Abstract: Conference in Education and Education Psychology, Istanbul 2012.
Re-learning reading and writing – is it possible?
Swärd, Ann-Katrin, PhD, ass. professor/senior lecturer in Special Education School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University, Sweden
Ann-Katrin.Sward@hlk.hj.se
The numbers of students in Sweden that fail to reach goal in reading and writing in compulsory school have increased. The only opportunity for those students to continue at high school is to enter an individual program. Some of the program offers re-learning with a special method. This specific method contains attentive writing and associative routine. It is always based on the content neutral language structures, and on a dialogue between teacher and students sharing the responsibilities of the process of learning. The specific aim of the thesis was to conceptualize and generate a theory about what four teachers and their pupils (n=44, over the period of the research) in different contexts, and over a number of years, actually do when working with reading and writing using a specific method. A wider goal is to apply the implications of the derived grounded theory to general and special education theory in helping to alleviate reading and writing difficulties and prevent students from failing.
This Grounded Theory study has been derived from how experienced teachers and their students used a special reading and writing method to maximize literacy development. The theory has been grounded through repeated comparisons and analysis of the empirical data gathered through observations, video-recording, interviews and questionnaires.
The results show that the teachers strived systematically to ensure every student’s reading and writing development through what is labeled didactic arranging. The student’s metacognitive reflection is another important factor for being successful in their reading and writing development. Teachers, students and the didactic procedures are shown to be in constant interaction. It was also found to be important that teachers believe that every student can learn. These teachers’ collective motto could be summed up as follows: never stop giving support and never stop assessing progress. In this presentation the fourth and last context will be discussed, the students in high school having re-learning.
