With the ratification of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) in 2006, states were required to permit public schools to provide varying levels of intervention for students who showed that they were struggling in one or more core educational areas (Department of Education 300.307(a) (2), 2006). This recommendation supported the use of the framework known as Response to Intervention (RtI) that was familiar in the research literature (Department of Education, 2006). The theoretical framework chosen to support the RtI process in which three RtI programs are being analyzed is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). ABA is a theory that suggests interventions initiated to create improvement for an area in which a person has learning or developmental challenges needs to be carefully evaluated individually with each case and then a series of proactive responses to the data are initiated with the goal of having the individual experience improvement and growth (Axelrod, 2012). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the CST reading proficiency scores of socio-economically challenged middle school students who participated in one of three interventions: low reading students who participated in an intensive reading program, low reading students who participated in the English Language Development (ELD) program, and low reading students who only participated in a Sustained Silent Reading program. The methodology chosen was a quasi-experimental study because there were three independent variables: the Intensive Intervention Group (II), the English Language Development Intervention Group (ELD), and the Silent Sustained Reading Intervention Group (SSR). A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted on all three independent variables using the dependent variable to establish any significant differences and to measure any possible academic mean growth. Two research questions were analyzed, including how the three groups scores would compare using the MANOVA and the impact of the interventions when comparing sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to each other as separate groups. The results indicate that the use of Applied Behavior Analysis Creating research based intervention systems at the middle school can have positive results and can justify utilizing financial resources at the middle school level to provide RtI systems.

Skolans uppdrag är att ge eleverna förutsättningar att leva i ett föränderligt samhälle och att lära ut språk som gör att de kan delta i olika samhällsfrågor. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka didaktiska val lärare gör vid muntlig undervisning för att utveckla elevernas ordförståelse. Frågeställningen som studien utgår ifrån är ”vilka didaktiska val ligger till grund för lärares muntliga undervisning, i årskurserna F-3?” Utifrån en granskning av tidigare vetenskapliga studier som berör föreliggande studies frågeställning, kunde fyra teman synliggöras, vilket utgör studiens analytiska ramverk. Dessa är ”lärarens ordval”, ”lärarens upprepning av ord”, ”lärarens konkretisering av ord” och ”dialogisk undervisning”. Det analytiska ramverket används för att analysera och diskutera resultatet. Studiens empiri samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med 11 lärare som är verksamma i F-3. Empirin analyseras därefter med teoridriven tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att lärarna väljer ut ämnesord och vardagsord. Lärare väljer också att upprepa ord på olika sätt i olika situationer samt att konkretisera ord med exempelvis bilder. Dialogisk undervisning förekommer genom att lärare exempelvis låter elever förklara ord för varandra. Gemensamt för alla lärare i studien är att en del didaktiska val är planerade och andra är mer spontana. I föreliggande studie framkommer det även att tidsbrist gör att dialogisk undervisning och repetition av ord ibland bortprioriteras. Vetskapen om detta samt vikten av ordförståelse pekar på att det hade varit intressant att genomföra en kvalitativ studie där lärare i sin undervisning prioriterar att utgå från alla fyra teman inom ordförståelse som denna studies analytiska ramverk presenterar. Detta med syftet att se om prioriteringen av alla fyra teman är gynnsamt för elevers ordförståelse i praktiken. / The school’s mission is to provide pupils with the conditions to live in a changing society and to teach languages that enable them to participate in various social issues. The study aims to investigate which didactic choices teachers make in verbal teaching to develop pupils’ vocabulary. The study’s question is “what didactic choices form the basis for teachers’ verbal teaching, in grades F-3?”. Based on a review of previous scientific studies relating to this study’s question, four themes could be highlighted, constituting the study’s analytical framework. These are “the teacher’s choice of words,” ”the teacher’s repetition of words,” “the teacher’s concretization of words,” and “dialogical teaching.” The analytical framework is used to analyze and discuss the results. The study’s empirical data was collected through semi- structured interviews with 11 teachers working in F-3. The empirical data is then analyzed with theory-driven thematic analysis. The results show that teachers select subject words and everyday words. Teachers also choose to repeat words in different ways in different situations and to concretize words with, for example, pictures. Dialogic teaching occurs when teachers, for example, let students explain words to each other. Common to all teachers in the study is that some didactic choices are planned and others are more spontaneous. The present study also shows that lack of time means that dialogical teaching and repetition of words are sometimes not prioritized. The knowledge of this and the importance of word comprehension indicates that it would have been interesting to conduct a qualitative study where teachers in their teaching prioritize starting from all four themes in word comprehension that this study’s analytical framework presents. The purpose of this would be to determine if prioritizing all four themes is beneficial for students’ word comprehension in practice.

Denna kvalitativa studie syftar till att utöka kunskapen om hur lågstadielärare kan använda högläsning för att stimulera språkutvecklingen hos elever med svenska som andraspråk. Detta görs genom att undersöka hur åtta lärare i lågstadiet arbetar med andraspråksperspektivet i högläsning. Datainsamlingen genomfördes genom semistrukturerade personliga intervjuer. Resultaten från denna studie visade att lärare använder högläsning på olika sätt och i olika omfattning men att samtliga tillämpar det någon gång. De flesta lärarna anser att det är viktigt med bildstöd och att förklara ord och meningar. Många menade dessutom att samtal kring det lästa är av stor vikt när det kommer till högläsning och att val av bok spelar stor roll. Vid val av bok bör läraren hitta på såväl innehåll som språklig nivå och boken får gärna knyta an till elevernas bakgrunder. / This qualitative study aims to expand knowledge about how primary school teachers can use read-aloud to stimulate the language development of students with Swedish as a second language by investigating how eight primary school teachers include a second language perspective in read-aloud activities. Data for this study was gathered using semi-structured personal interviews. The results revealed that teachers employ read-aloud practices in various ways and to varying degrees, but all of them incorporate it at some point. The majority of teachers consider visual support and explaining words and sentences to be important. Furthermore, they also emphasized the significance of discussions about the language and the content of the reading material. They highlighted that the choice of read-aloud books plays a pivotal role and both the content and the linguistic level of the book should be considered. It is also beneficial for the chosen book to be culturally relevant and resonate with the students' backgrounds.

Reading aloud is something that is considered important for children's language development,I have noticed that this is quite common, especially in the younger ages. My experience ofreading aloud had me curious to study what the attitude towards reading aloud as a languagedevelopment activity looks like among selected teachers at primary school junior years 1-3.The purpose of my thesis is to investigate how teachers view reading aloud as a languagedevelopment activity. I also want to investigate how reading aloud is planned into theschedule in relation to the curriculum. My selection to gather information is based on selectedquestions through semi-structure interviews in which eight teachers from grades 1, 2 and 3participated. All educators use reading aloud, but the scope and purpose vary. All participantsshare the same view of reading aloud, they say it is important and meaningful. The result isclear; all educators who participated in the study use reading aloud as an activity in theirteaching for language learning, but in varying forms for their students. My personalexperience does not differ at all from the results of the study.

Denna uppsats undersöker vad den språkliga dimensionen består utav inom gymnasieskolansIndustritekniska program, med fokus på det svenska språket. Undersökningen har gjorts medhjälp av intervjuer där sex undervisande lärare på programmet har fått svara på frågorgällande språket och hur det relaterar till utbildningens programgemensamma ämnen ochkurser. Vilken ställning anses språket ha i utbildningen och hur används det i enverkstadsmiljö när det kommer till undervisning? Undersökningen är kopplad till teorier kringlitteracitet och hur lärarnas strategier utifrån detta ser ut när det kommer till hur språketanvänds inom yrket och sedermera det kommande yrket. Genom intervjuerna framkommerdet att språket inom det Industritekniska programmet har en viktig funktion när det kommertill både undervisning och kopplingen till det kommande yrket ser ut. I det praktiska påprogrammet återfinns krav på en språklig kompetens som grundar sig i yrkets fackspråk ochterminologi. / This thesis examines what the linguistic dimensions consists of within the upper secondaryshool’s Industrial Engineering programme, with a focus on the Swedish language. The surveywas conducted using the help of interviews where six vocational teachers within theprogramme have been asked questions regarding the language and how it relates to theprogramme-wide subjects and courses. What kind of position is the language considered tohave within the education and how is it used in a workshop eniviroment when it comes toteaching? The study is linked to theories about literacy and what teacher’s strategies based onthis look like when it comes to how the language is used in the education and the futureprofession. The interviews show that the language within the Industrial Technical programmehas an important function when it comes to both teaching and the coming connection to thefuture profession. The practicality of the programme includes requirements for a linguisticcompetence based on the professional language and terminology of the profession.

For almost 30 years, the school subject Swedish as a second language (Sva) has struggled with poor goal achievement, a high proportion of unqualified teachers and a political lack of interest in multilingualism. With large flows of refugees in recent years, there is a considerable number of students in Swedish primary school who are in need of a school subject with clear assessment routines for more effective second language teaching.In order to make visible how assessment routines are used for second language development and thus enable the purpose of this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with seven sva-teachers at six different primary schools in a medium-sized city in northern Sweden. A conventional content analysis has been done based on the transcribed material, through coding and thematization.Based on Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective and Hattie's theory of visible learning, this descriptive study investigates how and why the interviewed Swedish teachers apply continuous assessment of students' second language development.The result shows that even if the sva-teachers in this study use the same assessment tool to make students' progression in the second language visible, it is not certain that the effect of the assessment is the same because the same assessment tool is used for different purposes by different sva-teachers.

Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på hur lärare beskriver högläsning och dialogisk högläsning i klassrummet och hur de anser att det kan påverka elevers språkutveckling. Syftet är även att ta reda på hur lärare arbetar med högläsning och dialogisk högläsning samt dess möjligheter och utmaningar. Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerande intervjuer genomförts. Respondenterna i studien utgörs av fem behöriga grundlärare som arbetar i årskurserna F-3. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga lärare uppfattar att högläsning och dialogisk högläsning har en positiv effekt på elevers språkutveckling, bland annat på ordförrådet och deras förmåga att uttrycka sig. Studien baseras teoretiskt på det sociokulturella perspektivet med ett särskilt fokus på den proximala utvecklingszonen. / The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers describe reading aloud and dialogic reading in the classroom and how they believe it can affect students' language development. The purpose is also to find out how teachers work with reading aloud and dialogic reading, as well as its opportunities and challenges. The study was carried out using a qualitative method where semi-structured interviews were made. The respondents in the study are five qualified primary teachers who work in grades F-3. The results show that all teachers perceive that reading aloud and dialogic reading have a positive effect on students' language development, including vocabulary and their ability to express themselves. The study is theoretically based on the sociocultural perspective with a particular focus on the proximal development zone.

In this study, we present the different teaching strategies that participating preschool teachers describe that they use to stimulate and develop children's language through fiction. We will present what factors influence the selection of fiction at the preschool. Furthermore, we describe the preschool teachers' perceptions of how they describe their conditions and knowledge of literature work together with the children. We chose to do a qualitative study where we visited different preschools to interview active preschool teachers based on semi-structured interview questions. When compiling the results, we used a phenomenographic methodological approach to obtain preschool teachers' different perceptions of the language-stimulating work. The most significant thing we were able to get in the result is that all preschool teachers in our study described an awareness of the importance of language-stimulating teaching in preschool. It also emerged that preschool teachers included language-stimulating activities through planned teaching or spontaneously arising situations. We were further able to discern in the results how the preschool teachers in our study used different strategies to stimulate children's language. Reading aloud, book conversations, image creation, dramatization and reflection conversations were some strategies that emerged. As a conclusion, through the interviews we were able to get the preschool teachers' perceptions and what conditions and challenges they experience with the language-developing work in preschool. Something that we have found important from the study is that preschool teachers' knowledge and prerequisites have a significant role in children's language development and where children's language is stimulated and challenged in social contexts. / I den här studien presenterar vi vilka olika undervisningsstrategier medverkande förskollärare beskriver att de använder sig av för att stimulera och utveckla barns språk genom skönlitteratur. Vi kommer att presentera vilka faktorer som påverkar urvalet av skönlitteratur på förskolan. Vidare redogör vi förskollärarnas uppfattningar av hur de beskriver sina förutsättningar och kunskaper kring litteraturarbete tillsammans med barnen. Vi valde att göra en kvalitativ studie där vi besökte olika förskolor för att intervjua verksamma förskollärare utifrån semistrukturerade intervjufrågor. Vid sammanställningen av resultatet utgick vi från en fenomenografisk metodansats för att få fram förskollärares olika uppfattningar om det språkstimulerande arbetet. Det mest betydelsefulla vi kunde vi få fram i resultatet var att samtliga förskollärare i vår studie beskrev en medvetenhet kring vikten av språkstimulerande undervisning i förskolan. Det framkom också att förskollärare inkluderade språkstimulerande aktiviteter genom planerad undervisning eller spontant uppkomna situationer. Vi kunde vidare i resultatet urskilja hur förskollärarna i vår studie använde sig av olika strategier för att stimulera barns språk. Högläsning, boksamtal, bildskapande, dramatisering och reflektionssamtal var några strategier som framkom. Som avslutning kunde vi genom intervjuerna få fram förskollärares uppfattningar och vilka förutsättningar och utmaningar de upplever med det språkutvecklande arbetet i förskolan. Något som vi funnit som viktigt utifrån studien är att förskollärares kunskaper och förutsättningar har en betydande roll för barns språkutveckling och där barns språk stimuleras och utmanas i sociala kontexter.

Abstract In this study, the role-playing game Final Fantasy 7 was analysed in regards of its qualities for English language development. Areas concerning language, specifically vocabulary, and video games explored in this study were academic words, words that express time, collocations, frequency, and keywords. Other areas investigated in this study are video games in connection to the syllabus for English, students’ outside of school interests, and implications for teaching. Data from a corpus-based vocabulary analysis showed that the players of Final Fantasy 7 will encounter a rich variety of words and linguistic features. Further, the text of Final Fantasy 7 shares a lot of the same qualities with texts from English 5 and 6, concerning academic words. Although, an analysis of keywords in the game and in the school texts also showed some differences, mainly in terms of grammatical variations, which indicate that Final Fantasy 7 can function as a complement to typical school texts.

Swedish school today is a mixture of children who come from different countries and speak different languages. Due to conflicts and war raging in various parts of the world, the refugee stream of people seeking asylum in Sweden has put much pressure on the schools around the country. Studies show that immigrant children fall behind in the education and that students whose first language is not Swedish do not reach the knowledge requirements and goals for English to the same degree of success as other groups of students. The aim for this thesis was to investigate what teachers in a K-3 English classrooms in Sweden do to support immigrant students, and what can be found in previous research to explain such poor performance. The aim was also to explore what methods teachers report using and how these methods are connected to Lgr11 and previous research. The use of Swedish instead of the target language when teaching English seems to be dominating in the schools. Since research found shows that children tend to use their first language when learning additional languages, the use of Swedish becomes demanding and confusing for the immigrant students: they end up having to learn a new language in a new language.