To determine correlates of better academic performance, a scale was devised for this study to measure children's attributions to ability and effort in academic success and failure situations. These measures as well as measures of locus of control an d perceived contingency of teacher rewards and punishments were related to achievement test scores, grades, and a teacher's ratings of the helplessness or competence of classroom behaviors. Subjects were 137 sixth-graders (66 girls and 71 boys). Intercorrelations of the variables show consistent relationships between attributions to lack of effort in failure situations and to ability in success situations and better academic performance. Locus of control was only weakly related to academic achievement measures. The contingency measures, also devised for this study, were disappointingly unreliable.

To determine the relationship among learned helplessness, locus of control, and academic achievement, data from 86 sixth graders were gathered and intercorrelated. Contingency of teacher-administered rewards and punishments as perceived by school children, and helpless behavior of students as judged by their teachers were measured. The Children's Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale was used to measure locus of control orientation. A positive relationship between academic achievement and locus of control was found. The contingency of reward scale was found to be predictive of academic achievement and helpless behavior. Virtually no significant relationships were found between any of the other variables and the contingency of punishment scale. Helpless behavior was found to be predictive of low academic success and an external locus of control.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo estudar práticas de professores de língua portuguesa para o ensino de leitura literária em turmas de 5ª série/6º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Para tanto, optou-se por investigar tais práticas em duas escolas da zona oeste da cidade de São Paulo, ambas de grande porte e que atendem aos níveis de Ensino Fundamental e Médio. A primeira parte da pesquisa consistiu em abordar os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais do Terceiro e Quarto Ciclos do Ensino Fundamental de Língua Portuguesa (BRASIL, 1998b) e a Proposta Curricular do Estado de São Paulo: Língua Portuguesa (SÃO PAULO, 2008a) para investigar os discursos oficiais quanto ao ensino e à formação de leitores de literatura. A segunda parte da pesquisa correspondeu ao estudo de tipo etnográfico: ao longo de dois semestres letivos 2º semestre de 2010 e 1º semestre de 2011 , foi feita observação participativa nas duas escolas a fim de acompanhar as práticas dos professores e o modo como ensinam os alunos a ler textos literários na escola. Para melhor entender as situações de ensino, foram feitas entrevistas com as professoras na terceira parte da pesquisa, e a análise final se deu com a aproximação entre os dados da observação da pesquisadora e o discurso das docentes. Como resultado, depreende-se que, apesar das diferentes estratégias empregadas pelas professoras, elas encontram dificuldade em mensurar o ensino de leitura literária tendo em vista a relação texto-leitor, dada a subjetividade intrínseca do próprio objeto. Do ponto de vista teórico, foram levados em consideração os estudos de Jauss (1970), Iser (1999), Jouve (2002), Zilberman (1982; 1989), Perrone-Moisés (2000b; 2011) e Rouxel (no prelo). / This dissertation entails a study on practices of literature lectures among sixth school grade students. To accomplish this, two important Basic Education Schools from the west of the city of Sao Paulo have been investigated. The first section of this research focused on Third and Fourth Cycles of National Curricular Parameters in Portuguese Basic School (BRAZIL, 1998b), and Sao Paulo State Curricular Proposal: Portuguese (SÃO PAULO, 2008a) to investigate official approaches in teaching Literature and development of literary lectures. The second part comprised an etnographic study as it follows: in two semesters from last 2010 to 2011 teachers practices have been observed to depict how they instructed students to read literature lectures. For a better understanding of learning situations in class, I interviewed three teachers and compared their speech on literature practices with my personal observations. As results of this investigation, it was possible to infer that teachers employed different strategies in Literature Lectures, but they had difficulties in objectively measuring reader-text interactions, which are intrinsically subjective. This dissertation was substantiated by studies from Jauss (1970), Iser (1999), Jouve (2002), Zilberman (1982; 1989), Perrone-Moisés (2000b; 2011), and Rouxel (in press).

This study aims to design and investigate the effect of Self-Esteem Enrichment Bibliocounseling Program on the self-esteem level of sixth grade students. Twenty four subjects (13 female, 11 male) out of 166 total sixth grade students from a university affiliated private middle school in Ankara, were randomly selected based on Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI) total scores and assigned to treatment and no-treatment control group conditions. An experimental design with one selfesteem treatment group and one no-treatment control group, and two measurements (pre and post) were used to investigate the effectiveness of Self-Esteem Enrichment Bibliocounseling Program. The treatment program developed by the researcher was introduced to subjects during eight weeks. The group sessions were held once a week. Each session lasted 80 minutes. Mixed Design (one between and one within factor) Repeated-Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to the pre-test and post-test CSEI scores of experimental and control group subjects. Results indicated that, the Self-Esteem Enrichment Bibliocounseling Program employed to the treatment group produced significant increase in treatment group subjects self-esteem scores.

There has been considerable research into the teaching and learning of argumentation (e.g. Andrews, 2009; Sadler, 2004), focusing on strategies designed to help students to structure their written arguments. My study, however, focuses on the process of argumentation because I want to help sixth form students, aged 16-19 years old, improve the written argument in their A level History essays. The methodological approach followed was an adapted form of Design-based research, which incorporated an exploratory study, teacher trials and three case studies as part of the iterative design process. A classroom intervention was devised underpinned by design principles based in persuasive argumentation (Kuhn, 2005) and dialogic talk (Wegerif, 2012), derived from an extensive literature review, and the findings of the exploratory study. The exploratory study involved interviews with History education academics and examiners as well as classroom observations and semi-structured interviews conducted in collaboration with the teachers and students of four secondary History departments. Observations were taken of the teacher trials of the prototype intervention, whereas the data gathered from the case studies included pre and post intervention essays, audio and video recordings of the developed intervention in action, post intervention student interviews and questionnaires as well. In Case study 1 and 2, AS and A2 students’ post-intervention causation essays, when measured for argumentation, showed improvement but those whose written arguments improved the most were those students who had engaged in interactions rich in dialogic talk (Wegerif, 2012). The findings from Case study 3, which involved the integration of documentary evidence into AS History essays, were unexpected. Students found the integration of source-based evidence difficult not only during the course of the spoken argumentation but also in their written responses. Further development of the intervention is necessary to help students handle source material effectively in both the spoken and written forms of argument.

This current study explored the reading strategies that emerged through the case studies of five sixth-grade students as they read Internet websites. Data was collected from student surveys, field notes, and transcripts of three separate Internet sessions that required participants to think aloud about the reading process as they explored web sites to answer questions. Despite the varying reading abilities of the subjects, upper elementary children use traditional as well as additional reading strategies when they read online articles. Using grounded theory, four reading strategy themes emerged consistently from three different reading sessions: determining importance (DI), matching skills (MS), monitoring understanding (MU), and navigating (N). Through this study, the researcher hoped to provide another snapshot of how the typical students in the upper elementary might read Internet resources which would ultimately allow classroom teachers to focus on the development of those strategies. / Department of Elementary Education

Mémoire (M.A.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1990. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 1993. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-178).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-298) and index.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo estudar práticas de professores de língua portuguesa para o ensino de leitura literária em turmas de 5ª série/6º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Para tanto, optou-se por investigar tais práticas em duas escolas da zona oeste da cidade de São Paulo, ambas de grande porte e que atendem aos níveis de Ensino Fundamental e Médio. A primeira parte da pesquisa consistiu em abordar os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais do Terceiro e Quarto Ciclos do Ensino Fundamental de Língua Portuguesa (BRASIL, 1998b) e a Proposta Curricular do Estado de São Paulo: Língua Portuguesa (SÃO PAULO, 2008a) para investigar os discursos oficiais quanto ao ensino e à formação de leitores de literatura. A segunda parte da pesquisa correspondeu ao estudo de tipo etnográfico: ao longo de dois semestres letivos 2º semestre de 2010 e 1º semestre de 2011 , foi feita observação participativa nas duas escolas a fim de acompanhar as práticas dos professores e o modo como ensinam os alunos a ler textos literários na escola. Para melhor entender as situações de ensino, foram feitas entrevistas com as professoras na terceira parte da pesquisa, e a análise final se deu com a aproximação entre os dados da observação da pesquisadora e o discurso das docentes. Como resultado, depreende-se que, apesar das diferentes estratégias empregadas pelas professoras, elas encontram dificuldade em mensurar o ensino de leitura literária tendo em vista a relação texto-leitor, dada a subjetividade intrínseca do próprio objeto. Do ponto de vista teórico, foram levados em consideração os estudos de Jauss (1970), Iser (1999), Jouve (2002), Zilberman (1982; 1989), Perrone-Moisés (2000b; 2011) e Rouxel (no prelo). / This dissertation entails a study on practices of literature lectures among sixth school grade students. To accomplish this, two important Basic Education Schools from the west of the city of Sao Paulo have been investigated. The first section of this research focused on Third and Fourth Cycles of National Curricular Parameters in Portuguese Basic School (BRAZIL, 1998b), and Sao Paulo State Curricular Proposal: Portuguese (SÃO PAULO, 2008a) to investigate official approaches in teaching Literature and development of literary lectures. The second part comprised an etnographic study as it follows: in two semesters from last 2010 to 2011 teachers practices have been observed to depict how they instructed students to read literature lectures. For a better understanding of learning situations in class, I interviewed three teachers and compared their speech on literature practices with my personal observations. As results of this investigation, it was possible to infer that teachers employed different strategies in Literature Lectures, but they had difficulties in objectively measuring reader-text interactions, which are intrinsically subjective. This dissertation was substantiated by studies from Jauss (1970), Iser (1999), Jouve (2002), Zilberman (1982; 1989), Perrone-Moisés (2000b; 2011), and Rouxel (in press).