Exploring elementary students’ perceptions of disabilities using children's literature

The portrayal of characters in children's literature can be a very powerful influence on young children. Teachers have a responsibility to expose children to characters of all types, including those with disabilities. The goal of this study was to explore how third and fourth grade students responded to characters with disabilities in children's books. We read a total of 12 books that included characters with disabilities to students in two third‐grade and one fourth‐grade class at three elementary schools. We video‐recorded discussions about the books and identified the following four themes, all of which related to influences on students’ responses to the character with a disability: (a) societal messages, (b) academic responses, (c) teacher influence and (d) portrayal of disability. We recommend that teachers carefully select books featuring characters with disabilities based on the way the disability is portrayed in the book, and, after the read‐aloud, use questioning strategies that encourage students to make thoughtful, deep comments rather than giving ‘expected’ responses.     

Children's responses to the interactivity of storybook apps in family shared reading events involving the iPad

This paper reports on some data on the effects of screen‐based interactivity on children's engagement with storybook apps during family shared book reading that were gathered in a 2‐year, small‐scale ethnographic case study in Spain. Data analysis focuses on the complex interplay between the storybook app's interactive features and the children's responses to them. Our findings show that interactive elements increase the child's autonomy, as they tend to promote the importance of the reader, positioning him or her as a collaborator, storyteller, an author or an internal character in the fiction; something that can materialise in exciting narrative strategies that can trigger powerful responses to digital literary texts in emergent readers, including playing, creating new fictions or engaging emotionally with the story. Finally, we argue that the Reader Response models that have been used over recent decades to understand children's reading experiences with storybooks need to be revised to better understand their current experiences with interactive texts.     

Exploring the work and learning stories of para‐teachers in a college for further education in England

This paper reports findings from a research project which developed and introduced the Enhanced Learning Support Assistant Programme (ELSAP). This was a source of professional development for learning support assistants who were supporting students with additional learning needs in a college for further education in England. The purpose of this paper is to share findings from the project and to report on how learning support assistants experienced their work in inclusive college classrooms. The research project was a mixed methods study with participants drawn from learning support assistants within one college for further education in England. Data was collected throughout the 14‐week intervention. Findings indicate that issues exist around the uniqueness of the vocational curriculum and the implications this has for classroom support. It also shows how conflicting classroom procedures can generate feelings of confusion and how learning support workers often feel lonely in their role with no natural opportunity to mix with others. Furthermore, it indicates how a general lack of knowledge about teaching and learning contribute to them experiencing difficulty when performing their role which feed their views that a college for further education can be a complex and hostile environment to work in.     

A Brief Investigation of Pre-reading Exercises in SEFC

As in reading teaching, schema theory has long been taking a dominant part. According to this theory, English teachers can help the students to call up their prior knowledge by placing an emphasis on a...     

初中英语过程写作法教学模式探究

在单元教学中,指导学生围绕词块、句群以及篇章结构,运用所学知识,就同一主题不同角度进行写作练习,掌握写作策略和技能,充分发挥评价的激励作用,提高学生写作水平。     

论阅读教学中“教”“学”主体的转变

在应试教育的大背景下，阅读教学已经异化为应试教学，沦落为应试教育的手段。阅读教学要做到优质高效，并对整个小学语文教学起到重要的拉动作用，必须实现由“教”到“学”的主体转变，即课堂教学要由从以教师“教”为中心转变到以学生“学”为中心。只有经历这样的转变，阅读教学才能实现质的跨越。     

普通话教学中朗读环节易见的口语语感问题及解决方法

在普通话教学中,朗读是学生最容易出现口语语感问题的环节,最常见的口语语感问题是停连不当、重音不准确、节奏把握不当。学生无法做到完全的情景再现,对内在语把握不准,情感运动不到位和过于关注细节是造成上述问题的主要原因。可以通过体验式感受、情景式教学、表演式表达以及暗示教学法帮助学生解决朗读中的口语语感问题。     

Adult EFL Learners’Motivation in Reading

In the enthusiastic trend of English learning, an abundance of work is contributing to practical assistance to adult learn-ers in contrast with the paucity of attention on the learners’psychological ba...     

文化背景知识与大学英语阅读教学

阅读能力在《大学英语教学大纲》中是第一层次的要求。掌握文章相关的文化背景知识对于学生正确理解文章内涵，提高阅读能力有很大的帮助。在大学英语阅读教学中应把文化背景知识的传播融入教学的始终。     

英语阅读中母语迁移的调查研究

文章通过问卷调查和访谈的方法,对三组不同英语水平且母语均为汉语的学习者进行调查研究。本研究调查了在英语阅读中母语对材料的理解、阅读的技巧、阅读的速度的作用以及学习者利用母语和把有关材料翻译成母语的情况,通过SPSS对数据进行分析,并且将不同英语水平的学习者的情况进行比较分析。结果显示,英语水平高的学习者更善于利用母语的正迁移。