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Although studies on L2 learning strategies are a major strand of second language research, recent research has shifted its focus onto language learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of strategies. Previous studies shed important light on the amelioration in L2 educational practices, but research on learners’ metacognition in the reading process in EFL contexts remains insufficient, especially at the university level in terms of the emic view of the participants studied in Taiwan. Based on an interpretive stance, this exploratory case study aimed at probing 12 Taiwanese first year university EFL learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies during their strategic reading process, and the relationship with proficiency levels and texts of both the narrative and the expository type. This study relies on the think aloud and immediately retrospective protocols of 6 high proficient and 6 low proficient readers as the principal sources of data. The think aloud protocols and the immediately retrospective interviews were transcribed and subjected to content analysis by means of coding them. Taiwanese first year university EFL readers’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies were then analysed and interpreted from a broad metacognitive perspective within the information processing model in terms of strategy application for reading comprehension problem-solving. The findings revealed that the participants demonstrated an awareness and control of their cognitive activities while reading. The strategies they employed were grouped into the categories of supporting reading strategies (SRSs), cognitive reading strategies (CRSs), and metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs). The study found that these learners’ metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read were closely related to L2 proficiency. The low proficient readers’ unfamiliarity with L2 is a hindrance to their reading comprehension which, in turn, disabled them from using the strategies appropriately and effectively. Furthermore, the high proficient readers outperformed their low proficient counterparts in terms of both the quality and quantity of strategies used. Both groups did not use the same strategy types. The findings also revealed that certain types of reading strategy were used differently due to the texts of the narrative and the expository type across the different ability levels. The existing literature on metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies in learning to read is discussed and pedagogical implications for teachers of L2 reading are offered. These implications include suggestions made for providing learners with explicit reading and strategy instruction and texts with different structure in relation to strategy use. Finally, the limitations of the current research study and recommendations for further research were stated.

xii, 157 p. ; ill. (some col.) A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The study examined the use of story mapping and teacher rejoinder questions to improve the reading comprehension of 11 seventh- and eighth-grade middle school students with specific learning disabilities in reading and writing. A three-group (Story-Mapping Group, Story-Mapping/Rejoinder Group, and Comparison Group) time series design examined the effects of story mapping and teacher rejoinder questions on reading comprehension performance. Because of low participant numbers, non-parametric analysis was used to evaluate student scores on curriculum-based measurements of literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension questions. While no significant differences were found, student reports indicated that when using story maps with rejoinder questioning, they remembered more of the narrative story information, which demonstrated a possible educational benefit from the study. Additionally, implications for future research are presented. / Adviser: Gerald Tindal

Den här studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka lässtrategier som elever i årskurs fem beskriver att de använder sig av. Lässtrategierna delas in i processkunskap och förutsättningskunskap. Studien undersöker vilka delar av dessa kunskaper som eleverna använder sig av. För att ta reda på vilken metod som fungerar för undersökningens syfte gjordes först en pilotstudie. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är modellen Reading as a Meaning-Construction Process: The Reader (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004). Det insamlade materialet består av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med elever i årskurs fem. Resultatet visar att alla de intervjuade eleverna har de grundläggande lässtrategierna, men att de flesta behöver utmanas för att komma vidare i sin utveckling. Det är även tydligt att alla elever inte ligger på samma nivå trots att de går i samma årskurs, vilket kan göra det svårt att möta alla på rätt nivå i undervisningen. Den här studien lyfter fram vilken betydelse lässtrategierna har i undervisningen samt vikten av att möta eleverna på deras egen nivå för att de ska kunna utveckla sina lässtrategier för sin framtida skolframgång.

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Läsförståelse är något som visats vara nödvändigt vid angripande av texter i samtliga ämnen av grundskolan (Alatalo, 2011). Trots dess betydelse har undersökning, utförd av Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2012 (refererad i Skolverket, 2013) synliggjort hur svenska elevers läsförståelse sjunkit i jämförelse med tidigare år.   Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur sex lärare i årskurs 2 beskriver att lässtrategier används i undervisningen för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i det sociokulturella perspektivet, vilket gav utrymme att undersöka lärande och utveckling.  För att kunna ta del av lärarnas beskrivningar samlades materialet in i form av kvalitativa intervjuer. Resultatet har ordnats i fem teman, sammanhang i olika skolämnen, olika former av gemensamma sammanhang, individuella sammanhang, läraren som verktyg i undervisningen samt olika metoder, modeller och redskap som verktyg i undervisningen.   Slutsatsen är att lärarna beskriver att de undervisar i lässtrategier i fler olika sammanhang för att utveckla elevers läsförståelse, däremot framkommer det variation i hur de arbetar med det beroende på vilket sammanhang de undervisar i. Fortsättningsvis visar resultatet att lärarna använder flera olika typer av verktyg i undervisning med lässtrategier, verktygen lyfts fram som avgörande för att elever ska utveckla läsförståelse / Reading comprehension is something that has been shown to be necessary in processing text in all primary school subjects (Alatalo, 2011). Despite that importance, a survey conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2012 (referenced in Skolverket, 2013) shows that the reading comprehension of Swedish pupils has dropped, in comparison with previous investigations.   The purpose of this study is to examine how six teachers in second grade describe how reading strategies are used in teaching to develop pupils’ reading comprehension. The study is based on the sociocultural perspective, which gave space to do research about learning and developing. The material was gathered through qualitative interviews in order to take part of the teachers’ descriptions. The result has been organized in five themes; context in different subjects, different forms of joint connection, individual context and the teacher as a tool in teaching and different methods, models and gear as tools in teaching.   The conclusion is that the teachers describe that they are teaching reading strategies in different contexts to develop their students' reading comprehension. It also reveals that the variation in how they work with the reading strategies depends on the context in which they teach. Henceforth, the result shows that the teachers use several different types of tools in teaching reading strategies, tools that the teachers highlighted as crucial for students to develop reading comprehension.

In the last few years there have been many reports on students lack of reading comprehension in Sweden. Reading comprehension is crucial in today’s society. It is as central for school as it is for being able to be a part of society and work. The aim of the study is to compare and examine whether there is correspondence between two reading comprehension text books and the national test of reading comprehension in 2012. Through text analysis and theories of readability, question types and reading strategies the comparison was made. The text analysis is performed in accordance with Hellspong (2001) and Hellspong och Ledin (1997) model for text analysis, where the language formation is studied. The following research questions are answered: Which similarities and differences are found regarding the readability of the narrative texts and the factual texts? Which similarities and differences are found regarding the type of questions that are asked in relation to the narrative texts and to the factual texts? Which reading strategies are tested in the national test and which reading strategies are practiced through the teaching materials? The results of the analysis show both similarities and differences between the national test and the textbooks. The texts in the national test are less easily read while the textbooks consist of more types of questions and enables practice of more reading strategies. In the textbooks multiple reading strategies was found to be required in order to answer the questions, whilst the national test generally only needed one strategy for most questions. In this way partial correspondence is found between the textbooks and the national test. However, the textbooks are useful for practicing reading comprehension since they have a lot more type of questions and reading strategies, than the national test. A conclusion up for discussion is that the textbooks leave it to the teacher to provide practice of more complicated and longer texts since the texts in the national tests has shown to be more complicated to read.

This study aims at generating an understanding of today’s reading education concerning reading comprehension and reading strategies. Taking previous research as the point of departure, the study examines how reading education takes place in grades 4-6 from a teacher perspective. The study examines teachers’ views on reading development and reading comprehension, how teachers work with reading comprehension and reading strategies and also which problems they see with this teaching. The study’s empirical material consists of qualitative interviews and classroom observations and the teacher participants come from different generations of teachers and from two different schools. The study shows that all teachers look upon reading development and reading comprehension as an important and crucial part of their pupils’ future education and lives in society at large. The study also shows that the teachers are working continuously with reading comprehension and reading strategies in their teaching, but that they lack some knowledge in how to highlight the various reading comprehension processes that are crucial to the development of the pupils’ reading comprehension. In the study, the teachers also indicate some difficulties regarding this teaching and its development in practice. / Denna studie syftar till att generera en uppfattning om dagens läsundervisning beträffande läsförståelse och lässtrategier. Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning undersöker studien hur läsundervisning kan gestalta sig i årkurs 4-6 ur ett lärarperspektiv. Studien undersöker lärares syn på läsutveckling och läsförståelse, hur lärare arbetar med läsförståelse och lässtrategier samt vilka svårigheter de ser med denna undervisning. Studiens empiriska material utgörs av kvalitativa intervjuer samt klassrumsobservationer. Lärarna som deltagit tillhör skilda generationer som har varit verksamma som lärare olika länge samt arbetar på två olika skolor. Studien visar att samtliga deltagande lärare betraktar läsutveckling och läsförståelse som en både viktig och avgörande del för elevernas fortsatta skolgång och samhällsliv. Studien visar också att lärarna arbetar kontinuerligt med läsförståelse och lässtrategier i undervisningen men att de delvis saknar kunskap om hur de ska kunna synliggöra de olika läsförståelseprocesserna för eleverna, som i förlängningen är avgörande för utvecklingen av deras läsförståelse. I studien framkom det även att lärarna upplevde vissa svårigheter med denna undervisning och med dess utformning i praktiken.