In this essay there will be four text books from grade 1 studied, the first one are from the year 1976 and it will be going forward to the year 2012. The aim of this study is to see how the genders are depicted and represented, as well as what roles the genders are given. I do also want to see if there is a notable change in this over time. I will be doing a study based on the quantity of the contents, and I will also be doing a critical discourse analysis.The result of the study showed that there were more gender-based constructions that referred to women in all of the four books, which indicates that women are represented more often in these reading books. It is most common to portray the genders in their stereotypical roles, which again are present in society, but sometimes these roles are depart from what?s present in society.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate if the reading habits of teacher students are influenced by merit and descent. The empiric material consists of six questionnaires answered by students at the teacher training with Swedish at the upper secondary school as their first topic. The questionnaire comprised questions about reading habits in the childhood and today and information concerning merits and descent.Pierre Bourdieu?s sociological ideas about cultural capital transmitted from parent to child and the concept of habitus are used as a theoretical framework regarding descent.

This masters thesis examines the reading environment during "booktalk", with special reference to a reading project in compulsory comprehensive and upper secondary schools in Stockholm. The main question is: What does the reading environment look like during booktalk? Three questions are asked: Which factors affect the reading environment? Which are the conditions concerning book selection and book availability? How do the librarians perform as enabling adults? Different groups of pupils, together with their teachers and the librarian, are studied during booktalks in five schools. The study uses a qualitative approach, which takes the form of open observations during 15 booktalks and one interview with the two librarians involved in the project and studies of literature. The theoretical framework is Aidan Chambers theory relating to reading environment and its effects upon the reading process.

The aim of the study is to investigate how teachers in grades 1­­­­­­­­­­­?3 use reading aloud to develop the pupils? reading comprehension and how they reflect on the method. The study is based on interviews with four teachers, all of them working in these grades. The interviews have been interpreted hermeneutically and the statements compiled in accordance with the aim and research questions. The results indicate that all the teachers are aware that reading aloud can be used as a resource to develop pupils? reading comprehension.

In a school for children from 6-9 years in a small town in the southeast of Sweden, is areading activity program in progress since 8 years. The original purpose of this program wasto enhance the student?s reading interest. All of the students read at least one book a week andthen they review the book in front of the class.The purpose of the present study was to examine vocabulary, word retrieving, narrative skillsand grammatical abilities in children in this school. The objectives were to investigate if thechosen language abilities in these children were different compared to normative data andearlier studies in children at comparable ages.

This master's thesis deals with how a school class of 19 students that are 12 years old,perceive the conception of the library and its activities, and how this can be studied by usingfour different approaches: analysis of the children's drawings, analysis of the children'sessays and analysis of their answers to questions in an inquiry and in interviews. Theories ofhow children learn, develop and perceive the world are briefly presented, as we11 as theorynecessary for the analysis.The four different techniques produced in general the same result; the children displayed thesame thoughts, knowledge and values in the drawings, in the essays, in the inquiry andduring the interviews. The children participating look upon a library as mainly a building,though sometimes also a room, where there are books..

The aim of this master?s thesis is to investigate how adults describe their individual reading experiences, on the basis of their own reflections by keeping a reading diary. Reading diaries kept during two months and a qualitative questionnaire for each of our nine motivated and advanced adult readers, were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The study was carried out on the Internet. The theoretical framework that served as a point of departure is Ross? and Chelton?s model for the process of choosing a book to read for pleasure, Nussbaum?s moral philosophy and thesis ?Reading for life? and Mukar?ovský?s theory of the aesthetic value.

AbstractMany pupils struggleto read. Teachers must therefore know how to motivate these pupils. In this qualitative study the aim is to investigate what some teachers do to motivate pupils to read. Data were collected through interviews with four teachers from two schools. The teachers said that the choice of book was extremely important for making pupils interested in reading, and that reading aloud and cooperation with parents and libraries are of great importance.

We studied the initial process of reading, with a focus on typography, whether it ispossible to increase childrens lust to read in the age six to seven years old, byadjusting the typography and graphic design. We conduct this study through qualitative and quantitative studies, mainlyinterviews with a main focus on children in this particular age were used. In additionto the interviews a questioniare were sent out to a selection of students. The studyalso contained an interview with a pedagogue as well as studies of the current andexisting textbooks and teaching aids that is used on the school we are looking into.During the study we consulted educated pedagogues to get an understanding of thechildren and their learning and to be able to approach them in a suitable way.The theories we have been using were mainly from a typographic point of view.Other areas we explored were theories about reading processes. This study showedthat every child needs a method that is suitable for them and that the materialprovided today is typographically inconsistent. The childrens and teachers needs andwishes in typography did not correspond with the current teaching aids design. From this study the followning points were made about how to design a textbook forchildren in the first grade:? The typeface should be a sans serif.? The point size should be bigger than 12 points.? Text should be aligned to the left.? Sentences should be short without becoming abstract.? To maintain focus on the text the layout should be simple and unbarked.? The format should be designed after the pourpose of the publication, forexample when it is a complement to the textbook, the format should be of suchcharacter that it is easy for the children to bring home.? There should be a typographical consistency through all of the materialsprovided to the children..

In this essay there will be four text books from grade 1 studied, the first one are from the year 1976 and it will be going forward to the year 2012. The aim of this study is to see how the genders are depicted and represented, as well as what roles the genders are given. I do also want to see if there is a notable change in this over time. I will be doing a study based on the quantity of the contents, and I will also be doing a critical discourse analysis.The result of the study showed that there were more gender-based constructions that referred to women in all of the four books, which indicates that women are represented more often in these reading books. It is most common to portray the genders in their stereotypical roles, which again are present in society, but sometimes these roles are depart from what?s present in society.

This study covers reading comprehension and the introduction of the "Tell me" approach as proposed by Chambers (1993) to a group of teachers in a Swedish F-3 school. Five teachers got to use the method for three weeks and were interviewed before and after the experiment to analyze their current ways of working and reactions to using the method in everyday tutoring. The result from the first interview showed that all of the participants had been using methods to improve the children?s reading comprehension prior to the study, but no one had tried the "Tell me" approach. After trying the method throughout the test period, all of the participants were positive about the methodology and showed an interest in continuing the use of it.

The purpose of this study is to find out how teachers work with fairytales in preschools raising several questions;How would the teachers describe the literary environment at the preschools? What does theory say about the literary environment?What type of fairytales do the teachers perceive that they work with? How does theory describe these fairytales?What is the underlying purpose for teachers working with fairytales? What purposes are described in theory?My study is based on qualitative interviews conducted with three teachers working in preschool in a small town. The study is based on hermeneutic theory.  I have also used other theory to complete the study.         The teachers all see the possibility of using storytelling as a means to developing the children´ s vocabulary. Some of the teachers also use books and stories as a way of indirectly addressing ongoing personal problems.                                                                                                      The results of my study show that fairytales can be a valuable tool for personal development for children. Working with fairytales could be crucial to how children develop their curiosity and desire to learn and manage ongoing traumas in their lives.

The purpose of this report is to contribute with knowledge about the views within special education. I want to explore and compare the way students with special needs are approached within two different pedagogies in Sweden: Waldorf pedagogy and Montessori pedagogy.I have closely studied these pedagogies, read the literature from existing research and also by conducting two interviews with a representative from each pedagogy Both pedagogies claim that their teaching methods are most suitable for children with reading and writing difficulties..The Waldorf pedagogy was founded in 1919 in Germany by Rudolf Steiner. The pedagogy believes in the development of the students into independent children who can use their bodies as a tool for the learning of knowledge. The Montessori pedagogy was also founded in the beginning of the nineteenth century and stands for developing the students into independent individuals. However, the pedagogical approach to reading, writing and dyslexia is different.

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to examine if manual signs used as support to spoken and written language can be a god mnemonic for learning of word-pictures. I performed my study as an experiment in which I made a Memory game with word-pictures. I played the game with the children twice. The first time, we played without manual signs and the second time I used sign as a support. I observed the children and noted the words they learned to read with and without the support of manual signs.

The demands on the adult literacy-rate are very high in Sweden. People with reading and writing difficulties may find it hard to fit into the community and to succeed in school. To accommodate the needs of students with learning disabilities, Swedish schools provide easy-to-understand materials. The purpose of my thesis is to examine how easy-to-read textbooks for high school students are different from regular textbooks. The study was carried out using a content analysis and I examined the books according to criteria specified by the Swedish author Torbjörn Lundgren.