities might potentially be lost. The findings further indicated that a focus on the mere correction of learners’ errors probably denied learners opportunities to develop a mathematical discourse. The results of the investigation illuminated that an emphasis on achievement during assessment, together with a disapproving disposition towards errors among teachers and learners, were hindrances. They acted as barriers to engendering a socio-constructivist learning environment in which interactions with learners’ errors could enhance learning and establish a negotiating mathematical community. A concurrence between the teachers’ prevalent teaching approach and their mathematical beliefs was confirmed. However, in two of the four cases, a dissonance was revealed between their prevalent teaching approach and their interaction with learners’ errors. Interaction with learners’ mathematical errors was hence identified as a separate and discrete component of a teacher’s practice. The findings suggest the explicit inclusion of error-handling in reform-oriented teacher-training and professional development courses to utilize learners’ mathematical errors more constructively. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Four adolescents identified as struggling writers in an English language arts classroom were interviewed about their perceptions of a writing task--how they judged their capability to succeed, how they ranked their passion, persistence, and confidence about writing, and how they responded to classroom activity. Student perceptions of self-efficacy and the related self-beliefs of motivation and interest as well as self-regulation were stated and implied as students described a planning worksheet, instructional scaffolding, peer interactions, and ownership of their writing. Wersch's view of mediated action and Engestrom's model of activity systems were the lens through which the students' descriptions were analyzed. Findings suggested surprisingly high self-efficacy despite low interest, contrasting attitudes between both school writing and their out-of-school writing, and the possibility that students labeled as struggling writers by their teachers may not see themselves as struggling.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of instructional activities that take place before reading, during reading, and after reading in guided reading and shared reading routines in elementary school classrooms in Utah school districts. This project used extant data from classroom observations to answer questions about how the observed activities were used as part of guided and shared reading routines in second and third grades within the five school districts of the Brigham Young University-Public School Partnership. The results of this study showed that there were differences in how teachers implemented the before reading, during reading, and after reading activities for guided and shared reading. The average teacher devoted more time to instructional activities during the reading portion of guided or shared reading than to instructional activities used before reading or after reading as part of the guided reading or shared reading routines. Differences between frequencies for instructional activities done after reading in guided reading differed significantly between second and third grade classrooms in the study. This study determined that school districts in the study had significantly different frequencies for instructional activities implemented before, during, and after reading in guided reading. These significant results and the results of other comparisons were used to provide insights about the possible implications of this study.

Listening comprehension and listening strategies plays a crucial role in the process of acquiring a language. This study aims to investigate to what extent the listening skill is practised in upper secondary schools in the south of Sweden. Research studies within the field of listening are few which indicates that the listening skill is not considered as essential in second language teaching as the other three skills: reading, writing and speaking. Previous studies indicate that teachers should educate students metacognitive awareness when teaching listening. The results summarize the teachers’ answers, reflections and attitudes conducted from semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the results focuses on the four categories distinguished from the teachers’ answers: Teaching Approaches, National Exams, The Individual Student and Metacognitive Awareness. Some of the teachers do not possess the knowledge of how to teach listening that develops students' listening proficiency. As a conclusion, the study shows that a hierarchy exists among the four skills to which teachers adjust to, and this may be detrimental in achieving educational aims.