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Providing parents with young children's performance feedback information: Effects on vocabulary and pre-literacy developmentNnachetam, Amanda Alexandria 01 January 2010 (has links)
This study examined the effects of performance feedback information on parenting practices that contribute to development of vocabulary and pre-literacy skills. Fifty-one dyads of parents and their pre-school aged children were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Group one received full treatment including a workshop and feedback. Group two, designated as the control group, did not receive the feedback portion of the treatment; and group three, designated as a wait list control group, received neither the workshop nor performance feedback. All participating parents were administered a survey of parenting practices that lead to vocabulary and pre-literacy development. Treatment produced significant results for the vocabulary measure; however, the data did not yield a significant result for the cognitive measure. There appeared to be a significant difference between the treatment group and the wait list control group. This difference was not found when comparing the treatment group to the control group, or when comparing the control to the wait list control. Also, feedback was shown to have an effect on only one of the five parenting practices surveyed.
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Learner generated materials in adult literacy programs as a vehicle for development: Theory and practice in case studies in NepalMeyers, Clifford Trevor 01 January 1996 (has links)
Adult literacy and non-formal basic education programs have been implemented on a continuous basis in Nepal for the past 20 years. Both the Ministry of Education and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been implementing literacy courses as "entry points" for community development programs. This exploratory study examines three NGOs which, as part of their adult literacy programs, have organized adult new literates to develop and publish print materials. This process and the resultant texts have been termed Learner Generated Materials (LGM). Through a critical review of the literature, theoretical rationales and approaches for the use of LGM methods are identified, and patterns of practice, especially in Asia, are analyzed. Three intensive case studies of LGM activities in Nepal, utilizing field research, interviews and observation, describe the process of implementing LGM methods and the use of the materials developed in the Nepal context. General finding are related to the use of LGM for learning, the popularity and utility of the product for new literates, and the use of both the process and product for participatory action. Findings indicate that the authors found publishing to be an empowering experience. Readers interviewed strongly preferred reading LGM texts to professionally developed materials in regard to comprehension, enjoyment and inspiration. This was supported by author and reader beliefs that LGM validated them as knowers. LGM texts developed around specific development themes also had a catalytic effect in motivating readers to action in the area of community development. In this regard, LGM texts appear to change the relation and climate between new literates and the development process, moving them from passive recipients to active doers. Issues which emerge from the study include the use of new literates as editors, publishing texts in non-standard Nepali, the role and applications of LGM activities as tools for learning, and the effectiveness of LGM methods for promoting interactive and critical forms of knowledge. Areas for further research are also identified.
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Attention allocation during sequential eye movement tasksFischer, Martin Herbert 01 January 1997 (has links)
This dissertation investigated the allocation of visuo-spatial attention during dynamic viewing. The hypothesis of an attentional focus that is initially centered at fixation and then shifts to the location of a forthcoming eye fixation prior to the overt eye movement was tested. Participants performed three different dual tasks while their eye movements and manual responses were recorded. The primary tasks all required sequential left-to-right eye movements; they were silent reading (Experiment 1), oculomotor scanning of text without vowels (Experiment 2), and visual search for a target letter (Experiment 3). A speeded manual response was made to an asterisk that appeared early or late after the onset of a critical fixation (25 or 170 ms probe delay), and either to the left of, or directly above, or to the right of the currently fixated character ($-$10, $-$5, 0, +5, or +10 characters probe eccentricity). It was predicted that early probes should be detected equally fast in the left and right hemifield, while responses to late probes should be faster when they appeared in the right than in the left visual hemifield. Selective facilitation of manual probe detection latencies near the location of the forthcoming eye fixation was found in the visual search task, but not during reading or scanning. Fixation times increased and saccade lengths decreased as a consequence of probing in all three tasks. Fixation durations were less prolonged when the probe appeared in the right than in the left hemifield; the critical saccades were largest when the probe appeared at +10 characters and smallest when it appeared at +5 characters eccentricity. In summary, detection latencies in the search task supported the attentional predictions, and the eye movement data provided consistent indirect support for the notion of attention shifts prior to eye movements. Task-specific processing demands may have diluted further evidence in the probe detection times from reading and scanning. Individual reaction times further revealed considerable intra- and interindividual differences. It is concluded that the present dual task combination with its dual motor response requirements may not be adequate to assess visuo-spatial attention allocation during sequential eye movement tasks.
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An exploratory study: The transitional approach to teach reading to bilingual first-grade childrenOliveras, Esperanza 01 January 1996 (has links)
This study explored the consummations of "The Transitional Approach to Reading" with Puerto Rican native language emergent and second language early emergent readers enrolled in a Transitional Bilingual Education Program of a public school system in Central Massachusetts. The objective of this study was to put forth a paradigm for a new reading approach, "The Transitional Approach", in a Bilingual first-grade class. The intent was to enhance their initiation into English reading. The principal goal was to transfer native language vocabulary whose definitions are the same in both languages (from one language to another) allowing reading comprehension to be achieved. The students were taught to manipulate "transference" in order to reach word comprehension in the second language. The vocabulary learned in native language reading, Spanish, will be transferred from Spanish to English. The study inquired as to whether these students, at the culmination of five months, showed growth in vocabulary attainment in Spanish, in English, and in Spanish and English on the post-approach assessments. No hypothesis was tested. The study was exploratory and descriptive in nature. The following tasks were accomplished: (1) Accumulation of Transfer Word Vocabulary from the entirety of the first-grade curricula: Spanish, Science, Social Studies, Culture, Mathematics, Language Arts, Reading, and English as a Second Language (a total of 235). (2) Assessment in Spanish, first, then in English of 78 Transfer Vocabulary Words: "Yes/No" Match, Pre-Test; and "Yes/No" Read and Match, Post-Test. (3) Observations made prior to, during, and after the implementation of the approach. Fourteen children were chosen to participate in "The Transitional Approach to Reading". The research revealed that the students increased their native and second language transfer word vocabularies and initiated second language beginning reading. "The Transitional Approach" played an important role in the formulation of the child's vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and overall reading development. Knowledge of vocabulary, word meaning, plays an essential part in the first-grade reading curriculum and accounts for about half of reading comprehension.
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The role of change in adult literacy programs and adult literacy studentsWhiton, Linda Marie 01 January 1990 (has links)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes that adults entering an adult basic education program went through while they learned to read and write. Two research goals were used to examine six individuals while attending The Literacy Project, Inc., Greenfield, Massachusetts. They were, (1) To examine the relationship between learning to read and write and learning to adapt to change among adults considered illiterate; and (2) To examine how local and community conditions including those of the program as community, affect a literacy program and its curriculum. This study utilized ethnographic methods. The data for the case studies was collected from observations, teacher log entries, student writings, student folders, and interviews with clients, teachers, and aides. The setting of the study was The Literacy Project which is a non-profit community based program which uses a whole-language curriculum. Teaching is also done in groups. A head teacher is in charge and several volunteers are used as aides. Changes were discovered across the case studies. Students went through at least four changes: (1) The Initial Change, (2) Change In Old Strategies: Conning, (3) Change in Self Confidence, and (4) Change in Student/Teacher Relationships, including the way in which students perceived the role of the teacher. The implications for curriculum and programs are described in Chapter 5. They were: (1) A need for teachers to broaden their ideas and concepts of curriculum to include students with opportunities to participate in the developement of curriculum. (2) A need for teachers to broaden their ideas of learning. Learning needs to be viewed as an interactive pursuit. (3) There is a need for community to be developed in the classroom. (4) There is a need for continuity in programs which includes the need for continuity in teachers.
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Reading class: Disrupting power in children's literatureBotelho, Maria Jose 01 January 2004 (has links)
The representation of Mexican American migrant farmworkers in children's literature has increased over the past 15 years, making visible a group that previously was rendered invisible in the U.S. landscape. Classifying stories about migrant agricultural laborers under the literary category of multicultural children's literature further marginalizes this population by portraying their social circumstances as private, personal, and cultural. While these stories bring the reader up close to the poverty that families endure as migrant farmworkers, they leave the socioeconomic circumstances with the families, in many ways, unlinked to power relations. In this study, I theorize a critical multicultural analysis of children's literature, which creates a space for adult and young readers alike to rethink power (i.e., inserting class into the critical dialogue on race and gender) and recognize their own social construction. Reading class, race, and gender together in children's literature about migrant farmworkers leads to reading how power is exercised in U.S. society as well as how we are implicated in its circulation: It's a waking up from the American Dream. My text collection functions as evidence of U.S. power relations of class, race, and gender—children's literature as social transcripts because a large part of U.S. ethnography is in literature (Ortner, 1991). I read these books against the history and scholarship of multicultural children's literature and the historical and sociopolitical context of migrant work in the United States. I historicize these current representations of Mexican American migrant workers within the developments of the Mexican American experience as it is rendered in children's literature. Since many of these titles fall under the genres of nonfiction and realistic fiction, I consider how these genres textually reconstruct reality by examining the discursive construction of characters and the ideological implications of how the stories close. The theoretical constructs of discourse, ideology, subjectivity, and power function as analytical tools for examining how power is exercised among the characters to locate how class, race, and gender are enacted in text, while revealing how story characters dominate, collude, resist, and take action collectively. A critical multicultural analysis of children's literature about Mexican American migrant farmworkers is a microanalysis of U.S. power relations, an examination of how power is exercised, circulated, negotiated, and transformed.
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Examining the efficacy of two computerized reading programs for kindergarten students at -risk for reading and behavior problemsClarfield, Julie 01 January 2006 (has links)
This study investigated the effects of two computerized reading programs, Headsprout and Lexia, on the early reading skills of Kindergarten students. The Kindergarteners included typically developing students, as well as students at-risk for reading problems, behavior problems, and both reading and behavior problems. Risk status was determined through the use of the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). A treatment comparison design was used, whereby 42 students in one school received computerized supplemental reading instruction via the Headsprout program, while 44 students in another school served as the comparison group and used the computerized reading program, Lexia. Both schools used the computerized programs as supplements to the Scott Foresman reading curriculum. Data were collected on early literacy skill development using the DIBELS and the Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE). The social validity of the Headsprout program was assessed through a survey administered to the teachers. Overall, the group receiving the Headsprout intervention outperformed the group receiving the Lexia intervention on all dependent measures, and statistical significance was found for two of the outcome measures. Limitations of the study, implications for educators, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
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Perspectives on learning in the Women's Economic and Empowerment Literacy program in NepalDeyo, Lisa A 01 January 2007 (has links)
Agencies providing literacy education have sought to introduce program innovations that more closely reflect learners' everyday lives. A growing number of studies have documented the situated nature of literacy practices and their implications for program design. The concept of learning is at the periphery. Despite innovations and new insights into literacy practices, practitioners are more attuned to diverse content than learning or literacies. Researchers are more attuned to the concept of multiple literacies and their socially situated nature than learning. The Women's Economic Empowerment and Literacy (WEEL) program integrates literacy and numeracy education, savings and credit group concepts, and livelihood training for Nepali women. This dissertation is a case study of the WEEL program, focusing on staff members', participants', and facilitators' perspectives on learning. The research questions were designed to elicit research participants' narratives of their learning experiences. Four themes emerged as the most salient: the powerful role of aspirations; the meaning of education; learning as change; and the life-long, long-term, and life-wide nature of learning. The aspirations are closely associated with Scribner's (1984) conception of the metaphors of literacy: as adaptation, as power, and as a state of grace. Education is interlinked with issues of the women's social identity; gender and caste; concepts of modernization; and the women's hopes for the future. Descriptions of learning are associated with access to knowledge, "doing" or activity, and seeing from a different perspective. An understanding of learning beyond the program's boundaries is found in the themes of life-long, long-term, and life-wide learning raised in the interviews. This research confirms and supports the movement towards more localized programs that is occurring in the field of adult literacy education. Program staff provided evidence to this effect, as the findings show how they consider a perspective of literacy and learning oriented to life-long, long-term, and life-wide learning as they engage in program design. The final chapter develops strategies to bring insights from a conception of literacy as metaphor and from adult learning theories to help strengthen program design and ensure programmatic responsiveness to learners' lives.
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Aliteracy and the Role of the Classroom LibraryPacha, Destiny 01 January 2004 (has links)
At some point during their education children seem to lose their motivation to read. Teachers are becoming more aware of this phenomenon and realize that just teaching children the skills of reading is no longer a sufficient means of ensuring high quality literacy education. It is equally important to help children learn to value reading. Unfortunately it is becoming ever more prevalent to find children who do not read voluntarily. This group of people who can read but choose not to are known as aliterates. What role does the classroom library play in combating aliterate readers? The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between aliteracy and classroom libraries. The methodology used is a literature review of relevant research articles and scholarly works related to this topic. In the studies reviewed, researchers examined the prevalence of classroom libraries in schools and the characteristics of the classroom library that are most effective in influencing children to read on their own. From the data reviewed, recommendations for the physical set-up, collection, and introduction of a classroom library have been presented.
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Rozvoj čtenářství v primárním vzdělávání (srovnání ČR a Norska) / Development of reading literacy in elementary school education (comparison between Norway and Czech RepublicStolařová, Daniela January 2013 (has links)
The aim of the thesis is to compare current approaches to the development of reading skills at the primary school level in Czech Republic and Norway. In the thesis are staked out the terms of reading (čtenářství) and reading literacy. Further there is comparison of the PIRLS research results and marginally the PISA-reading literacy part results. The topic is implanted in the context of the school reform in Czech Republic and Norway. The thesis includes a brief characterization of Norwegian school system. The foundation of this thesis is that the current level of reading literacy in Norwegian schools is similar to the Czech ones. The thesis gives answers to questions: Which approaches uses the Norwegian and Czech school system to develop reading skills of the pupils. Do this approaches react on the reading skill's level of the pupils? Are these approaches functional? Is it possible to apply some of the Norwegian approaches in the Czech environment? There are used methods of analysis of the materials, observation and interviews in this work. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the biggest benefit of Norwegian school system is it's unity, orderliness and presence of vision which are the missing factors in Czech school system.
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