AbstractThis essay concerns a qualitative case study seeking to understand six boys? reading habits and to investigate why it is that some boys who do not like reading nevertheless display good reading comprehension according to the results achieved for that skill in national tests. The study shows that the boys? perception of reading has a lot to do with the contact they have with books when they are small. Whether or not there are adult role models in the home and whether the early encounter with texts in school is a positive or negative experience is significant for the boys? later attitude to reading.

This report describes a comparative study about reading- and writing development in ?A-towns school? in The Gambia and in ?Villaskolan? in Sweden.The purpose of this study is to compare two teachers in Sweden with two teachers and two volunteers from the school in Gambia, with focus on their thoughts and methods on teaching reading and writing at each school and in their social context. The aim is also to observe and describe how classroom environment at both schools can encourage students to read and write.The theoretical base of this study is rooted in a sociocultural perspective but I have also chosen to illuminate behaviorism and cognitivism. The study is qualitative and the main research methods are interviews and observations of the classrooms.My conclusions are, even though considerable differences in approach and conditions, teachers in both schools work hard and show dedication towards their students.Another finding is that teachers use different techniques and working methods to achieve the same goal -to teach their students to read and write based on what is required of them in their cultural and social context. The different ways of teaching have been caused by the existence of different perceived needs based on culture and tradition.One conclusion is also that read and write requirements for students in the Gambia and Sweden are different from each other.

The purpose with this essay is to study how children in the fifth grade experience reading in three different reading cultures; library, home and in school. The children?s experiences from reading are compared to expectations from library and school.Data, to this study, is collected through qualitative interviews in two focus groups and analyzed by using an idea analysis. The INSU-model, Information Needs, Seeking and Use, and Aidan Chambers reading circle in combination with a triangle of the three reading cultures are used as a theoretical framework. The analysis shows that children are using reading for different purposes in different reading cultures.

The aim of this study is to find out what education in literature is like from a student perspective; what kind of literature the students read and how well they understand literature, and the methods and didactics used during the literature lessons. The questions at issue are:1) What kind of literature do the students read?2) How well do the students understand literary texts?3) What do the students think about their literature education?To be able to answer the questions, both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used in the study. The inquiry was accomplished on 29 students, 17 boys and 12 girls in the upper secondary school. The result showed, despite the limited amount of students, interesting facts.

According to international and national literacy studies (PISA, PIRLS) Swedish boys are inferior to Swedish girls when it comes to reading. There can be numerous reasons to that statement. One is that Swedish teachers require more knowledge about communication as an important component in literacy. In spite of this shortcoming, Swedish girls manage to gain sufficient literacy. Why is that? The aim of this survey was to examine if there were any differences between girls and boys regarding communication skills when they begin in school.The main questions taken in account were:Which differences and/or similarities in communication skills are discernible between boys and girls this particular preschool?How do boys and girls communicate with each other in different room contexts on this particular preschool?           To be able to answer the questions, I adopted observations and audio recordings from children aged five.

This study is a comparative study of the occurrence and function of information literacy in the curricula of the Swedish and Bavarian Gymnasium and investigates the occurrence of the term ?information literacy? and shows through what other linguistic means the notion of information literacy is expressed in the curricula. The study also wishes to analyze how the notion of information literacy manifests itself in the different school systems. Relevant textual passages of both curricula are compared to each other through the theoretic lens of Bruce?s phenomenographic model of information literacy.

Do the principals who have the pedagogical responsibility of the school find reading comprehension important? This is the underpinning of my thesis for the special teacher-training program. The survey was conducted through interviews with two principals. The results show that they believe reading comprehension is important but it has not been given priority in the organization. The essay could form the basis for further research into reading habits, home environment influences and other factors that may contribute to improve reading comprehension performance..

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to study how children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction books in public libraries. Our overarching research question is as follows: to which extent, how, and for what reasons do children's and youth librarians mediate non-fiction? We have chosen to limit our study to the practice of booktalking.In order to answer questions on extent we conducted a quantitative survey of booktalking children's and youth librarians in Skåne. To answer our other questions on behaviour and attitudes we conducted observations and interviews with six librarians who include non-fiction in booktalks for children in primary school. As a way to study behaviour we examined librarians' selection criteria and methods.

The aim of the study is to investigate pupils? attitudes to and experiences of reading aloud by the teacher in grade 1. The study answers questions about how the pupils perceive the reading aloud, what they think they learn from it, and what books they prefer the teacher to read from. The study was conducted with the aid of semi-structured interviews with eleven pupils, six girls and five boys. The study shows that the pupils have a great deal to say about reading aloud.

The aim of this thesis is to accomplish a user study on how e-book users experience the electronic book, the e-book, as an instrument for reading fiction. The study is based upon qualitative interviews with twelve e-book users and a small survey carried out at the Stockholm City Library. The purpose is to identify the users' incentive for choosing the e-book as a medium for reading fiction, elucidate if and how the interface of the e-book affects the reading experience, and distinguish if there are any factors common to the users in their choice of reading e-books. How the users look upon the future of the e-book is also discussed. Among the people asked in the survey we note little if any demand for the e-book as an instrument for reading fiction.

Why should teachers devote themselves to reading aloud? Reading aloud has a given place in most of the Swedish preschools. Many teachers read to children. Research on the subject has shown that it is very rewarding for preschoolers to have stories read to them. They hear how the language is constructed, becomes aware of matter of text, and they are able to take part of how other people live.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how people from Iran experience reading in their mother tongue, Persian, compared to how they experience reading in Swedish and if there was a difference. The questions to be answered in the thesis were: What is the dominant purpose when people read their mother tongue and when they read in Swedish. Do they read because they need information, because they want to relax or do they, when they read, reflect on their own lives? The method was qualitative, interviews were conducted with 8 Iranians living in Sweden. The theoretical background consists of a description of theories on reading and theories on language and identity.

The purpose of this study was to identify reading strategies used by high school students when reading textbooks and school-related material. Any differences in reading strategies between Biology and English were also of importance. A study sample of 62 students from three different high schools in Sweden participated in the study and were asked to fill out a survey questionnaire. Eight students from this sample were also interviewed. The findings of this study show that students use a number of different reading strategies of which metacognitive and sociocultural factors play a crucial part.

E-books are not yet fully established on the Swedish book market. A frequently discussed theory is that this might be because of a loss in the reading experience. This thesis has the primary purpose to investigate whether the reading experience from E-books differs from the experience of reading a traditional book in paper. The book used for comparation is a poetry collection named Rakel delat med tio. I have designed the cover and the inlay of this book and as a part of the thesis the working progress is described.

The problem presented in this masters thesis is: How can pedagogical theory be used to illuminate and analyse attitudes of librarians in reading promotion activities for children and young people? The aim is to investigate librarians pedagogical role and attitudes in reading promotion activities for children and young people. The following questions are asked: · How can the pedagogical role of librarians be understood on the basis of different pedagogical perspectives? · How do librarians describe their pedagogical role in reading promotion activities for children and young people? · Is there a relation between pedagogical perspectives and the ways in which reading promotion methods are developed by librarians? Reading promotion methods investigated are booktalk, discussions on reading and summer reading challenges for children and young people. The methods used in the study are literature studies, qualitative interviews and observations.