À la lumière des connaissances théoriques actuelles, cette recherche-action est centrée sur un projet dans lequel les apprenants à l'Université Nationale –Palmira ont la possibilité d'améliorer leur interlangue en anglais. Notre hypothèse principale est la suivante : en adoptant l'approche par tâches, les activités d‘enseignement / apprentissage seraient plus efficaces dans le programme de formation en L2. En fait, l‘acquisition des connaissances pour l‘interaction langagière orale et la compréhension des textes scientifiques dans les cours de la L2 aidera ces apprenants à développer des compétences pour interagir dans des situations de la vie réelle, mais aussi à acquérir les "savoirs" et les techniques pour extraire les informations contenues dans les textes écrits scientifiques. Cette hypothèse a été validée par la réalisation d'une expérience d‘enseignement / apprentissage. D‘autres hypothèses secondaires ont cherché à obtenir des informations sur les besoins, attentes et attitudes aussi bien des apprenants que des enseignants de la formation institutionnelle en anglais. Nous souhaitons que cet apport permette à notre université de s‘engager dans un processus d‘innovations pédagogiques où les apprenants adoptent une posture plus responsable concernant l‘apprentissage d‘une L2. / In the light of current theoretical knowledge, this action-research focuses on a project in which learners at the National University –Palmira have the opportunity of improving their inter-language in English. Our main hypothesis is that by adopting the task-based approach, L2 learning would be more efficient. It is inferred based-learning activities will help them to develop ways of obtaining knowledge and strategies to interact in real-life situations, and techniques to extract information from scientific written texts. This hypothesis has been validated through the realization of teaching / learning practices. Some secondary hypotheses to establish learners‘ and teachers‘ needs, expectations, goals and attitudes of formal training in English were also verified in this action-research. We hope this contribution may lead our university to adopt pedagogical innovative practices in which learners feel more concerned and involved in acquiring a second language.

Orientador: Mariângela Spotti Lopes Fujita / Banca: Maria Isabel Asperti Nardi / Banca: Nair Yomiko Kobashi / Resumo: A leitura em inglês para o fim de elaboração de resumos documentários pode ser facilitada mediante a utilização da abordagem do inglês instrumental. O aluno aprende estratégias de leitura que o ajudam na compreensão dos textos sem precisar ter o total domínio do inglês. A proposta desta pesquisa consiste na investigação do processo de leitura de um texto em inglês após os conhecimentos adquiridos nas disciplinas de "Inglês Instrumental" e "Indexação e Resumos" no curso de Biblioteconomia. Propomos uma interface entre as duas disciplinas com a finalidade de compreensão de textos em inglês para realização da tarefa de elaboração de resumos. Os objetivos são: trazer contribuição para as disciplinas afins no que concerne à orientação de leitura para elaboração de resumos, fazer levantamento de indicadores de leitura para elaboração de metodologias com a sugestão da utilização do Inglês Instrumental. Tal investigação foi realizada por meio de levantamento bibliográfico sobre resumo, leitura e por meio de observação do processo de leitura. A técnica da coleta de dados foi a denominada Protocolo Verbal. Os processos de leitura observados foram realizados por dois alunos do quarto ano do curso de Biblioteconomia do campus da UNESP de Marília. Receberam instruções quanto ao uso do Inglês Instrumental, para superação dos problemas oriundos da deficiência de conhecimento da língua e, instruções quanto às técnicas de síntese, análise e representação do documento para a elaboração do resumo documentário. Verificamos como procedem à compreensão do texto na tarefa de leitura para elaboração do resumo documentário e observamos que utilizam as estratégias de leitura aprendidas nas aulas de "Inglês Instrumental", bem como utilizam o conhecimento adquirido sobre a elaboração do resumo. Os resultados obtidos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Reading in English with the purpose of writing abstracts can be facilitated through ESP (English for specific purposes) approach. The student learns reading strategies that help him in text comprehension without the necessity of having great knowledge in English. This research proposal is to investigate the reading process of a written English text after the students had been acquainted with the two disciplines (ESP and 'Indexing and Abstract') in the Library Science course. We propose an 'interface' between both subjects in order to comprehend English written texts to the task of writing abstracts. The objectives are to contribute to these subjects related to the reading orientation to the abstract writing task and to point out some reading indicators to methodologies suggesting ESP approach. This research was carried out by the analysis of abstract and reading bibliographies and observation of the reading process. The technique of the data collecting was the one denominated Thinking Aloud. The reading process observed was carried out by two students from the fourth grade of Library Science at UNESP in Marília. Both of them had taken the two subjects above mentioned during the course. They received instructions about the use of ESP to overcome problems of the weak language knowledge and also about the synthesis, analysis and representation of the document. We verified how they read a text in order to write an abstract and observed that they used the reading strategies learned in the ESP classes as well as the knowledge about abstract writing. The obtained results indicate that the instrumental approach may be useful to the abstract writing task by means of appropriate reading strategies, such as, vocabulary strategies, language structure, paragraph structure, textual markers, selectivity, metacognitive monitoring, prediction, nominal... (Complete abstract, click electronic address below) / Mestre

The need for navigation in hypertext requires cognitive resources, and this can result in disorientation and cognitive overhead. So, information retrieval and text comprehension are impaired. It is not possible to construct a coherent mental representation of text content (situation model), which is essential for text comprehension. The question is, how can, based on hypertext studies and knowledge about text comprehension, suggestions for hypertext design be found. In this study, the influence of different navigation possibilities and linking structures of hypertext on orientation problems, text comprehension, and efficiency of information retrieval was investigated. First, linear text and hierarchic structured hypertext with a graphical overview over the text structure were compared. Furthermore, text comprehension processes were focused more intensively. Therefore, the influence of the coherence of linking structure and of working memory load on interaction with the text, text comprehension, and efficiency of information retrieval was investigated. Results show that disadvantages of hypertext concerning orientation problems can be compensated with the aid of a graphical overview which is usable for navigation. This orientation and navigation aid is also an advantage for the speed of information retrieval. In contrast, for text comprehension coherence of the linking of individual text nodes plays an essential role. Only if hypertext is constructed in a way that a coherent reading sequence is suggested to the reader, the user is able to construct a coherent mental representation about the text content. It becomes apparent that different tasks, in this case reading a text vs. information retrieval, make different demands to hypertext. To some extend, the results were only shown with high working memory load, which shows the influence of cognitive resources. / Die Notwendigkeit der Navigation in Hypertexten beansprucht kognitive Ressourcen und führt leicht zu einer Desorientierung und einer kognitiven Überlastung. Sie erschwert damit das Auffinden von Informationen und beeinträchtigt das Verstehen des Textes, d.h. es kann keine kohärente mentale Repräsentation über den Textinhalt (Situationsmodell) aufgebaut werden, was jedoch in der Textverstehensforschung als zentraler Punkt des Verstehens betrachtet wird. Die Frage ist nun, wie aus den bisherigen Erkenntnissen zu Hypertexten und aus dem Wissen über Textverstehensprozesse Hinweise für eine optimale Hypertextgestaltung abgeleitet werden können. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde dazu der Einfluss verschiedener Navigationsmöglichkeiten und der Verknüpfungsstruktur von Hypertexten auf die Probleme des Nutzers beim Umgang mit dem Hypertext und auf das Textverstehen bzw. den Wissenserwerb und die Effizienz der Informationssuche untersucht. Zunächst wurde dazu ein Vergleich von linear verknüpftem Text und einem hierarchisch strukturierten Hypertext mit einer graphischen Übersicht über die Textstruktur vorgenommen. Weiterhin wurden verstärkt die Textverstehensprozesse beim Umgang mit Hypertext betrachtet. Dazu wurde der Einfluss des Kohärenzgrades der Verknüpfung des Textes und der Arbeitsgedächtnisbelastung auf den Umgang mit dem Text, das Textverstehen und die Effizienz der Informationssuche untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Nachteile des Hypertextes hinsichtlich der Orientierungsprobleme durch eine navigierbare graphische Übersicht über die Textstruktur kompensiert werden können. Diese Strukturierungs- und Navigationshilfe erweist sich auch als Vorteil für die Schnelligkeit der Informationssuche. Für das Textverstehen hingegen spielt die Kohärenz der Verknüpfung der einzelnen Textknoten eine zentrale Rolle. Nur wenn der Hypertext so strukturiert ist, dass dem Nutzer eine zeitlich kohärente Leseweise nahegelegt wird, ist der Nutzer auch in der Lage, eine kohärente mentale Repräsentation über den Textinhalt aufzubauen. Es zeigt sich deutlich, dass unterschiedliche Aufgaben, hier Lesen eines Textes vs. Suchen nach Informationen, unterschiedliche Anforderungen an Hypertexte stellen. Teilweise werden die gezeigten Ergebnisse erst unter einer erhöhten Arbeitsgedächtnisbelastung deutlich, was den Einfluss kognitiver Ressourcen deutlich macht.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6592.pdf: 1407244 bytes, checksum: c0910b430fa49682809b7e15747694e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-05 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The Brazilian Ministry of Education is effectively measuring text comprehension by the national evaluation called Prova Brasil. However, lowered averages performance recurrent propagation for the schools raises two assumptions: the first one, that students may not have fully learned previous repertoires, more basic, which might influence their performance in text comprehension measures; and the second one, is related to the fact that Prova Brasil presents an informative character, not having as main objective to provide specific teaching procedures linked to the measures used. This Prova Brasil feature make arduous for the teachers and coordinators to program interventions that produces improvements in this complex repertoire. Both studies of this work aimed to contribute with the discussion of these assumptions. In Study 1 basic reading and writing repertoires were characterized regarding regular and irregular isolated words for 5th grade students of three schools with low rates in Prova Brasil. The results indicated deficits for varied basic repertoires in the three schools, however, were observed most affected performances for writing under dictation and for irregular words. In Study 2, it was described the items construction that composed a reading comprehension assessment, based on a behavioral interpretation. Evidences for validity and reliability were also investigated by the items, using Item Response Theory (IRT). The results not only corroborate the low median performance presented at Prova Brasil by the students, but also allowed verify the validity and consistency of the items to evaluate intermediate reading comprehension repertoire. The two studies allowed mapping reading and writing repertoires, from basic to complex, showing the feasibility of the two evaluations to prescribe specific teaching procedures in order to remediate the deficits identified. / O Ministério da Educação vem medindo com eficácia a compreensão de textos pela avaliação nacional da Prova Brasil. Contudo, a recorrente divulgação de médias de desempenho defasadas para as escolas, levanta duas suposições: a primeira, de que os alunos podem não ter apreendido repertórios prévios, mais básicos, que possam influenciar seus desempenhos em medidas de compreensão de textos; e a segunda, relaciona-se com o fato de a Prova Brasil apresentar caráter informativo, não tendo por objetivo principal prover procedimentos de ensino específicos atrelados às medidas utilizadas. Esta característica da Prova Brasil pode dificultar a programação pelos professores e coordenadores de intervenções que acarretem melhoras neste complexo repertório. Os dois estudos deste trabalho pretenderam contribuir com a discussão sobre estas duas suposições. No Estudo 1 foram caracterizados repertórios básicos de leitura e escrita de palavras isoladas regulares e irregulares para alunos de 5º ano de três escolas com baixos índices na Prova Brasil. Os resultados indicaram déficits para variados repertórios básicos nas três escolas, contudo, foram observados desempenhos mais prejudicados para repertórios de escrita sob ditado e para palavras irregulares. No Estudo 2 descreveu-se a construção de itens para a composição de uma avaliação de compreensão de leitura, embasada por uma interpretação comportamental. Foram ainda investigadas evidências de validade e precisão dos itens pela Teoria da Resposta ao Item (TRI). Os resultados, além de corroborarem os desempenhos medianos a baixos apresentados pelos alunos na Prova Brasil, também permitiram verificar a validade e consistência dos itens para avaliar repertórios intermediários de compreensão de textos. Os dois estudos permitiram de maneira geral mapear repertórios de leitura e escrita, de básicos a complexos, apresentando a viabilidade das avaliações para prescrever procedimentos específicos de ensino visando remediação dos déficits identificados.

The main aim of the thesis are the mapping the level of understanding narrative text for student of fifth grade primary school with the typical development of reading skills. The thesis deal with the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. The thesis is traditionally divided into a theoretical and empirical part. The first part of the thesis prestnts the theoretical background research problems of comprehension the text. Attention is focused mainly on the domain of listening comprehension and reading comprehension, including a summary of the current state of knowledge about the relationship between both skills in foreign and Czech studies, as well as the diagnostics of reading and prerequisites that are reflected on the comprehensions the text. In the practical part are conclusions expected on its own research, which was attended by 40 students taught by the analytic-synthetic metod of reading, are compared with the results of the three year research project GAČR - Reading complrehension - typical development and its risks, where attended 59 students of fifth grade primary school taught by the same reading method. In addition to comprehension level will be monitored by level of basic language skills.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Studies have shown that reading and comprehension skills are the most relevant problems in not only Portuguese classes, but also in Education in general. It is fundamental then that schools take some measures as to encourage reading, text comprehension, and the use and recognition of different oral and written genres with which readers come across daily. Taking that into consideration, the objective of this report is to present the results of the first phase of the application of the Activities Module, titled Ambiguity, advertisement and text comprehension, whose purpose, taking into account the study of ambiguity in advisements, is to motivate students to do reading and text comprehension activities, in a 9th grade class. That module was theoretically and methodologically designed according to Cosson´s (2004) perspective. According to him, a Didactic Sequence (DS) involves the following steps: motivation, introduction, reading and interpretation. As theoretical support, Cançado (2004), Martins (1994), Marcuschi (2008) and Koch & Elias (2012), among others, were also important references since they understand reading as a dialogue involving reader/text/writer. The analysis of this first phase revealed a positive balance, because the students satisfactorily corresponded to all proposed suggestions, showing interest, actively participating in the reading, text interpretation and comprehension activities, focusing on the phenomenon of ambiguity in advisements. This reinforces the idea that children and teenagers surrender in a more open and immediate way when motivational proposals brings up a model that lets them interact creatively. One more aspect that is positive about the module is the possibility of establishing a closer connection between theory and practice, enabling similar activities involving other contents and topics to take place. / Estudos têm mostrado que a leitura e a compreensão de texto ainda se configuram como os problemas mais relevantes no ensino de Língua Portuguesa, senão da Educação de modo geral. É mister, então, que a escola adote medidas variadas quanto ao incentivo à leitura, à interpretação, ao uso e ao reconhecimento dos diversos gêneros orais e escritos a que o leitor é apresentado diariamente. A par desse cenário, o objetivo deste relatório é apresentar o resultado da primeira etapa de aplicação do Módulo de Atividades, intitulado Ambiguidade, anúncio publicitário e interpretação de texto, cujo propósito, a partir do trabalho com o estudo da veiculação do fenômeno da ambiguidade em anúncios publicitários, é estimular o estudante a uma prática de leitura e de compreensão do texto, em uma turma de 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Tal módulo foi estruturado teórico-metodologicamente a partir da perspectiva de Cosson (2004), para quem uma Sequência Didática (SD) se constitui nas seguintes etapas: motivação, introdução, leitura e interpretação. Como suporte teórico, destacam-se, ainda, os estudos de Cançado (2008), Martins (1994), Marcuschi (2008) e de Koch e Elias (2012), entre outros que entendem ato de ler como o resultado do diálogo entre leitor/texto/autor. A análise dessa primeira aplicação revelou um saldo positivo, na medida em que os alunos atenderam, satisfatoriamente, a todas as propostas sugeridas, demonstrando interesse, participando ativamente das atividades de leitura, de interpretação e de compreensão de texto, focando o olhar no fenômeno da ambiguidade no anúncio publicitário. Isso ratifica a ideia de que crianças e adolescentes se entregam de maneira mais aberta e imediata quando a proposta de motivação traz uma moldura, um modelo, um estímulo que lhes permitam interagir de modo criativo. Para além desse peculiar, o referido módulo respalda-se, justamente, por oferecer ao professor a possibilidade de se estabelecer uma relação mais estreita entre teoria e prática, podendo servir de suporte para que outros conteúdos e temas sejam trabalhados.

Cette thèse porte sur la compréhension de textes et plus précisément sur son caractère dynamique. Elle interroge la validité d’une notion qui fait consensus dans les différents modèles de compréhension, celle du modèle de situation qui est la représentation de la situation évoquée par le texte. Construit tout au long de la lecture et permettant l’établissement de la cohérence, ce modèle de situation serait le produit fini obtenu à la fin de la lecture. A travers quatre séries d’expériences, ce travail étudie la répercussion qu’une tâche de compréhension proposée après lecture d’un texte, peut avoir sur la compréhension même du texte. La première série d’expériences examine si la dynamique du modèle de situation, c'est-à-dire sa mise à jour, perdure au-delà de la simple lecture du texte. Les séries d’expériences suivantes s’axent sur l’effet du contexte au moment de la tâche de compréhension. Plus précisément, la deuxième série d’expériences porte sur un effet de discriminabilité au sein des énoncés à juger dans la tâche de compréhension après lecture ; la troisième et quatrième série d’expériences manipulent la fluence conceptuelle et perceptive du traitement. Les résultats tendent à montrer que la réponse du participant n’est pas un acte faisant appel au passé et à une représentation, mais un acte dans le présent et dépendant du contexte situationnel. Ainsi, sa réponse n’est pas contenue dans un schéma pré-stocké que l’on pourrait nommer modèle de situation, mais émerge du présent et de son contexte. / This thesis is about text comprehension and more precisely about its dynamic feature. It questions the validity of a notion which has reached consensus in the various models of comprehension: The notion of situation model which is the representation of the situation evoked by the text. Founded throughout the reading and allowing the establishment of coherence, this situation model would be the final product obtained at the end of this reading. Through four series of experiments, this thesis puts under scrutiny the repercussion a comprehension task, proposed after the reading of a text, could have on the very comprehension of the text. The first series of experiments examines whether the model situation’s dynamic, meaning its updating, is maintained beyond a straightforward reading of the text. The next series of experiments are centred on the context effect when the comprehension task occurred. Much more precisely, the second series of experiments deals with the discriminability effect within the statements which are going to be judged during the comprehension task after reading; the third and fourth series of experiments manipulate the conceptual fluency and the perceptual fluency. The results tend to point to the fact that the participant’s response is not an act referring to the past and a representation, but an act embedded in the present, which depends on the situational context. Thus, the participant’s response is not held in a pre-stocked schema, that we could call situation model but emerges from the present and from its context.

Bakgrund. Stor del av barns spontana kommunikation sker i form av berättande och genom att undersöka mikro- och makrostrukturer i återberättande kan olika aspekter av den språkliga förmågan kartläggas. Barn med svag textförståelse uppvisar svårigheter i många språkliga områden och en god kartläggning kan både ligga till grund för identifiering av de individer som behöver stöd samt vara vägledande i interventionsplanering. Syfte. I första delen av studien var syftet att undersöka mikro- och makrostrukturella skillnader i narrativt återberättande mellan elever med svag textförståelse och elever med god textförståelse. Syftet i andra delen av studien var att undersöka det narrativa återberättandet hos elever identifierade med svag narrativ kvalitet. Metod. I studiens första del analyserades återberättande från elever i åk 2 kvantitativt på mikro- och makrostrukturell nivå utifrån SALT, NSS och Informationsled. I studiens andra del utfördes en kvalitativ analys av elevernas återberättande utifrån samma mått. Resultat. Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna kunde påvisas i studiens första del. Eleverna med svag textförståelse tenderade att ha en högre språklig produktivitet i sitt återberättande medan eleverna med god textförståelse tenderade att ha ett mer komplext återberättande. I studiens andra del var eleverna benägna att sammanfatta berättelsen och exkludera delar. Slutsatser. Elever med språkliga svårigheter är inte en homogen grupp. Interventionsinsatser måste således anpassas efter varje elevs behov. Resultaten från denna studie kan dock tyda på att även små interventionsinsatser i grupp skulle kunna utjämna eventuella skillnader i narrativt återberättande mellan elever med svag textförståelse och elever med god textförståelse. / Background. Much of children’s spontaneous communication is in the form of storytelling. By examining micro- and macrostructures in retelling, different aspects of linguistic ability can be mapped. Children with poor text comprehension show weakness in many linguistic areas and an appropriate analysis can serve as a basis for identifying individuals who need support, as well as guidance for intervention. Aim. The first part of this study investigates micro- and macrostructural differences in narrative retelling between students with and without poor text comprehension. The second part investigates narrative retelling by students identified with poor narrative quality. Methods. In the first part of the study, retellings from second grade students were analyzed at micro- and macrostructural levels. In the second part, a qualitative analysis of the retellings based on these levels was performed. Results. In part 1, no significant differences between the groups were observed. However, students with poor text comprehension tended to have a higher linguistic productivity in their retellings and students with good text comprehension had more complex structures. Part 2, it was found that the students with poor narrative quality tended to summarize the story and exclude parts. Conclusions. Students with language difficulties are not a homogeneous group. Hence, an intervention needs to be adapted to the needs of the student. Further, the results indicate that a short intervention has the potential to equalize possible differences in narrative retelling between students with and without poor text comprehension. / Tidig intensivsatsning i avkodning och läsförståelse

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-07-31T12:58:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) tese final biblioteca CD.pdf: 3332590 bytes, checksum: bc4c22a771787c68cbd86679ca9da7b2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-31T12:58:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) tese final biblioteca CD.pdf: 3332590 bytes, checksum: bc4c22a771787c68cbd86679ca9da7b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-11 / CAPES / Não raramente encontramos professores e pais preocupados diante da constatação de que seus alunos e filhos têm dificuldade de compreender o que leem. Por outro lado, diversas pesquisas (CAMPOS, BHERING, ESPOSITO, GIMENES, ABUCHAIM, VALLE; UNBEHAUM, 2011; TAGGART; SYLVA; MELHUISH; SAMMONS; SIRAJ-BLATCHFORD, 2011) têm evidenciado que a Educação Infantil de boa qualidade pode contribuir de forma significativa para a formação de leitores. Desta forma, a presente pesquisa buscou investigar a compreensão de leitura no âmbito da Educação Infantil. Mais especificamente, procuramos identificar quais concepções de leitura e de compreensão de textos norteavam o trabalho docente e que saberes as professoras revelavam acerca do ensino da compreensão de textos nesta etapa. Procuramos ainda identificar e analisar as atividades que, já na Educação Infantil, poderiam contribuir para o desenvolvimento da compreensão dos textos lidos para elas. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram quatro professoras de duas redes municipais (Recife e Camaragibe) que atuavam na Pré-escola, ou seja, nos dois últimos anos da Educação Infantil. Para atingir os objetivos propostos utilizamos como instrumentos de investigação a entrevista semiestruturada e a observação da prática docente. Adotamos a análise de conteúdo temática categorial (BARDIN, 1977) para a interpretação dos dados. Os conhecimentos do campo da psicologia, que explicitam os processos mentais envolvidos na compreensão de textos (KINTSCH, 1998; OAKHILL; CAIN, 2004, 2011) e os estudos dos saberes docentes que analisam como os professores constroem e mobilizam os seus saberes em torno do ensino (SHULMAN, 1986; GAUTHIER et al., 2006; TARDIF, 2000, 2012) subsidiaram teoricamente a análise dos dados gerados. Evidenciamos que as professoras apresentavam uma concepção de leitura que não se restringia apenas ao domínio de um código linguístico. Assim, as docentes valorizavam, além das habilidades básicas de leitura (reconhecimento de letras, consciência fonológica e relação som-grafia), aspectos ligados ao desenvolvimento do gosto e do prazer de ler, fazendo referência às formações continuadas de que participavam. No que se refere à compreensão de textos, esta era, para as professoras, resultado de um percurso natural, fruto do contato das crianças com livros e dos momentos de leitura em sala, sendo tais vivências tomadas como “o ensino da compreensão”. Constatamos que o conhecimento docente acerca da compreensão de textos era, portanto, impreciso e superficial. As professoras, na verdade, não pareciam identificar a compreensão de leitura como um objeto a ser ensinado e, consequentemente, não conseguiam de maneira consciente, estabelecer metas para uma ação pedagógica nesta direção. Por outro lado, elas identificavam um impacto positivo para a compreensão de leitura a partir de algumas atividades que realizavam. De fato, no que diz respeito à observação das práticas docentes, evidenciamos algumas atividades em que as docentes realmente procuravam levar seus alunos a compreender os textos lidos para as crianças. Entre estas, a atividade mais frequente era a formulação de perguntas sobre os textos lidos, em que as conversas conduzidas com as crianças mostraram-se uma excelente estratégia para o ensino da compreensão, quando a mediação estabelecida tinha um caráter dialógico. Verificamos, por outro lado, poucas propostas de reconto oral e de rescrita de histórias ouvidas. Os dados apontam ainda que tanto as formações (inicial e continuada), quanto os documentos curriculares têm contribuído muito pouco para a ampliação do conhecimento das professoras sobre a compreensão de textos escritos. O levantamento bibliográfico realizado durante a pesquisa mostra, contudo, que a literatura na área de compreensão de leitura tem avançado bastante. Ao que parece, tal avanço não tem se materializado nem nos textos do saber, nem nas formações (iniciais e continuadas). Por fim, os dados indicam a necessidade de que a compreensão de textos passe a ser considerada um objeto de ensino já a partir da Educação Infantil, permitindo que as professoras realizem, de forma consciente, um trabalho pedagógico mais amplo e produtivo voltado para a formação dos pequenos leitores. / It is not uncommon to find teachers and parents worried about the reading comprehension difficult presented by theirs students and children. On the other hand, several researches (CAMPOS, BHERING, ESPOSITO, GIMENES, ABUCHAIM, VALLE; UNBEHAUM, 2011; ZAINNE; FILHO, 2006; TAGGART; SYLVA; MELHUISH; SAMMONS; SIRAJBLATCHFORD, 2011) point that early childhood education of good quality can contribute in a significant way to readers formation. So, the purpose of this important research was to investigate the reading comprehension in early childhood education. More specifically, we observed the reading and text comprehension conception that guided the teacher´s word in classroom. We also observed what knowledge the teachers revealed about the comprehension teaching in this context. We identified and after we analyzed different activities that could contribute to the development of the text comprehension in early childhood education. The participants of this academic research were four teachers from municipal schools (public schools) in Recife e Camaragibe cities. All these teachers worked on the last two years of the early childhood education. We used as investigation instrument the semi-structured interview and we also observed the teachers practice to get the proposed aims of this research. We adopted the content theme categorical analysis (BARDIN, 1977) to interpret the information. The psychology knowledge area that clarify the metals process involved in text comprehension (KINTSCH, 1998; OAKHILL; CAIN, 2004, 2011) and the research of the teacher´s knowledge that analyzed how teachers build and mobilize theirs knowledge about the teaching (SHULMAN, 1986; GAUTHIER et al., 2006; TARDIF, 2000, 2012) helped with the theoretical base the data that emerged in our research. We observed that teacher presented a reading conception the was not limited to the linguistic code domain. Therefore, the teachers valorized beyond the basic reading skills (words recognition, phonological consciousness, sound-writing relation) aspects linked to the reading pleasure development, making reference to the teacher´s formation that they participated. About the text comprehension, this area, to the teachers, was natural route result, it was a result of the students with the books and also connected with the reading activities in the classroom, all these experience were understood as a “comprehension teaching”. We observed that the teacher´s knowledge about the text comprehension was, therefore, imprecise and superficial. In deed, teachers did not identify the reading comprehension as a object that should be taught and, consequently did not get in a conscious way to establish goals to the pedagogical action in this direction. On the other hand, they identified the activities positive impact to the reading comprehension that they made. Surely, about the teacher´s practice observation; we observed some activities wherein the teachers really try to lead theirs students to understand the texts that were read to them. Between these activities, the one more frequent was the questions formulation about the texts they had read. These moments, the conversations with the children were a important teaching comprehension strategy, but when the established mediation had a dialogic goal. We verified, on the other hand, few proposals about oral retelling and heard histories rewrite activities. The data also demonstrate that the teacher´s formation (initial and continued) and the curriculum documents do not have contributed a lot to amplify the teacher´s knowledge about the written texts comprehension. The research bibliographic made during this work show us, however, that the specific literature in comprehension area advanced a lot these last years. Apparently, this advance does not have materialized in texts and also in the teacher´s formation (initial and continued). Lastly, the data show us the necessity that the text comprehension should be considered a teaching object as from the early childhood education, allowing that teachers can work in a conscious way, their pedagogical activities more ample and productive focused to the little readers formation.

This dissertation describes a research aimed at finding text-optimization techniques which would increase the comprehension and better the attitudes of the readers towards the text. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques considering the possibility of implementation into the text-production process of state and commercial institutions. The theoretical basis for text comprehension is the construction of mental representations of the text. Many factors, internal and external, can influence the construction of a correct mental representation of the text. This thesis researches the factors of text quality and attitudes towards the text. Effects of the same text manipulations of Slovak and Dutch texts were observed in three language groups. These were: a group of Slovak native speakers, Dutch native speakers and people who learned Dutch as a foreign language. For this research two texts were selected, namely the instructions provided with the tax declaration form and an instruction manual provided with a digital camera. Parts of the texts were optimized and rewritten into two variants. The first variant is based on the principle of rewriting the text into a dialogue. The instructions for such transformation can be summarized into three points. This approach should be usable for not...