This study compares two sets of teaching material, Förstagluttarna and Den magiska kulan, both of which are designed to teach reading in grade 1. The aim is to investigate the potential of the two sets of material to promote the pupils’ reading development. The study uses a content analysis in which categories have been established to assess the readability of the material and its ability to create motivation. The result shows that the readability is the same overall, but there are noticeable differences in the ability of the material to motivate pupils to read.

Recent research suggests that visual-verbal paired associate learning (PAL) taps a crossmodal associative learning mechanism involved in reading acquisition. However, evidence from children with dyslexia indicates that deficits in visual-verbal PAL are strongly linked to the verbal demands of the task. The research presented in this thesis had two overarching aims: first, to dissociate crossmodal and verbal demands in driving the PAL-reading relationship, and second, to assess the hypothesis that visual-verbal PAL plays a causal role in reading development. To address the first aim, a series of experiments examined the relationship between reading ability and PAL tasks differing in modality (crossmodal, unimodal) and output demand (visual, verbal). The results supported a verbal account of the PAL-reading relationship. In typically developing children and children with dyslexia, only tasks with a verbal output demand (i.e., visual-verbal PAL, verbal-verbal PAL) demonstrated a relationship with reading ability. In children with dyslexia, poor performance was isolated to difficulties learning novel phonological forms, rather than difficulties specific to crossmodal associative learning. Furthermore, the ability to learn novel phonological forms was found to fully explain visual-verbal PAL performance across reading abilities. In a final experiment, the causal role of visual-verbal PAL in reading development was assessed. The results of a longitudinal study from the start to the end of kindergarten showed that visual-verbal PAL measured in pre-readers did not predict reading ability at the end of kindergarten. Instead, PAL performance was influenced by learning to read.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka föräldrars uppfattningar om högläsningens betydelse för barns läsutveckling i hemmet och i skolan och om samverkan mellan hem och skola inom berört område. Syftet är även att undersöka om föräldrars sociokulturella bakgrund har någon betydelse för deras uppfattningar. Studien har genomförts i samarbete med ett projekt i en årskurs ett på en kommunal skola i Sverige som syftar till att stärka samverkan mellan hem och skola. Det sociokulturella perspektivet svarar för studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt och den metodologiska ansatsen tar sin utgångspunkt i fenomenologin. Empirin består av en enkätundersökning och kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer med avsikt att skapa en djupgående bild av föräldrarnas egna uppfattningar. Vad gäller de informanter som deltar i studien så har de valts ut bland de föräldrar till de deltagande barnen i den årskurs ett som projektet berör. Studien lyfter fram föräldraperspektivet vilket till stor del har saknats i tidigare forskning. Studiens resultat indikerar att föräldrars sociokulturella bakgrund inte har någon större betydelse för deras uppfattningar. Föräldrarna uppfattar att högläsning i hemmet och i skolan och samverkan mellan hem och skola är betydelsefull för barns läsutveckling. Studien visar även att föräldrarna ser sig själva som betydelsefulla vägledare i högläsningssituationen, vilket i sig kan gynna barnets läsutveckling. / The purpose of this study is to investigate parental perceptions of the significance of reading aloud for children ́s reading development at home and in school, and the interaction between home and school in the area concerned. The aim is also to examine if the parents ́ socio- cultural background influence their perceptions. The study was conducted in cooperation with a project that took place in the first grade at a public school in Sweden, which aimed to strengthen the cooperation between home and school. The socio-cultural perspective forms the study ́s theoretical basis and its methodological approach is based on phenomenology. The empirical data consist of a survey and qualitative interviews with the intention to get to know the parents ́ own perceptions. As for the informants involved in the study, they have been selected among the parents of the children who are participating in the first year of the project. The study highlights that the parental perspective has largely been lacking previous research. The results of the study indicate that the parents ́ socio-cultural background does not have any significant impact on their perceptions of the significance of reading aloud for children at home and in school. Parents perceive that reading aloud at home and in school and a collaboration between home and school are important for children ́s reading development. The study also finds that the parents see themselves as important actors when it comes to reading aloud situations, which in itself beneficial for the children ́s reading development.

My thesis is about mapping of silent reading mode with understanding among students at five grade of basic school. The thesis is divided into two parts - the theoretical part and empiric part. In the theoretical part the thesis is focused on the theory of silent reading, comprehension of what we read and you can find the description of context of listening versus the silent reading there. The attention is focused on approaches to reading, the diagnostic of reading and the preconditions which are projected into reading. The empiric part is based on two levels of settled aims - the primary aim and the secondary aim. The adaptation of the test of the silent reading, We are going on a trip, is the primary aim. In terms of this aim we will investigate discriminatory and reflective value of the test at the fifth classes. The thesis is engaging in itemized analysis of individual questions of test. You can read there about dynamics of the development from the side of student's progress at the start and end of the school year. In terms of secondary aim the results were processed by quantitative methodology and it is discussed from the view of the pattern of reading (usual writing and Comenia Script) and from the view of gender. The evaluation of differences between the original version and new one of the...

Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på hur lärare beskriver att de arbetar och genomför undervisning för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse i årskurs 1-3. Syftet är vidare att undersöka hur lärare rapporterar att de bidrar till elevers motivation och läsintresse. För att uppnå studiens syfte formulerades forskningsfrågorna: Hur beskriver lärare begreppet läsförståelse? Vilka olika aktiviteter och strategier använder lärare som syftar till elevers läsförståelse i undervisningen? Vad är, enligt lärare, viktigt för att väcka elevers intresse och motivation till att utveckla läsförståelse? Studien har en sociokulturell teoretisk ansats och bygger på kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuer har genomförts med verksamma lärare som arbetar med att utveckla elevers läsförståelse i årskurs 1-3. Vid analys av data har tematisk analys använts. Resultatet visar att lärare arbetar på ett varierat sätt med olika modeller, strategier och arbetsuppgifter. Ett framträdande arbetssätt bland studiens deltagare var arbete med högläsning och textsamtal där strategier bearbetades på olika sätt genom modellering och stöd av lärarna. En slutsats är att samtliga lärare använder sig av modeller som Reciprocal teaching (RT), Questioning the author (QtA), Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) och En läsande klass. / The aim of this study is to find out how teachers describe their work and the implementation of teaching to develop students' reading comprehension in grade 1-3. The aim is further to investigate how teachers report that they contribute to students' motivation and reading interest. In order to achieve the aim of the study, research questions were formulated: How do teachers describe the concept of reading comprehension? What different activities and strategies do teachers use for pupils' reading comprehension in teaching? What is, according to teachers, important for arousing students' interest and motivation for developing reading comprehension? The study has a socio-cultural theoretical approach and is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews. Interviews have been conducted with teachers who work on developing students' reading comprehension in grades 1-3. When analyzing data, thematic analysis has been used. The result shows that teachers work in a varied way with different models, strategies and tasks. A prominent way of working reported by the study participants was work with reading and text conversations where strategies were processed in different ways by modeling and support by the teachers. One conclusion is that all teachers use models such as Reciprocal teaching (RT), Questioning the author (QTA), Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) and A reading class.

Identifier le plus complètement possible les processus impliqués dans le développement de la lecture est nécessaire afin de permettre à un maximum d’enfants d’accéder à la maîtrise de la langue écrite. Si l’importance des compétences linguistiques (e.g., conscience phonologique) a été largement démontrée, peu d’études en revanche se sont spécifiquement intéressées au rôle des processus visuo-attentionnels et perceptifs dans l’apprentissage de la lecture ou à leur implication dans certains dysfonctionnements langagiers. Dans ce cadre, nous avons réalisé trois études longitudinales afin d'interroger le rôle des processus visuo-attentionnels et perceptifs, spécifiques au codage orthographique, dans l'apprentissage de la lecture. Le premier objectif de cette thèse était d'étudier si ces processus constituaient des pré-requis à l'apprentissage de la lecture. Nous avons administré à 89 enfants entre la MSM et le CP, une tâche d'identification de cible en fovéa (étude 1) et en parafovéa (étude 2). Nous avons observé que la précocité de la mise en place du codage orthographique prédisait le niveau de lecture au CP. Le second objectif était de dépister en maternelle, les enfants susceptibles de présenter des difficultés en lecture. Dans cette optique, les capacités visuo-attentionnelles et perceptives ont été évaluées auprès de 78 enfants entre la GSM et le CP, au moyen du logiciel VISA-kids que nous avons développé. Le traitement local prédisait les compétences en lecture au CP. Notre travail a ainsi mis en évidence l'importance des capacités visuo-attentionnelles et perceptives, à la fois pour l'apprentissage de la lecture et la prévention des difficultés en lecture. / Identifying the processes involved in the development of reading is necessary to enable as many children as possible to become skilled processors of written language. Although the importance of spoken language skills (e.g., phonological awareness) has been widely demonstrated, few studies, however, have specifically investigated the role of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes in learning to read, or their possible involvement in reading disorders. In this context, we completed three longitudinal studies to examine the role of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes involved in orthographic coding during the first steps of learning to read. The first goal of this thesis was to investigate whether these processes were prerequisites for learning to read. We administered to 89 preschool children and first graders, a target identification task in the fovea (study 1) and the parafovea (study 2). We observed that the precocity of establishment of efficient orthographic coding predicted reading level in first grade. The second objective aimed at improving screening for future reading difficulties in kindergarten children. We developed software (VISA-kids) for assessing visuo-attentional and perceptual abilities that we evaluated in 78 preschool and first grade children. Local processing predicted reading level in the first grade. Our work has highlighted the importance of visuo-attentional and perceptual processes for learning to read and the importance of considering these factors for the prevention of reading difficulties.

Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’étudier les troubles cognitifs à l’origine de la dyslexie, et plus particulièrement le déficit d’apprentissage de paires associées (PAL) à composante verbale (input ou output). Tout d’abord, une étude longitudinale menée auprès d’enfants tout-venant pré-lecteurs et apprentis lecteurs a permis de mettre en évidence une contribution spécifique des PAL intermodales à l’efficience ultérieure en lecture/transcription. Les résultats de l’étude neuropsychologique indiquent pour leur part que les enfants dyslexiques présentent un déficit pour tous les types de PAL à composante verbale. Ce déficit apparait toucher à la fois la mémorisation des réponses, notamment verbales, et la mémorisation des liens entre les deux items. Il serait lié à un défaut de stockage de l’information et non à un problème de récupération et affecterait l’apprentissage des paires associées sans entraver leur rétention à long terme. / This research aimed to study the cognitive causes of dyslexia, particularly the paired associate learning (PAL) including a verbal component (input or output) deficit. First, a longitudinal study of normally developing pre-readers and beginning readers highlighted a specific contribution of intermodal PAL as predictors of later reading/transcription skills. As for the results of our neuropsychological study, they indicate that dyslexic children exhibit a deficit for all types of PAL with verbal component. This deficit appears to reach both the memorization of answers, especially verbal answers, and the storage of the mapping between the two items. It would be linked to an information storage failure but not to a recovery problem, and would affect the buildup of associations without impairing their long-term retention.

<p>LUS is short for reading development schedule, which is a concept that schools in a municipality or parts of a municipality uses, to get an overview at the pupils’ reading capacity.</p><p>The purpose with this C-paper is to analyse if LUS is a relevant and useful instrument in the upper level of compulsory school of today, concerning the work with pupils’ reading development.</p><p>My research contains a theoretical section and a practical section witch is based on qualitative interviews with three teachers. The result of my research shows that LUS is built on sociocultural thoughts, where – despite a competence theoretical structure – the individual reading experience is in focus and the optimal reading is considered the reading which lies within the readers’ closest zone of development. The relevance of LUS in the upper level of compulsory school is mostly justified as a clarifying model of reader competences that can be used as a help when putting together small goals to those pupils that doesn’t reach the goal of the syllabus. For those pupils that, considering age, follow that development which the reading development schedule explains, LUS feels some what unnecessary in the upper level of compulsory school.</p> / <p>LUS är en förkortning för läsutvecklingsschema, vilket är ett koncept som skolor i hela eller delar av kommuner använder sig av, för att få en överblick på elevernas läsförmåga.</p><p>Syftet med denna C-uppsats är att analysera huruvida LUS är ett relevant och användbart instrument i dagens högstadieskola, vad gäller arbetet med elevers läsutveckling.</p><p>Min undersökning innehåller dels en teoretisk del som bygger på LUS egen forskning, dels en praktisk del som grundar sig på tre kvalitativa lärarintervjuer. Resultatet av min undersökning visar att LUS bygger på sociokulturella tankegångar, där – trots en kompetensteoretisk uppbyggnad – den individuella läsupplevelsen står i fokus och den optimala läsningen anses vara den som ligger inom läsarens närmaste utvecklingszon. LUS relevans på högstadiet är dock mest befogat som en tydliggörande mall av läskompetenser, för uppsättande av delmål i åtgärdsprogram för de elever som inte når upp till kursplanens mål. För de elever som åldersmässigt följer den utveckling läsutvecklingsschemat målar upp, känns LUS överflödigt på högstadiet.</p>

Am 20. November 2010 fand an der Universität Potsdam das 4. Herbsttreffen Patholinguistik statt. Die Konferenzreihe wird regelmäßig seit 2007 vom Verband für Patholinguistik e.V. (vpl) durchgeführt. Der vorliegende Tagungsband veröffentlicht die Hauptvorträge des Herbsttreffens zum Thema "Lesen lernen: Diagnostik und Therapie bei Störungen des Leseerwerbs". Des Weiteren sind die Beiträge promovierender bzw. promovierter PatholinguistInnen sowie der Posterpräsentationen enthalten. / On November 20, 2010, the 4th Herbsttreffen Patholinguistik took place at the University of Potsdam. This annual conference is organized by the Verband für Patholinguistik e.V. (vpl). The main topic was "Learning to read: Assessment and intervention in developmental dyslexia". These proceedings contain the four main lectures, the contributed talks of the "Spektrum Patholinguistik" covering various psycho- and neurolinguistic research areas, and the abstracts of the presented posters.

ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND READING IN BILINGUAL ENGLISH-ARABIC CHILDREN by Lama K. Farran This dissertation examined the relationship between language and reading in bilingual English-Arabic children. The dissertation followed a two chapter Review and Research Format. Chapter One presents a review of research that examined the relationship between oral language and reading development in bilingual English-Arabic children. Chapter Two describes the study that examined this same relationship. Participants were 83 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children who attended a charter school in a large school district in the Southeastern portion of the US. The school taught Arabic as a second language daily in the primary and elementary grades. This cross-sectional quantitative study used norm-referenced assessments and experimental measures. Data were analyzed using simultaneous and hierarchical regression to identify language predictors of reading. Analysis of covariance was used to examine whether the language groups differed in their Arabic reading comprehension scores, while controlling for age. Results indicated that phonological awareness in Arabic was related to phonological awareness in English. However, morphological awareness in Arabic was not related to morphological awareness in English. Results also revealed that phonological awareness predicted word reading, pseudoword decoding, and complex word reading fluency within Arabic and English; morphological awareness predicted complex word reading fluency in Arabic but not in English; and vocabulary predicted reading comprehension within Arabic and English. Further analyses indicated that children with high vocabulary differed from children with low vocabulary in their reading comprehension scores and that this difference was driven by children’s ability to read unvowelized words. Consistent with the extended version of the Triangle Model of Reading (Bishop & Snowling, 2004), the results suggest a division of labor among various language components in the process of word reading and reading comprehension. Implications for research, instruction, and early intervention with bilingual English-Arabic children are discussed.