The thesis focuses on teachers’ pedagogical subject knowledge and teaching of reading in English as a second language (L2) in Botswana Primary Schools. The participants consisted of ten teachers from four lower primary classrooms setting. To carry out the research, I adopted the qualitative methodology. The three modes of inquiry used in the study are semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews. All the data were transcribed, coded and analysed qualitatively. For organisation purposes, the NVivo 8 software package was used in handling the interview data gathered from the study. The findings revealed that teachers’ classroom practices were not always consistent with their pedagogical subject knowledge. They demonstrated having knowledge on how reading ought to be taught and it was observed that in most cases, their beliefs were not put into their classroom practices. This research highlighted the importance of the phonics instructions in teaching early reading, which most of the teachers’ practices revealed that they lack confidence in teaching. Therefore, this seems to have an impact on the learners in lower classes because this level is considered the foundation, which needs solid base of reading strategies. Most recent studies have revealed that a lack of phonics based on reading instructions leave learners without important decoding skills necessary in recognizing letter/sound relationships in reading. It emerged that most of the activities observed focussed on word level because more emphasis was placed on decoding than comprehension. Although the study indicates that teachers face a number of challenges, which might have an impact in practising their espoused beliefs, it seems that they did not get proper foundation from pre-service training with phonics instructions. Hopefully the insights presented in this study can lead to increased awareness of how reading can be effectively taught and how teachers base classroom practices on their experiences and the contexts within which they work.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Ron Mullis, Florida State University, College of Human Sciences, Dept. of Family and Child Sciences. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Mar. 15, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PH. D.)--Michigan State University. Educational Psychology & Educational Technology, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Sept. 8, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-131). Also issued in print.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-06-28T19:45:17Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO COM CATALOGAÇÃO ANDREZA.pdf: 2534209 bytes, checksum: 72d1d17e06bb5a293a191f5143b69074 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T19:45:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO COM CATALOGAÇÃO ANDREZA.pdf: 2534209 bytes, checksum: 72d1d17e06bb5a293a191f5143b69074 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-31 / A literatura apresenta profunda relevância para a formação integral do indivíduo. Repensar e modificar a maneira de ler o texto literário e propor atividades de leitura que levam ao letramento literário contribui para a vida social e cognitiva do sujeito, levando-o a desenvolver sua capacidade de crítica e argumentação, além de fazê-lo compreender o mundo em que vive e se sentir parte dele. O letramento literário compreende, desta forma, as práticas de leitura literária como função social e colabora para a sua formação como leitor independente. É possível encontrar muitas pesquisas que incentivam a leitura, porém encontramos poucas dissertações que orientam o trabalho com o letramento literário na escola, com a leitura dos clássicos, do como fazer, do como ler e do como proceder com esses textos. Desta maneira, esta dissertação discute a importância do letramento literário como objetivo a ser atingido no ensino de literatura. Nessa perspectiva, esse texto busca evidenciar os benefícios que a leitura literária, mediada adequadamente, pode fornecer para a formação social e leitora do aluno. Apresentamos o conceito de letramento, para, então, compreender o letramento literário, pois é preciso partir dos conceitos basilares para se avançar à mediação da leitura literária na escola. A partir das reflexões sobre letramentos, propomos uma sequência de atividades, de acordo com os fundamentos do letramento literário de Cosson (2014a), aplicável ao 7º ano do ensino fundamental, para uma escola da rede pública federal do Recife, tendo por base o livro “O Pequeno Príncipe”, de Saint Exupéry. Utilizamos a pesquisa bibliográfica centrada, principalmente, nas obras de Paulino (1998) Paulino e Pinheiro (2004), Lajolo (2000), Kleiman (1995, 2005), Soares (2003, 2005), Colomer (2007), Dalvi, Rezende e Jover-Faleiros (2013), Cosson (2014), entre outros autores. Desta forma, este estudo originou-se da necessidade de mais estudos sobre o ensino de literatura com vistas à formação do letramento literário do aluno e ampliar as reflexões sobre o ensino de literatura na escola. / Literature presents a deep relevance to a person‟s whole formation. Rethinking and modifying the manner of reading a literary text and proposing reading activities which lead to the literary literacy contribute to the person‟s social and cognitive life, leading them to develop their capacity of criticizing and argumentation and, besides, make possible for them to understand the world in which they live and feel part of it. This way, literary literacy comprehends the literary reading practices as a social function and something useful to develop an independent reader. It‟s possible to find many researches that reinforce the reading practice; nevertheless, only few studies really provide an effective orientation for the application of literary literacy at school, through the reading of classic literary texts, clarifying how to read them, what to do and how to deal with them. Thus, this work discusses the importance of literary literacy as a goal to be achieved by literature teaching. From this perspective, this text aims to highlight the benefits which literary literacy, if managed adequately, can provide for the student‟s social and intellectual formation. This research presents, yet, the concept of literacy, so that we can make clear the meaning of literary literacy, because it‟s necessary to begin from the basic concepts in order to move forward with the literary literacy management at school. Considering the wonderings about literacy, we propose a set of activities, according to the principles of Cosson for literary literacy, applied to 7th grade of a federal public middle school in Recife, having as basis the book The Little Prince, by Saint Exupéry. We have mainly focused our bibliographic research on Paulino (1998) Paulino e Pinheiro (2004), Lajolo (2000), Kleiman (1995, 2005), Soares (2003, 2005), Colomer (2007), Dalvi e Jover-Faleiros (2013), Cosson (2014), among others. Therefore, this study originated from the need for more studies around the topic, objecting the student‟s literary literacy formation and the broadening of considerations about literature teaching at school.

Many adult literacy and adult basic education learners struggle with various forms of negative emotions. Self-doubts are often a result of resistance to earlier schooling experiences and how they processed those experiences. Adults need to shed emotions that interfere with progress and develop the self-confidence needed to persist with academic work. There is a need for a strategy to help learners become more self-confident, persistent, and self-directed. The purpose of this study was to develop, pre-test, field-test, post-test, and refine a training program designed to help students move closer to self-directed learning. The data was collected through formative and summative evaluation strategies that revolved around a series of critical dialogues with learners. Findings related to the unlearning process revealed movement by the participants towards several enabling outcomes. These outcomes included unlearning the "blaming-the-victim" mentality; working through the shame issue of returning to school as an adult; resisting the self-fulfilling prophecy that they are incapable of academic work; giving themselves credit for overcoming barriers; and moving towards developing a stronger sense of critical awareness. This study also found that: (1) learners can benefit from reflecting on their earlier schooling experiences and surrounding circumstances; (2) learners want their critical voices heard; and (3) critical reflection and critical pedagogy are important processes in helping learners overcome negative emotions and getting at those voices. In conducting the evaluation, several problems in the design were easily rectified, but others were left unsolved. Empowerment and participatory practices are not easy, and program staff may find some of the results too critical, difficult to deal with, and unpleasant. What characteristics make for a good facilitator? Should a practitioner from the learning center be present during the critical dialogues? The participants not only endorsed the program, but had recommendations for practitioners who might consider participating in a similar program designed specifically for them.

Adult literacy has become more important today. Nearly half of the millions who lack a high school education are non-English speaking adults in urban communities. Understanding the problems these adults confront in learning English is crucial to providing quality literacy services. Adult learners come to the learning tasks with fully developed cognitive capacity and life experiences. Learners' perception of the learning task affects the teaching and learning process. Despite many studies in L2 acquisition, very little is known about how adult L2 learners think about the process, particularly learners at the low literacy levels. In an attempt to find some commonality among Chinese adult ESOL learners, a survey was conducted in an urban community school. The study examined the perceptions of Chinese adult learners on the key issue in L2 learning, namely, L1 influence in learning L2 literacy skills. The study found that adult Chinese learners perceived L1 influence in learning English. Learners indicated positive L1 influence in some categories, but perceived significant negative L1 influence in more categories. Learners explained their perceptions in terms of similarities and differences between Chinese and English, the existence and non-existence of certain features in Chinese, their L1 learning experience and their learning philosophy. Their explanations also show different learner strategies and reflect the form of L1 education learners received. Learners also indicated preferred instructional approaches in their responses to the open-ended question. It is also indicated that learners perceive more L1 influence in superasegmental structures than in the segmental elements of the L2, even in places where L1 clearly affects the learning of the L2 segments. Among the four basic literacy skills, learning to speak English is the most difficult task as perceived by the Chinese adult learners. Listening is very difficult for most of the respondents. Writing is difficult for a significant number of learners while reading is perceived the least difficult by all learners. Areas for future research were pointed out. It is hoped that data from this study will serve as baseline information for future practitioner research in the adult literacy field.

This dissertation, based on an ethnographic study, seeks to identify and understand the gendered subject positionings of six working class girls enrolled in the Computer Shop of a rural vocational high school in the Northeastern United States. Since local law and Federal law clearly state that no person can be discriminated against in either schooling or employment, a continued lack of gender balance within the trades is puzzling to parents, educators, and researchers. This study contributes to a paucity of research focused upon gender and vocational education. Theoretical perspectives of feminist poststructuralism informed the collection, analysis, and reporting of data for this study. Data for this study included structured ethnographic interviews, feminist poststructuralist analysis of salient texts, and four school terms of participant observation. Analysis of the interrelatedness of these discrete strands of data yielded multiple, often contradictory, layers of gendered subject positionings. Discourses related to gendered positionings in personal relationships and schooling/career were fundamental. Feminine discourses related to nurturing were primary in analyzed texts. In the girls' lives, caring for others competed with schooling. Most of the girls worked long hours in minimum wage jobs and skipped school to meet the needs of boyfriends and children. For some of the girls, pervasive discourses of beauty meant a battle with anorexia. Discourses of heterosexual romance imbued the girls' textual preferences. In ways befitting characters in the soap operas, books, and films they loved, the girls commonly jeopardized their safety to find and keep boyfriends. At school, the girls navigated an environment that privileged boys and men through gendered shop selections, sexist texts, and male authority. Excessive regulatory practices contributed to three of the girls not graduating with her class. Understanding the multiple subjectivities of adolescent girls challenges educators and researchers to move beyond simplistic solutions in equity issues. Through multi-layered research, the impacts and synergy of gendered discourses become visible, and thus subject to interruption.

Many people believe folk and fairy tales convey a set of universal truths and beliefs; however, scholars, researchers, and folklorists have questioned or challenged this supposition. There are many versions of traditional tales and reworked tales that provide different points of view. Tale Type 500: The Name of the Helper, classified by Aarne-Thompson, is one tale that has a number of counter perspectives. While there are many variations of this tale, the Grimms' Rumpelstiltskin is the most well known. There is a lack of scholarly investigation of both the original tale and its manifestations and reconstructions. Reconstructed versions of Tale Type 500 provide more information about characters' motives with the intent of providing a different ideology. The methodology of this dissertation applies a critical multicultural analysis (Rudman & Botelho, forthcoming) to examine power in adaptations of Tale Type 500 written for children and young adults. Critical multicultural analysis is an approach that helps readers identify and analyze power relations in literature. Specifically, this study examines the fluidity of the power that characters exercise on a continuum: domination, collusion, resistance, and agency. First, this study examines characters' actions regarding how power is exercised by identifying the power on a continuum of domination through agency. Second, this study examines which characters benefit from the power exercised, and how they benefit. Third, this study identifies which characters are disadvantaged from power and how. Following each analysis is a discussion about the implications for children in America's society today. The findings of this study, indicate that power relationships are a prominent theme in the reconstructed versions of Tale Type 500. Three general themes emerged in this study: (1) readers can look at power relations in children's literature and see how the texts reflect critical theory about power relations, (2) some authors of children's literature consciously apply critical literacy practices, and (3) few texts portray characters exercising the power of agency. By identifying social implications of text ideologies and questioning the issues of power in children's literature, critical readers can consider how texts counteract, maintain, or promote alternative systemic power structures.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between culturally matched and unmatched materials on the reading comprehension of African-American students in grades 3 through 5. The study also sought to explore potential relationships amongst variables such as background knowledge, academic self-concept, and comprehension. The results obtained suggest that after adjusting for background knowledge, oral reading fluency and reading comprehension scores did not vary as a function of reading culturally matched and unmatched materials. In other words, reading passage content did not facilitate fluency and reading comprehension for African-American students enrolled in grades 3 through 5. In addition, academic self-concept scores did not vary as a function of reading culturally matched and unmatched materials. Therefore, the results obtained fail to support the cultural model's hypothesis of reading achievement in the African-American community.

The growing Latino/a population is generating an influx of students with different educational needs into U.S. public schools. As a result, educators are faced with the challenge of teaching basic skills to second-language learners (SLL) while simultaneously promoting the development of their second language. Despite the fact that SLL from Spanish-speaking backgrounds are about twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be reading below average for their age (Moss & Puma, 1995), research on second-language children's reading is limited in scope and quantity. The limited research has indicated that the reading rate of SLL might be slower than that of native-English speakers (Geva, Wade-Woolley, & Shaney, 1997; Mace-Matluck, 1979). This study was conducted with the purpose of (a) examining SLL weekly rates of growth (slopes) in reading, (b) comparing these rates to those demonstrated by of native-English speakers in a study conducted by Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz, and Germann (1993), and (c) understanding whether certain factors typically discussed in the educational literature on SLL contribute to positive slopes in reading. The sample was composed of SLL in second through fourth grade (n = 69) attending two urban elementary schools in Western Massachusetts. Grade-level Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) English reading probes were administered to children once a week for 12-weeks. A z-test for independent samples was used to compare slopes found in the present study and those found by Fuchs et al. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the degree of influence of proficiency in English and/or Spanish, age, Spanish reading fluency, and language(s) used for reading instruction on weekly outcomes in reading. Both descriptive and correlational research methods were used to answer these questions. The pattern of reading growth across grades identified in the present study suggests that SLL make the most dramatic reading growth in the later grades (i.e., fourth grade). Proficiency in English and/or Spanish, age, Spanish reading fluency, and language(s) used for reading instruction together explained only 18% of the variance of the slopes. Hypothesis regarding explanations for these results, limitations to the study and future research directions are discussed.