Using Multicultural Literature as a Tool for Multicultural Education in Teacher Education Juli-Anna Aerila
Children’s responses to literature in the classroom seen in the light of Theory of Mind and the concept of mentalization
Download 1.19 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Exploring text and attitude effects in the interpretation of stories Mia W.J. Stokmans
- Working with translanguaging in Swedish classrooms Gudrun Svensson
- Classroom discourse and the use of texts as a resource for teaching and learning Liisa Tainio
- Language Study in Romanian School Ioana Tamaian
- Identifying and evaluating written argumentation. Effects of a Comprehension Strategy Intervention in 9th Grade Aimed at Improving Students’ Critical Reading. Michael Tengberg
- Reading Literature in Teacher Education Marie C Thavenius
- Teaching strategies for students’ text comprehension and word semantics acquisition in primary school Maile Timm
Children’s responses to literature in the classroom seen in the light of Theory of Mind and the concept of mentalization. Ruth I. Seierstad Stokke Abstract: Cognitive literary theory, coupled with recent cognitive research based on Theory of Mind (ToM), has for a long time focused on the study of literary texts intended for adults. ToM is in these studies often described as the skill of attributing mental states to other beings based on observed or described behaviour, or as the ability to interpret and perceive one’s own and other’s feelings and intentions (e.g. Zunshine 2006). Kidd and Castano’s (2013) research on adults reading literary fiction, presents evidence as to how literary fiction temporarily can improve the reader’s ToM. Recently, cognitive literary theory and ToM has gained attention among scholars studying children’s literature (for an overview, see Nicolajeva 2014). However, there has been little interest in examining children’s explicit utterances about literature in the classroom with regard to ToM. In the present paper, this will be the main object. In addition to research defined in the tradition of ToM/simulation theory (Baron-Cohen 1995; Goldman 2006), the paper draws upon related research on mentalization in the psychoanalytical tradition (Allen & Fonagy 2006). Data in the study consists of two reception studies of Norwegian pupils in the first and third grade (ten 6-year olds and eight 8/9-year olds) reading and talking about picturebooks during a classroom read-aloud, and also of subsequent interviews with eight of the children. Audiotapes, transcripts and field notes have been thematically analyzed. The reception studies show how the children use the encounter with the picturebooks to talk about and investigate the drawing of the characters’ eyes, shape of mouth and body language in relation to the characters’ possible emotions and intentions. The paper seeks to examine whether the children’s utterances about the picturebooks can be understood in the light of ongoing reseach on ToM and mentalization. The bodily aspects of implicit and explicit forms of ToM and mentalization are discussed and seen in relation with Rosenblatt’s (1995, xviii) emphasis on literature reading as an organic process. Finally, the paper discusses the relationship between the concept of mentalization and empathy, and suggests possible consequences for the teaching of literature in mother tongue education. Keywords: Theory of Mind, mentalization, literature and body, empathy, literature in mother tongue education Literature: Allen, J. G. and Fonagy, P. (red.) (2006). Handbook of mentalization-based treatment. Chishester: Wiley and Sons Ltd. Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness - An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Goldman, A. I. (2006). Simulating minds – the Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading. NY: Oxford University Press. Kidd, D. C and Castano, E. (2013). Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. Science 2013, 342, 377; DOI: 10.1126/science.1239918 Nikolajeva, M. (2014). Reading for learning. Cognitive approaches to children’s literature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Rosenblatt, L. M. (1995). Literature as Exploration. NY: The Modern Language Association of America. Zunshine, L. (2006). Why we read fiction. Theory of Mind and the Novel. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press.
In original L1 stories all aspects of a text are familiar to readers (Oller, 1995). In general, familiarity has a positive impact on text comprehension (Alptekin, 2006). But, if available books are not appealing, familiarity could have a negative effect due to the negative connotations associated with these stories. We will test these suggestions by manipulating familiarity and connotation of texts. We conducted two studies (mixture of an experiment with random assignment of text and a survey study) in higher secondary education. All data were analyzed by means of ANCOVA, to reveal effects of text, motivation, and knowledge next to the controls age and gender. The first study focusses on familiarity and is a cross-cultural study in the Netherlands (n=113), Russia (n=145), and Morocco (n=111). Students read one of three short World War II stories that originate from The Netherlands, Russia, and Morocco. All texts were presented in the dominant language. This study showed some remarkable results that suggest a negative predisposition of Moroccan students toward stories of Moroccan origin. To explore this suggestion, we concentrated on Morocco (n=112) and altered also names and locations in the Dutch and Moroccan story (4 versions: 2 original and 2 altered) to manipulate familiarity and perceived origin. We will report on this study during the presentation. Keywords: text comprehension, background knowledge, cultural schema, reading motivation References: Alptekin, C. (2006). Cultural familiarity in inferential and literal comprehension in L2 reading. System, 34, 494-508. McCarthy, K. F., Ondaatje, E.H., Zakaras, L. & Brooks, A. (2004). Gifts of the Muse. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Oller, J.W. (1995). Adding abstract to formal content schema: Results of recent work in Peircean semiotics. Applied Linguistics, 16, 273-306. Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D Program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1465. Oller, J.W. (1995). Adding abstract to formal content schema: Results of recent work in Peircean semiotics. Applied Linguistics, 16, 273-306. Grabe, W. & Stoller, L.F. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. Howlow, England: Pearson Education. Kintsch, W. (1998; ). The use of knowledge in discourse processing: A construction-integration model. Psychological Review, 95, 163-182. Verhoeven. L. & Perfetti, C.A. (2008). Introduction. Advances in text comprehension: Model, process and development. Applied cognitive psychology, 22, 2930301.
The term translanguaging was coined by Williams (1996), who studied strategic interaction in order to apply pupils’ multiple linguistic resources in the classroom. His studies showed that simultaneous multilinguistic practice not only led to improvement of pupils’ languages but also enhanced subject knowledge. Creese & Blackledge (2010), Garcia (2012), and Cummins & Persad (2014) also show that development of identity and knowledge is promoted when educating takes advantage of pupils’ previous linguistic experiences. However, according to Cummins (2007), teachers in L2 instruction apply linguistic strategies based on the view that use of L1 and L2 in the classroom does not further the development of the target language. This study proceeds from an action research (Denscombe 2009) sub-project within a multi-year research project, Interaction for the Development of Language and Identity in Multilingual Classrooms. The sub-project has special focus on linguistic resources and strategies, and spotlights in this study two teachers in elementary school who have started to work strategically to utilize 12 years old pupils’ linguistic resources. Our study analyses the concrete ways in which the teachers apply varied linguistic strategies according to Garcia (2012) when teaching. The material consists of 25 pupils’ written texts that are analyzed as per textual analysis. The material also consists of recorded conversations, observations of lessons and semi structural interviews which are analyzed with qualitative methods. The result shows that when teachers take advantage of the pupils’ linguistic repertoires by encouraging them to work together and apply all their linguistic knowledge when doing tasks the pupils create knowledge about concepts and forms of expression in both L1 and L2. The result also shows that pupils get a better understanding of L2-texts and improved writing as well as more confidence in their own capability. When the pupils’ diverse languages are regarded as a natural part of education also parents get involved which contributes to positive development of pupils’ identity by empowering both pupils and parents. Keywords: translanguaging, teacher strategies, multilinguistic resources, developing of identity and knowledge
Creese, A. & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the Bilingual Classroom: A Pedagogy for Learning and Teaching. The Modern Language Journal, 94 (1), pp.103–115. Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking Monolingual Instructional Strategies in Multilingual Classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10 (i), pp. 221–240. Cummins, J. & Persad, R. (2014). Teaching through a Multilingual Lens: The Evolution of EAL Policy and Practice in Canada. Education Matters, 2 (1,) pp. 3–40. Denscombe, M. (2009). Forskningshandboken – för småskaliga forskningsprojekt inom samhällsvetenskaperna. Lund: Studentlitteratur. García, O. (2012). Theorizing Translanguaging for Educators. In C. Celic & K. Seltzer (ed). Translanguaging in the Bilingual Classroom: A Pedagogy for Learning and Teaching? Modern Language Journal. 94(1), pp.103–115. Williams, E. (1996). Reading in two languages at Year 5 in African primary school. Applied Linguistics 17, pp. 183–209. Classroom discourse and the use of texts as a resource for teaching and learning Liisa Tainio Abstract: The effectiveness of certain pedagogical methods and the impact of classroom discourses on learning reading literacy have been widely studied by the researchers of literacy education (see Nystrand 2006). Researchers inspired by Bakhtin have discussed particularly two patterns of discourse, namely, the monological (authoritative) and the dialogical (internally persuasive) discourse (Bakhtin 1981; Skidmore 2000). In contrast to monological discourse, in the dialogically-organized instruction the students have more opportunities to display verbally and non-verbally their agency as learners (Nystrand 2006; Lipponen & Kumpulainen 2011). Engaging in initiative, agentive activities, encouraged by teachers, is often considered as central to student learning (van Lier 2008; Waring 2011; Garton 2012). Treating this as my reference point, I will analyze two video-recorded mother tongue lessons where teaching is oriented to learning literacy through L1-grammar in Finnish basic education, and ask what the role of (pedagogical) texts is for the creation of classroom discourse and the opportunities for learning. The analyses of classroom interaction are deepened with the analyses of participant interviews. As the method I use conversation analysis (e.g. Sidnell & Stivers 2013), a promising method for analyzing literacy education but a “methodological road less travelled” (Davidson 2012). This study is part of the research project Textmix where conversation analysis is used to examine the practices of L1 teaching and learning (http://blogs.helsinki.fi/textmixblogi/). The focus of the analysis is the use of different texts during the instruction. I will show how the teachers’ practices of treating the text as the fundamental source of information and instruction versus a possible source of pedagogic tasks have consequences, first, on the ways in which classroom interaction is organized as monological or dialogical, second, on how pupils are motivated in learning, and, third, on how the emotional relationship between the teacher and the pupils is realized and evaluated by the participants. I conclude by discussing the role of different textual practices for the organization of classroom interaction and for creating opportunities for learning. References Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. Davidson, C. (2012). Ethnomethodology and literacy research: A methodological “road less travelled”. English Teaching: practice and Critique, 11 (1), 26-42. Garton, S. (2012). Speaking out of turn? Taking the initiative in teacher-fronted classroom interaction. Classroom Discourse 3(1), 29-45. Lier, Leo van (2008). Agency in the classroom. In James P. Lantolf and Matthew E. Poehner (eds.), Sociocultural theory and the teaching of second languages, 163–186. London: Equinox. Lipponen, L. & Kumpulainen, K. (2011). Acting as accountable authors: Creating interactional spaces for agency work in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education 27(5), 812–819. Nystrand, M. (2006). Research on the role of classroom discourse as it effects reading comprehension. Research in the teaching of English 40, 392-412. Sidnell, J. & Stivers, T. (Eds.) (2013).The handbook of conversation analysis. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Skidmore, D. (2000). From pedagogical dialogue to dialogical pedagogy. Language and Education 14(4), 283–296. Waring, H. Z. (2011). Learner initiatives and learning opportunities. Classroom Discourse 2(2), 201–218. Language Study in Romanian School Ioana Tamaian Abstract: Context During the 20th in Romania, language teaching focused by turns on rhetoric, language system, and pragmatics. Those paradigms echoed the ideology of educational policy of the time. By analysing them, we raise not only practical questions about what types of theory and practices we should include in language teaching, but also ideological questions related to the critical consciousness of the speakers. In the first decades of the 20th century the teaching approach followed the tradition of trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) common to Western European School. In the following decades language study took a turn towards the theory of structuralism while the teaching approach favoured descriptive grammar. Over the last two decades the national curriculum has strongly supported a pragmatic turn in language teaching, prescriptive aspects of grammar being combined with communication, now envisioned as the main skill by the curriculum. The new Grammar of Romanian Language produced under the auspices of The Romanian Academy (2008) illustrates that pragmatic direction. Aims Our paper aims to diachronically illustrate the three aforementioned paradigms and the subsequent conceptions about language teaching. Our main goal is to argue that the language teaching approach, mainly the pragmatic one, fails to completely capture the stakes of L1 practice in lack of language awareness. Thus we believe language awareness is a compulsory factor in the pragmatic model that teachers nowadays work with. We aim to outline some new appropriate language teaching models exploring this fundamental assumption and discuss them in relation to the grammar learning experience reported by students enrolled in the teacher training programme. Theoretical framework The theoretical framework of the discussion is shaped by the concept of ”critical language awareness”, as defined by Norman Fairclough (1992), on the one hand, and, on the other one, it is based upon our research in the history of teaching Romanian language and literature (2005). Results and discussion We mean to review some relevant issues in language teaching in Romania and to report on a series of teaching experiments carried out by the authors during the teacher training program organized at the “Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca. Keywords: language awareness, Romanian context, teaching grammar. References: Fairclough, Norman, Critical Discourse Analysis: the critical study of language, London: Longman, 1995. Pamfil Alina, Ioana Tămăian, Romanian Language and Literature Study in the 20th century: teaching paradigms, Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, 2005 (in Romanian). The Grammar of Romanian, Bucharest: Romanian Academy Press, 2005 (in Romanian). Identifying and evaluating written argumentation. Effects of a Comprehension Strategy Intervention in 9th Grade Aimed at Improving Students’ Critical Reading. Michael Tengberg Abstract: Recent curriculum reforms in several countries emphasize that a major challenge for future schooling of adolescents’ literacy is to improve their ability to deal with argumentative texts. Research demonstrates that critical reading ability is important both for a rich involvement in modern social and cultural life and for the large variety of text-based challenge awaiting students across the educational system. Empirical research on the reading of argumentative texts also indicate that explicit instruction is rare, that students at both secondary and college level are generally not very skilled at identifying key components of argumentative structures in texts, and that students often conflate provided arguments with cases they build themselves while reading. In this presentation, we report from an intervention study designed to improve critical reading proficiency among adolescents. Critical reading in the study includes i) being able to identify written argumentative structure (author’s claim, supporting arguments, evidence, and counter arguments); ii) being able to analyze arguments in terms of relevance and sustainability; and iii) being able to evaluate argumentation through written, critical response. A multiple strategy approach for critical reading instruction was implemented over the course of six weeks (15 lessons) in four classes in Swedish 9th grade. Teachers were provided with professional preparation and continual guidance during the intervention. Classroom activities included reading of argumentative texts, teachers’ modeling of three strategies (identifying, analyzing, and evaluating), discussions in pairs, groups and whole class, at times arranged as classroom debates, and response writing to argumentative texts followed by peer response and whole class evaluation. Students’ ability to identify, analyze, and critically respond to written argumentation was tested before and after the intervention using two versions of a researcher-developed test. Results indicated a significant (p<0.001) and large (η=0.27) improvement from pre- to posttest. Closer analysis revealed i) that low-achieving readers made the largest improvement, and ii) that analysis of argument accounted for the largest proportion of improvement. Results on Swedish national reading tests conducted three months later revealed that students in the intervention classes scored significantly better (p=0.01) than comparable classes at the same schools on items that tested critical reading. Reading Literature in Teacher Education Marie C Thavenius Abstract: For the past century literature has been an important part of L1 teaching in Swedish schools and it has also been one of the major parts in teacher education for future teachers of Swedish, but the development of digital communication media is raising questions like: What is literature? What is reading? Is literature important today? Should literature continue to hold a unique position in mother tongue education at school and in teacher education? The topic of my thesis is therefore the reading of literature in teacher education. The research area for my PhD-project is Educational Sciences and more specifically The Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning Swedish. The purpose of my study is to explore the reading of literature in teacher education (for future teachers of Swedish). My research questions are focused on why we are reading literature in teacher education and the views among students and teachers of this matter. How can these views be understood? What texts are being read? How are the texts being read? What reading practices are being encouraged? I have an overall social constructionist view with a qualitative approach because my purpose is to explore and understand the meaning the teacher students ascribe to reading, studying and teaching literature. My research design is inspired by ethnography. That means that I have been studying one group of teacher students during the last two years of their education programme. My research data consists of audio-taped lectures, seminars, small group discussions and oral examinations. I have also had interviews with students and teachers. Other data is syllabi for the courses of Swedish in the teacher education, but also the national subject syllabus for Swedish at upper secondary school. In analyzing the data I am using a combination of predetermined and emerging categories. So far, the most interesting results have to do with conflicting views on literature in teacher education compared to the national syllabus for school, but also the different reading practices and ways of using literature in teacher education. Keywords: teacher education, ethnography, teaching literature, literature reading, reading practices Teaching strategies for students’ text comprehension and word semantics acquisition in primary school Maile Timm Abstract: The students’ text comprehension skills and word semantics acquisition are related to the teachers’ teaching strategies (Byrd, 2014). There are several strategies suggested in this field to support the development of text comprehension skills and word semantics in primary school. First, transformational teaching strategies (Slavich & Zimbardo, 2012) are suggested to broaden the students’ vocabulary at different types and levels of the text (Cruse, 2004; Eason et al., 2012). Second, reciprocal teaching strategies (Spörera, Brunsteina, & Kieschkeb, 2009) are useful for intentsive collaboration between teacher and student to support text comprehension. Combined strategies comprise elements of aforementioned strategies and they are used to enhance the students’ skills of drawing conclusions from the whole text and finding the main idea of the text (Elosúa et al., 2013; Mckeown, Beck & Blake, 2009). The aim of the current study was to find out effective teaching strategies that Estonian L1-teachers use to improve the students’ text comprehension skills and word semantics acquisition. Seventy five Estonian language teachers from 25 schools responded to the questionnaire. The questions were divided into three parts: 1) strategies supporting the students’ reading comprehension skills, 2) strategies developing text comprehension competences and 3) practices enhancing word semantics knowledge. In addition, 10 background questions were asked from the teachers (e.g. type of school, teachers’ age and work experience). According to the results, many teachers frequently used combined teaching strategies to improve their students’ text comprehension as well as word semantics acquisition skills. The study also revealed that to improve text comprehension skills teachers used different types of texts and taught students to draw conclusions from the text and grasp new vocabulary. The teachers’ teaching strategies are related Byrdto the students’ academic success. They also have a major influence on supporting the students’ text comprehension and word semantics in primary school, therefore it is necessary to find out what kind of strategies the teachers are using. Keywords: teaching strategies, text comprehension, word semantics, primary school References Byrd, D. (2014). Learning to Teach Culture in the L2 Methods Course. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 11(1), 76–89. Retrieved from http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v11n12014/byrd.pdf Cruse, A. D. (2004). Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eason, S. H., Goldberg, L. F., Young, K. M., Geist, M. C., & Cutting, M. C. (2012). Reader–text interactions: How differential text and question types influence cognitive skills needed for reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(3), 515–528. doi: 10.1037/a0027182 Elosúa, M.R., García-Madruga, J.A., Vila, J.O., Gómez-Veiga, I., & Gil, L. (2013). Improving reading comprehension: From metacognitive intervention on strategies to the intervention on working memory executive processes. Ciencia Cognitiva, 12(5), 1425–1438. McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., & Blake, R. G. K. (2009). Rethinking reading comprehension instruction: A comparison of instruction for strategies and content approaches. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(3), 218–253. Slavich, G. M. & Zimbardo, P. G. (2012). Transformational Teaching: Theoretical Underpinnings, Basic Principles and Core Methods. Educational Psychology Review, 24(4),569–608. doi: 10.1007/s10648-012-9199-6. Spörera, N., Brunsteina, J. C., & Kieschkeb, U. (2009). Improving students’ reading comprehension skills: Effects of strategy instruction and reciprocal teaching. Learning and Instruction, 19(3), 272–286. Directory: files -> aidinkielenopetustieteenseurary.kotisivukone.com files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations aidinkielenopetustieteenseurary.kotisivukone.com -> American Visitors Download 1.19 Mb. Share with your friends:
|