L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature
Not a member yet
461 research outputs found
Sort by
Reading comprehension in primary school: Textbooks, curriculum, and assessment
Get PDFThis study describes the reading comprehension processes present in the most widely sold textbooks at the fourth grade level in Portugal and discusses how they compare to international assessments of reading literacy. We adopted the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study framework to categorize the questions in the textbooks. Our analyses revealed that they focus heavily on the retrieval of explicitly stated information to the detriment of higher level comprehension skills. Portuguese fourth grade textbooks rarely challenge students to make connections between their knowledge and the ideas in the texts and to adopt a critical and evaluative reading stance. This is in sharp contrast to what students are asked to do in the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study, conducted every five years since 2001, and it may help explain the poor results Portuguese students have in national assessment and in PISA. The findings are discussed in light of the curriculum frameworks currently adopted in Portugal and suggestions are made as to how we can improve reading literacy achievement
Improving the quality of primary school children\u27s narration of personal events: An intervention study on the use of evaluation strategies
Get PDFThis study was aimed at analysing the effects of a 15-week instructional intervention with primary school children regarding the use of narrative functions and evaluative strategies in writing personal accounts. Eighty-one 4th graders from a primary school in a northern Italian town were divided into two groups: Labovian (N = 41) and traditional (N = 40). After the intervention, the children in the Labovian group, who were taught to use evaluation strategies, wrote longer and better narrations, and more personal and complete accounts than those in the traditional group. The improvement in writing ability was stable three months after the end of the intervention
Shaping meanings through genre: An analysis of a personal experience narrative in a graduate course
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to investigate oral narratives of personal experience told in the graduate classroom and viewed here as a genre (Martin & Rose, 2007). Narratives of personal experience are ubiquitous in everyday life and work as a means of re-constructing experience (Bruner, 1997, 1994). In this research, narratives of personal experience are examined according to narrative and evaluation theory (Cortazzi & Jin, 2001; Martin, 2001; Martin & White, 2005) to investigate how evaluation occurs in these texts and how they work as a pedagogic tool. Through the analysis of this genre, a direct connection between narratives of personal experience and the social construction of knowledge can be highlighted
Promoting alphabetic skills of young children with hearing loss in co-enrollment versus individual inclusion
Get PDFThe study assessed the efficacy of an early literacy intervention for 79 children ages 5-6 years with prelingual hearing loss (HL) who all functioned auditorily, using appropriate devices. Teachers and speech therapists administered an 8-month-long intervention in preschools through two alphabetic sessions and one storybook-reading session per week. Alphabetic sessions involved games and activities that encouraged letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and functional writing. Storybook-reading sessions utilized children’s books to discuss central concepts and ideas via games and creative activities. The study compared two educational inclusion tracks: individual inclusion (a single student with HL fully integrated into a regular classroom) and co-enrollment (a group of students with HL partially integrated into a regular classroom and co-taught by a regular teacher and a special education teacher). Another group of children with HL studying in a co-enrollment track served as a control group. Children’s alphabetic skills (letter naming, orthographic awareness, phonological awareness, and word writing) were assessed at pretest and posttest. Results showed that participants progressed more in the intervention groups than in the control group on phonological awareness and word writing, regardless of inclusion track. Interestingly, the two intervention groups did not differ in their progress
The comparison of written language abilities between Cypriot oral deaf and hearing children
Get PDFA number of studies have reported the beneficial effects of inclusion on deaf children’s academic achievements; however, little data are available on their writing ability in comparison to generaleducation students of their age or grade level. The purpose of the current study was to compare for the first time in Cyprus deaf children’s written ability with that of their hearing peers. One group consisted of children all 17 years of age and with congenital hearing losses (mean 75 dB HL in the better hearing ear at 0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz), and without additional disabilities, who were attending the last grade of various general high schools in Cyprus (n=9). They were trained orally and in general schools, which they attended exclusively. The control group consisted of nine hearing children all of whom were 17 years of age and attending the last grade of high schools in Cyprus. All participants were asked to produce written texts on standard topics required of Cypriot children of that age. The analysis of the written texts was both quantitative and qualitative. Regarding the quantitative analysis, the written language was analysed by focusing on a) text content and structure, b) syntax, and c) vocabulary. Qualitative analysis was employed for further description of the characteristics observed in the texts of the sample. The study revealed that Cypriot deaf participants could achieve almost the same levels of competence in written Greek as the hearing children, at least for the aspects examined. The findings of the study may be of importance for educators and policy makers in Cyprus and elsewhere
An understanding of the literacy levels of students, who are deaf/hard-of-hearing in the United States, China, and South Korea
Get PDFThis paper presents a synthesis of the research findings of the literacy levels and difficulties of deaf/hard of hearing children and adolescents in the United States, China, and South Korea. After discussing general achievement levels, we provide a brief introduction to the nature of the three writing systems (English, Chinese, and Korean) to establish an explanatory framework that accounts for the status of the current literacy levels. We assert that the three writing systems are designed, at the least, to fit the phonological structures of the languages for which they represent. We also argue that there is a reciprocal, facilitative relationship between lower-level (e.g., decoding) and higher-level (e.g., comprehension, composing) skills. To establish this reciprocity, children need to develop competence in phonology, specifically, and in other general language components (e.g., morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) of the language of print. Many children may also need to learn how to comprehend or compose (e.g., develop higher level metacognitive, inferencing skills)
Integrating theory and practice: Learning to teach L1 language and literature
Get PDFAgainst the background of the central dilemma in teacher education of the relationship between theory and practice, this article presents a teacher education approach that strongly emphasizes the use of theory in learning to teach, on the assumption that teaching is also an intellectual activity, and not simply \u27practice\u27. We take the subject pedagogy, in this case of Dutch language and literature, as a starting point for our approach to teacher education, in an effort to align it as closely as possible with key educational theories. Furthermore, we encourage our students to engage in reflection informed by the theories they have been reading: discourses concerning different aspects of teaching and learning, resulting in instrumental, academic, and critical reflection. Therefore, we present a theoretical framework that is used by our student teachers to understand and examine their teaching. This approach can be summarized in the final task asked of our student teachers: an analysis of their own teaching, using key incident analysis. To illustrate, we describe and illustrate the work of Jennifer, a student teacher
Writing, assessment, and the authority of the disciplines
Get PDFThe writing program at Cornell University involves professors from across the disciplines teaching writing courses at each level of students’ undergraduate careers. This program undertook an assessment of its effectiveness in the years 2002-2004. The process of creating and carrying out an assessment developed by professors involved in the program is reported, and the assessment results are presented. These results lead the writer to argue for the assessment process itself as a key experience in developing the disciplinary awareness of participating professors, who became involved in deep questioning of what ‘good’ student writing might be in higher education, and in what relationship to the language practices of each discipline. The assessment project’s challenges and benefits support the value of assessment of students’ work across disciplines as fundamentally owned by each discipline
Exploring the narrative art of David Wiesner: Using a grammar of visual design and learning experiences on the world wide web
Get PDFThis paper discusses the use of ‘a grammar of visual design’ with children’s literature. This ‘visual grammar’ is an account of the meaning-making resources of images that has been developed by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen. The basic ideas of the visual grammar are firstly illustrated with a description of images mainly selected from the picture book, Zoo by the British author, Anthony Browne. The focus is then on the picture books of David Wiesner and the ways in which the grammar of visual design can be used to enhance discussions of the author’s visual narrative techniques. What is proposed here is that developing students’ understanding of the Kress and van Leeuwen concepts of visual design will allow them to engage in more productive analysis of the pictorial aspects of Wiesner’s and other artists’ picture books, both in book format and in the readily available websites with activities using Wiesner’s and others’ picture book art
Professional learning and change: The experience of literature teacher educators
Get PDFThis paper presents vignettes from life-stories of literature teacher educators, who participated in a wide-scale research project. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with these individuals, as part of a study into their professional development as literature teacher educators. The findings indicate changes in their thinking about literature and the instruction of literature, as well as changes in their understanding of their role as literature teacher educators. The findings allowed us to construct a dynamic model of professional development of literature teacher educators. This study contributes new insight regarding processes of teacher educators’ professional development and change in their thinking about their work