Attitudes to extensive reading have been shown to be crucial in the additional language (AL) learning classroom. Research seems to confirm that the affective domain – attitudes, motivations, interests and personal evaluations – is essential in a study of behaviour and practice in the AL classroom. The current study aims to find out what the reading attitudes and practices of students at a teacher training college are and explore whether there are significant relationships between the students’ reading attitudes and their reading ability, vocabulary skills and academic performance. It is in light of the above-mentioned quest that we seek to understand what reading attitudes are and what they entail. The ‘attitude’ construct is defined by Guthrie and Greaney (1991: 87) who state that people’s attitudes to reading are resultant from “perceptions” acquired from past reading experiences regarding how pleasurable and valuable reading is. It appears that positive reading outcomes assist in the development of a positive attitude, whereas negative outcomes of reading tend to discourage further ventures into reading, resulting in the development of a negative attitude (McKenna, Kear & Ellsworth, 1995: 941). / Educational Studies / M. A. (Applied Linguistics)

Phase Two study consists of 548 non-English major sophomore students in a large-scale survey on the relationships among metacognitive knowledge, vocabulary size and EFL reading comprehension ability. The instruments include Questionnaire on the Metacognitive Knowledge of EFL reading comprehension, Vocabulary Levels Test (Nation, 1990) and EFL Reading Comprehension Test. The findings reveal that Chinese tertiary EFL readers have a good command of 2,000-word level and approach 3,000-word level. Vocabulary size does not only exert direct influences on EFL reading comprehension ability, but also plays a significant moderating role in regulating the effect of metacognitive knowledge on EFL reading comprehension ability. When the vocabulary size reaches above the threshold of 3,000 words, metacognitive knowledge plays an increasing role in EFL reading comprehension ability. / The present study sets out to investigate how Chinese tertiary EFL readers utilize metacognitive knowledge in their academic reading process, to discover the possible differences between less successful readers and successful readers in utilizing metacognitive knowledge in their reading and to map out the relationships among metacognitive knowledge, vocabulary size and EFL reading comprehension ability. / The study consists of two phases. Five less successful and five successful Chinese tertiary EFL readers participated in the think-aloud reading task and the interviews in Phase One study. Twenty-nine types of metacognitive knowledge were identified and categorized into nine subcategories under two major categories of person knowledge and strategy knowledge following Flavell's metacognitive framework (1979). Less successful readers used more frequently most types of metacognitive knowledge than their successful counterparts. Vocabulary was found to be the major obstacle hindering the students' reading progress for both groups of students. However, successful readers deployed strategy knowledge more flexibly to address the vocabulary gap than less successful readers. Differences were also discovered on the motivational and affective characteristics such as reader role, goal of reading, interest and self-efficacy between the two groups. Successful readers were more actively engaged in reading and provided interpretations of the text on their own authority. They also demonstrated an accurate self-knowledge and higher levels of task-mastery goal and interest toward reading. / The theoretical, empirical and educational contributions of these findings for L2 reading are discussed, as are suggestions for future research. / Li, Jie. / Advisers: Yujing Ni; Kawai Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 1923. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-193). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

M.Ed. / The purpose of this study is primarily to evaluate the curriculum of the subject Communication English with specific reference to the component of reading and spelling. The rationale is to determine whether or not the reading and spelling skills of college students comply with the requirements of the private sector and, if found to be inadequate, appropriate recommendations would be made. The detrimental effect of reading and spelling problems on a person's entire being and self-actualization is attested by the literature. A needs analysis was done by means of questionnaires to establish how the course makes provision for various aspects of a communicative language curriculum. The questionnaires were completed by three groups, these being the N2 and N3 students, the lecturers of Communication English and various members of the private sector. For purposes of this study only the relevant questions concerning reading and spelling from the questionnaires were highlighted. The results of the reading and spelling tests showed that there is a significant discrepancy between the students' reading and spelling ages and their chronological ages, it would appear as if they are below the required norm by approximately four years. From the responses of the questionnaires it was apparent that a high premium was attached to competence in reading and spelling skills.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-06-04T12:33:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Giovanna Gaggini Rondon.pdf: 4337795 bytes, checksum: db9200e57b03095a78d56b7600bee0d9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-04T12:33:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giovanna Gaggini Rondon.pdf: 4337795 bytes, checksum: db9200e57b03095a78d56b7600bee0d9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / It is noticeable that the number of Brazilians who have not got yet Education as one of their basic rights assured demands from us, Education researchers, actions aimed at this segment of the population. The Behavior Analysis has been conducting studies which focus on procedures to teach the most different repertoires. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a teaching program of reading and writing sentences for young people and adults. The programming was based on the model of Stimulus Equivalence and had sentences as a teaching unit, and was applied with the aid of JClic software. Six stages were proposed: Preliminary Repertory Evaluation (IAL-I and IAL-IN), Pre-Test, Training, Emergency Test, Generalization Test and Post-Test. The stimuli were: A (sentence dictated), B (scenes), C (printed sentences). The operants evaluated were: D (oral reading of sentences), E (construction of words and sentences) and F (handwriting of sentences). The sentences contained words formed by vowel-consonant (VC); consonant-consonant-vowel (CCV); consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC). Five EJA (Educação de Jovens e Adultos) students from two different schools participated. In the Previous Repertoire Evaluation and the Pre-Test it was verified that the participants had more difficulty in writing than in reading. After the Training, the Tests indicated that the reading repertoire remained, although with improvement in quality, and the writing repertoire of all participants had improved. The results indicated that the teaching proposal, sustained on teaching units and based on the model of Stimulus Equivalence, has the potential to be used to improve the repertoires of young people and adults / É evidente que a quantidade de brasileiros que ainda não têm a Educação como um de seus direitos básicos assegurados exige de nós, pesquisadores da Educação, ações voltadas a esse segmento da população. A Análise do Comportamento vem fazendo estudos que focalizam procedimentos para ensinar os mais diferentes repertórios. O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar os efeitos de uma programação de ensino de leitura e escrita de orações para jovens e adultos. A programação teve por base o modelo de equivalência de estímulos e a oração como unidade de ensino, tendo sido aplicada com o auxílio do software JClic. Foram propostas seis etapas: Avaliação do Repertório Prévio (IAL-I e IAL-IN), Pré-Teste, Treino, Teste de Emergência, Teste de Generalização e Pós-Teste. Os estímulos foram: A (oração ditada), B (cenas), C (orações impressas). Os operantes avaliados foram: D (leitura oral de orações), E (construção de palavras e orações) e F (escrita manuscrita de orações). As orações continham palavras compostas por consoante-vogal (CV); consoante-consoante-vogal (CCV); consoante-vogal-consoante (CVC). Participaram cinco alunos de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (EJA) de duas escolas. Na Avaliação do Repertório Prévio e do Pré-Teste verificou-se que os participantes apresentavam mais dificuldade na escrita do que na leitura. Após o Treino, os Testes indicaram que o repertório de leitura se manteve, mas com melhora na qualidade, tendo sido aperfeiçoado o repertório de escrita de todos os participantes. Os resultados indicaram que a proposta de ensino, tendo por unidade de ensino orações e com base do modelo de equivalência de estímulos, tem potencial para ser usada no aprimoramento de repertórios de jovens e adultos

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33-36). Also available in print.

The content of books published for adult beginner readers reveals as much about how literacy is understood and valued as it does about how literacy learners are viewed and constructed. This research consists of a description and analysis of the corpus of easy readers or stories published specifically for adult beginner readers in South Africa from 1990 to 2000. It is based on the assumption that texts can be used as evidence of the educational theories which underpin and inform them. The research consist of three parts: the development of analytical tools; a broad descriptive review of books published in all South Africa's official languages; a detailed content analysis of English books. The analytical tools are derived from research into children's literature, dominant conceptions of the meanings and purposes of adult literacy and research into gender and language. The corpus of books is examined in terms of literary quality, pedagogy and ideology. 120 books published in all South African languages are analysed according to various criteria relating to genre, theme, setting and design. The 38 English books in the sample are, in addition, analysed in depth in relation to plot, narrative features, character, emotions, direct speech, gender, imagery and readability. The research reveals that unlike fiction for children beginner readers, fiction for adult beginner readers in South Africa is relatively restricted in terms of genre, theme and literary quality in general. While a significant number of stories conform to conventional notions of what constitutes good fiction, many others are simply overdetermined vehicles for "development" messages - non-fiction masquerading as fiction. Despite the presence of a surprising number of humorous titles, many of the books are characterised by overtly moralising and didactic themes.The majority of the books do not substantially challenge stereotypes. The readership is generally portrayed as docile, predictable, hard-working, decent and stoical. Male characters tend to be more varied and complex and female characters conform to their stereotypical roles. Stories are mostly set in domestic, racially homogeneous domains populated by poor African people. Although there are notable exceptions to the above trends, the stories generally depict an uncontested, harmonious, homogeneous and docile world. In terms of issues relating to pedagogy the corpus reveals an overwhelming dominance of English second language books. This suggests that literacy acquisition in mother tongue African languages is not a serious endeavour in the current South African context. In terms of readability features, aside from surface similarities, there are wide discrepancies between publishers. Books are mainly written in naturally occurring language and do not appear to be written with predictability or decodability features particularly in mind. The analysis overall illustrates the complex nature of fiction for adult beginner readers which has to meet the simultaneous demands of readability and engagement. The corpus of books for adult beginner readers reflects competing conceptions of the purposes of promoting adult literacy: functionality, immediate application and relevance versus long-term development of reading through the evocation of emotion and imagination. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

This was a comparative study of FAL and REFLECT'S adult literacy facilitator training processes in Uganda. It was based on the government's Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programme, and Action Aid Uganda's (AAU) REFLECT Programmes.The purpose of this study was to: Find out the similarities and differences between the FAL and REFLECT facilitator training process. Establish how FAL and REFLECT facilitator training is organised. Establish how FAL and REFLECT facilitators are selected for training. Identify the teaching and learning materials used for training FAL and REFLECT literacy facilitators. Find out how the trained facilitators of FAL and REFLECT feel about the training and the approach they have been trained to use. Establish the kind of post training support arrangements provided for the trained adult literacy facilitators under FAL and REFLECT. These issues were all raised in the form of research questions and answered by the study. A qualitative research study was used to address the research questions. This included the use of focus group discussions, key informant interviews, questionnaires, direct observation and documentary analysis. The findings of this study are presented in chapter four under various headings applicable to both FAL and REFLECT. These are: the ideological view of literacy, selection of trainees and trainers, the training programmes, the training materials, funding for the training, employment arrangements after training, post training support arrangements, and evaluation of the training programme. From the findings, a general conclusion was drawn that the training processes of FAL and REFLECT were similar in the areas of organisation of the training programmes, selection of trainees, the sources of funding for the training programmes, deployment of trainees and evaluation of the training. Differences were found in the ideology which informs the two literacy approaches and therefore the training programmes for the literacy facilitators, the training methods and materials used and the post training support arrangements made for the trained literacy facilitators. The study concludes that the FAL and REFLECT literacy facilitator training is different. REFLECT has a better approach to training their literacy facilitators than FAL, although both approaches have many areas which should be improved for better training of their literacy facilitators. It was also noted that the differences between FAL and REFLECT occur in areas which are crucial for the success of a training programme and the performance of the trainees. This could explain the difference in the performance and effectiveness of the programmes using the two approaches. The recommendations call for serious attention to be given to the training of adult literacy facilitators to ensure that only qualified people are entrusted with the work of teaching adult literacy. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The study investigates the use of the Asifunde! materials by educators and learners in mother tongue literacy classes at two learning sites namely, Msunduzi and uMngeni Municipalities located in KwaZulu-Natal. The study focuses on the ways in which the Asifunde! Materials (learners' workbook, educators guide and easy readers) are used in the classroom. The study contributes to a gap in current literature on the use of materials by adult educators and learners. The study poses one critical question: "How do educators and learners in ABE classes use the Asifunde! materials?" This question is further elaborated into six subquestions: • Do educators mediate the content? If so, how? • How much time do educators spend on each section/page/unit? • To what extent do educators discuss the content and exercises with learners? • What is the learners' response (interest/extent of engagement/amount of discussion and enjoyment)? • How does the level of the material match the learners' needs? • How much communication is there between learners about the content of the material? Asifunde! materials were developed in response to call of the then Minister of Education Kader Asmal for a National Literacy Campaign in 1999. The Asifunde! material is a literacy course developed specifically for adults who have not had educational opportunities in the past. Its emphasis is on reading and writing mother tongue as well as on the implementation of these skills. The study is on literacy and literacy learning, which is understood here as the study of reading and writing processes that learners use as they engage in interpreting text Topics such as: literacy acquisition; purposes of literacy; the role of materials in acquisition of literacy; approaches to teaching reading and writing; and the educator as mediator of learning, are explored in the literature review as they are pertinent to the study. The study revealed that: 1. The use of the learner's book and the educator's guide varies between educators. 2. The educators do not fully understand the educational rationale behind the materials. 3. Learners respond positively to the materials. 4. There is very little use of the easy readers by both the educators and the learners. 5. Learners' learning and progress is largely influenced by the educator's use of the materials. 6. The learners are very excited about learning to read English now that they are competent in reading and writing their mother tongue. The study presents the following recommendations: 1. Training of educators in the use of the material. 2. The revision of the educator's guide to accommodate a range of educators in terms of experience and creativity. 3. Clarification of the focus and purpose of the materials regarding reading and writing. 4. Emphasis on the importance of the easy readers. 5. Inclusion of longer writing exercises towards the end of the book. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33-36).