1. Using theory as a tool for understanding and
developing literacy instruction - a Learning study
in a special school for students with intellectual
disability
Åsa Lyrberg, phd. student, special education teacher
Graduate program in Learning study
Stockholm University, Department of Special Education
asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se
2. Outline
● Background and arguments for this study
● Aims and purpose
● Theoretical framework
● Design and implementation
● Analysis and tentative results
● Theories as tools for changing and improving
practice
12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 2
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● Berthén (2007), doctoral
thesis, the pedagogical
practice in "Särskolan" –
what is possible to learn?
● The swedish schools
inspectorate (2010) -
examination of the school
subject Swedish in
"Särskolan".
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Literacy instruction in "Särskolan" –
what is present?
– Focusing isolated skills training
– Not giving opportunity to learn together with teachers and
peers or by reading and writing for specific purposes
– The teaching provides few opportunities for conversation and
interaction in the context of text production and reading of
texts
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Overall aims
– An interest to investigate whether Learning study, comprising
analyses of research lessons, planned by teachers and
researcher together, might contribute to increase focus on
students' subject-specific learning
– Specifically within the field of literacy
– The Learning study was built on theories of emergent and
early literacy (Clay, 1991)
– In Sweden a quite unexplored perspective on literacy
learning
6. Research context
● One small class in "Särskolan", with a total of 4
pupils.
● Two pupils were in grade four, one in grade three and
one in first grade.
● Three teachers, the researcher included, formed a
research team and conducted the Learning study
together.
12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 6
7. The learning objective
● None of the students could yet read in a
conventional way (not decoding words)
● Knew the Alphabet, but not as a functional tool
in order to take meaning from unknown texts
● How could we design literacy instruction without
ending up with merely isolated skills training?
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8. Theoretical framework
● Three partly different but compatible theories
● Comprehensive theory: Sociocultural perspective
(Vygotskij, 1978; Rogoff, 1994)
● Intermediate theories: Variation theory (Marton &
Booth, 1997) and Marie Clay’s theories about
emergent and early reading and writing (1991)
● Focus on an object of learning (what is to be learned)
and students’ participation in joint interaction – in
order to promote subject-specific learning
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Implementation
Series of three video-
taped lessons
Same group of children
in all lessons
Lesson 1
Analysis and revision
of lesson design
Lesson 2 – changes
were implemented
Lesson 3
changes were
implemented
Aalysis and revision
of lesson design
Plan a lesson
10. Variation theory
● Theory of learning, developed from
phenomenography (Marton, 1981) and usually
the theory being used in Learning study.
● Learning as discerning or experiencing an object
of learning in a new and qualitatively different
way than before.
● In this study, terms from VT were used to put
focus on the intended learning, for instance:
Object of learning, critical aspects, variation,
invariance, contrast (Lo & Marton, 2012).
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11. The theories of Marie Clay
● Observational studies of beginning readers on New
Zealand during their first year in school (Clay, 1966,
1967).
● Emergent literacy - competencies that emerge when
children actively participate in different contexts
where people read and write for different purposes.
● Used in or LS to identify, make explicit and further
explore the object of learning and its critical aspects,
in relation to the enacted teaching practice and the
pupils understanding.
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12. Clay’s definition of reading
● written language as a system of serial and hierarchical order. Details such as
spacing, word and letter must be attended to in a flexible way, both
individually, in relation to each other and even simultaneously, as parts of a
larger whole (a connected text or a sentence which carries the message).
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Reading as a problem-solving activity (Clay & Cazden, 1992)
13. Observation survey
● To find out the students initial understanding and to
define the object of learning
● Observation survey, developed by Clay (2002) was
carried out individually with the students.
● Concepts About Print (CAP)
● Observe how students deal with text in an
authentic read aloud situation.
● Map the child’s emergent literacy behaviors without
the need of verbal responses – the children show
their understanding through actions related to the
book that’s being read to them.
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14. Results of CAP-survey
● None of the pupils could make a proper
distinction between words and letters,
● The children had a tendency to look upon letters
as if they were words.
● Difficulties when asked to point and match
speech to printed words
● These results helped us to finally define the
object of learning: the capability to distinguish
between word and letter, in connected text.
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15. Critical aspects
● In a Learning study, critical aspects are parts of
the object of learning that have not yet been
discerned by the learners.
● An object of learning has many aspects but not
all of them are critical. If students for instance
are seeing letters as if they were words – what
have they not discerned yet?
● Critical aspects are unique for the actual group
of students, but can be tested and further
developed (Runesson & Gustafsson, 2012).
12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 15
16. Critical aspects in our Learning study
To be able to distinguish between word and letter, in
connected text, the students needed to discern the
following aspects:
– Seeing words as distinctly separate, interrelated
and meaningful units in connected text.
– Seeing letters as smaller, interrelated units in
words, in connected text.
– Experiencing the pattern of word-space-word as a
general model for the written language system.
12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 16
17. Lesson design
● based on a whole sentence, including problem-solving
activities
● Written sentence - kept constant while words and
letters varied, mainly by contrasts.
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18. Glimpses from the lessons
● inspired by Clay
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Composing a copy
of the initial
sentence, with
support from the
teacher
Cut up and
assemble the
sentence
19. Glimpses from the lessons
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Pointing to written words and reading aloud –
first, the teacher did the pointing, successively
students acted independently in the activity.
20. Glimpses from the lessons
● The teacher is drawing lines – one for each word in the sentence – as a
scaffold for students’ own writing.
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Scaffolded writing (Bodrova & Leong, 1996)
21. Glimpses from the lessons
● Simultainiously access to sentence and word (kastar), while letters
are varied by contrast.
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22. Repeated CAP-survey
● The same CAP-survey was conducted, to possibly
confirm the indications of learning that we
observed by analyzing the video-taped lessons.
● The survey showed that all pupils expanded their
ways of interacting with print in books.
● Indicated a more skilled capability than before,
to distinguish between words and letters in
connected text.
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23. Analysis
● In-depth analysis – based on thick descriptions of
the three lessons
● Two steps:
1. Lessons are analysed in terms of variation of
critical aspects, in order to examine when and how
the object of learning becomes visible and possible
to discern.
1. Lessons are analysed in terms of changing
participation, with access to mediating tools. This
step is aiming to find out what in practice seem to
promote or restrict interaction in relation to the
intended object of learning.
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24. Tentative results
● Detailed descriptions of connections between
teaching and learning in relation to the intended
object of learning.
● The analysis indicate that teachers’ own
understanding of subject content, along with
theoretical assumptions, clearly influence both
how content is handled and how the teaching
practice is enacted.
● This in turn is decisive for students’ learning
opportunities.
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25. Value and relevance for practice
12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 25
Descriptions of how, when
and by what means
learning is enabled in a
teaching situation
“knowledge products”
which can be used by
other teachers and further
developed to fit other
groups of students.
generalizability in the
descriptions of the
object of learning and
how it is constituted
in practice
My hope is that the results from this study can be of
direct relevance for teachers, both in "Särskolan" but
also in other, similar practices where children’s
emergent and early literacy is part of the daily work,
for instance pre-school or elementary school.
Specifications rather than
generalizations (Carlgren, 2012)
26. Thank you!
Using theory as a tool for understanding and developing
literacy instruction - a Learning study in a special
school for students with intellectual disability
Åsa Lyrberg, phd. student, special education teacher
Graduate program in Learning study
Department of Special Education, Stockholm University
asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se
27. 12/08/2015 Åsa Lyrberg asa.lyrberg@specped.su.se 27
Joint interaction in relation to
the object of learning
• Access to cultural tools
• Mediating actions
• Social practice
• Participation framework;
community of learners
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Discerning critical aspects
• The sentence as a system –
direction and levels
• Making contrast with the
sentence as a background (the
whole)
• Matching written-spoken words
• Word-space-word
• Word-letter-word
• Patterns of letters in words
29. Literature
29
Berthén, D. (2007). Förberedelse för särskildhet: "Särskolan"s pedagogiska arbete i ett verksamhetsteoretiskt perspektiv.
Diss. Karlstad: Estetisk-filosofiska fakulteten, Pedagogik, Karlstads universitet.
Bodrova, E. & Leong, D. (1996). Tools of the mind: the Vygotskian approach to early childhood education. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Merrill.
Carlgren, I. (2012). The learning study as an approach for “clinical” subject matter didactic research, International Journal for
Lesson and Learning Studies, 1(2), ss. 126-139.
Clay, M. M. (1966). Emergent reading behavior. Doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Clay, M. M. (1967). The reading behavior of five-year-old children: A research report. New Zealand Journal of Educational
Studies, 2(1), 11-31.
Clay, M.M. (1991). Becoming literate: the construction of inner control. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
Clay, M.M. & Cazden, C.B (1992). A Vygotskian interpretation of Reading Recovery. In Moll, L. C. (Ed.). (1992). Vygotsky and
education: Instructional implications and applications of sociohistorical psychology. Cambridge University Press.
Clay, M.M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Education.
Larson, J., & Maier, M. (2000). Co-authoring classroom texts: Shifting participant roles in writing activity. Research in the
Teaching of English, 34(4), 468-97.
Larsson, S. (2009) A pluralist view of generalization in qualitative studies. International Journal of Research & Method in
Education, 32(1), 25 - 38.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Reichenberg, M., Löfgren, K. (2013). The social practice of reading and writing instruction in schools for intellectually
disabled pupils. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 14(3-4): 43-60
Rogoff, B. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1(4), 209-
229.
Runesson, U., & Gustafsson, G. (2012). Sharing and developing knowledge products from Learning Study. International
Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 1(3), 245-260.
Skolinspektionen (2010). Undervisningen i svenska i grund"Särskolan" [elektronisk resurs]. Stockholm: Skolinspektionen.
Vygotskij, L. S. (1978). In Cole M. (Ed.), Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard U.P.
Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Editor's Notes
Introduction My name is Åsa Lyrberg and I come from Stockholm University, Department of Special Education.
I’m a pHd stdent and attending a licentiate graduate program, where the overall aim is to explore Learning study as a practice-oriented approach, for research in the field of subject-specific teaching. The focus of my research is literacy in "Särskolan", i.e. the Swedish special school for students with intellectual disability (ID) where I’m also a teacher. I will present to you a work in progress - a Learning study project in which I have been where I have been researcher and teacher colleague, since I conducted this study together with two teachers in "Särskolan".
2. Outline I will start with a short background and some arguments for doing this research, followed by aims and purpose. Then I will describe the theoretical framework, design and implementation of this Learning study. Finally, I will say something about analysis and tentative results. However, the main focus of this presentation is on how theories are put to work in the classroom, in order to change and improve practice; to create effective and meaningful literacy instruction.
3. Background In the last decade, "Särskolan" has been criticized, both in research and in reports on national level for not offering adequate opportunities for literacy learning. The thesis of Berthén and the report from the swedish schools inspectorate are especially criticising the reading ad writing instruction in "Särskolan".
4. Literacy instruction in "Särskolan" The mentioned research and report indicate that reading and writing instruction is often focusing isolated skills training, not giving opportunity to learn together with teachers and peers or by reading and writing for specific purposes. Intellectual disability often means difficulties with abstract thinking and generalizations– what are the consequences of this kind of practice for students’ learning? Maybe some reasons for this quite limited practice can be found historically, in deeply rooted traditions and beliefs about people with ID - However, these findings implicate a need of further research in the teaching practices of "Särskolan".
5. Overall aims A starting point was an interest to investigate whether analyses of research lessons, planned by teachers and researcher together, might contribute drawing attention to students' learning of subject-specific competences within the field of literacy. The Learning study was built on theories of emergent and early literacy (Clay, 1991). In Sweden this is a quite unexplored perspective in the field of literacy learning.
6. Research context The study was conducted in one small class in "Särskolan", with a total of 4 pupils. Two were in grade four, one in grade three and one in first grade. Three teachers, with the researcher included, formed a research team and conducted the Learning study together.
7. The learning objective. Initially, the teachers were concerned about the fact that none of the students yet had mastered reading in the conventional way. The children knew many letters of the Alphabet, but could not use them effectively when they were trying to take meaning from written text. How could we design literacy instruction without ending up with mererly isolated skills training?
11. Theoretical framework the theoretical framework included three different but compatible theories, which were used for design and analysis of the lessons. As a comprehensive theory a sociocultural perspective was applied. This was complemented with Variation theory (Marton & Booth, 1997) and Marie Clay’s theories about emergent and early reading and writing (1991). Hence, along with the sociocultural foundations, Clay’s perspective was combined with Variation theory and they are both regarded as intermediate theories, to maintain focus on aspects of subject content, while at the same time emphasize students’ participation in joint interaction with the use of cultural tools.
9. Implementation The Learning study was carried out in a series of three lessons, which included planning, enacting and analysing the video-taped lessons. In this study, all three lessons were conducted with the same group of children. Between lessons, joint analyses were made in the research team, focusing on classroom interaction in relation to the object of learning. Students’ participation and access to mediating tools were, along with the teacher’s actions, regarded as important to enable learning and development.
13. Variation theory is a theory of learning which is developed from phenomenography (Marton, 1981) and is usually the theory which is being used in Learning study. Learning of a certain phenomenon can, according to Variation theory, be described as discerning or experiencing an object of learning in a new and qualitatively different way than before. In this study, Variation theory was used to put focus on the intended object of learning, by using the terms for design and analysis, for instance: Object of learning, critical aspects, variation, invariance and contrast (Lo & Marton, 2012).
14. The theories of Marie Clay
The research of Marie Clay consisted of observational studies of beginning readers in New Zealand during their first year in school (Clay, 1966, 1967). Clay was the one who coined the concept of Emergent literacy, thus describing literacy as a set of competencies that emerge when children actively participate in different contexts where people read and write for different purposes. Clay’s subject-specific theories of early reading provided tools to identify, make explicit and further explore the object of learning and its critical aspects, in relation to the enacted teaching practice and the pupils understanding.
15. Clay’s definition of reading
Marie Clay defined reading as experiencing written language as a system of serial and hierarchical order. Details such as spacing, word and letter must be discerned both individually and in relation to each other simultaneously, as parts of a larger whole (a connected text, a sentence). When children become increasingly skilled readers, they construct a "self- extending inner system of literacy learning" and this system is constructed by the child, when participating in adequately designed literacy activities. Serial and hierarchical order is only possible to learn through access to connected text because it involves drawing attention to all levels of the text at the same time and in accordance with specific rules, for instance the reading direction. Based on these assumptions, it is not possible to develop effective reading and writing strategies only by working on individual letters and words.
16. Observation survey As a first screening, to find out the students initial understanding and to define the object of learning, an observation survey, developed by Clay (1991) was carried out individually with the students. It is called Concepts About Print (CAP) and aims to observe how students deal with text in an authentic read aloud situation. CAP makes it possible to map the child’s emergent literacy behaviors (Clay, 1966) without the need of verbal responses – the children show their understanding through actions related to the book that’s being read to them. CAP is not measuring cognitive abilities but is actually showing the teacher what the child can do in this specific situation and with various degree of support.
17. Results of CAP-test
None of the pupils could make a proper distinction between words and letters, for instance when the teacher asked; show me a letter - point to a word. The children had a tendency to look upon letters as if they were words. The children also had difficulties when they were asked to point and match spoken words to printed words, while the book was read to them. These results helped us to finally define the object of learning: the capability to distinguish between word and letter, in connected text.
18. Critical aspects
The CAP-test also provided us with information about some tentative critical aspects of the object of learning. What is a critical aspect? In a Learning study, critical aspects are parts of the object of learning that have not yet been discerned by the learners. An object of learning has many aspects but not all of them are critical. If students for instance are seeing letters as if they were words – what have they not discerned yet? The critical aspects are unique for the actual group of students, but can be tested and further developed by other teachers (Runesson & Gustafsson, 2012).
19. Critical aspects in our Learning study
To be able to distinguish between word and letter, in connected text, the students needed to discern the following aspects:
Seeing words as distinctly separate, interrelated and meaningful units in connected text.
Seeing letters as smaller, interrelated units in words, in connected text.
Experiencing the pattern of word-space-word as a general model for the written language system.
20. Lesson design
Based on Clay’s definition of reading, the lesson design needed to be based on a complete sentence, including problem-solving activities focusing all interrelated levels of the text simultaneously. The students were presented to a sentence in the beginning of each lesson, which was meant to be kept constant while words and letters should vary, mainly by contrasts, in order to become visible and possible to discern.
21. Glimpses from the lessons
21. Repeated CAP-survey
After the Learning study cycle was completed, the same CAP-survey was conducted, to possibly confirm the indications of learning that we observed by analyzing the video-taped lessons. The survey showed that all pupils expanded their ways of interacting with print in books, in a way that indicated a more skilled capability than before, to distinguish between words and letters in connected text.
22. Analysis
The in-depth analysis is based on thick descriptions of the three lessons. The descriptions serve as a basis for analysis, to clarify the iterative development of the teaching-learning process throughout the cycle and to specify how the object of learning is constituted in the lessons. The analysis has been carried out in two steps. In the first step, the lessons are analysed in terms of variation of critical aspects, in order to examine when and how the object of learning becomes visible and possible to discern. In the second step, the lessons are analysed in terms of changing participation, with access to mediating tools. This step is aiming at finding out what in practice seem to promote or restrict interaction in relation to the intended object of learning.
23. Tentative results
The results consist of detailed descriptions of teaching-learning relations focusing the intended object of learning. Very briefly, the results indicate that the teachers’ own understanding of the subject content, along with theoretical assumptions of teaching and learning, clearly influence the students’ learning opportunities throughout the study. However, throughout the study the teachers' understanding and acting successively changed, which in turn affected both opportunities to discern critical aspects of the object of learning and opportunities to interact with access to cultural tools. Changes made to the design contributed to a more effective teaching practice, both in terms of variation of the critical aspects and in terms of participation with access to practice-specific tools.
24. Value and relevance for practice
By illustrating how, when and by what means learning is enabled in a teaching situation, it is possible to identify features of both content and practice that are of importance to optimize students’ learning opportunities. This kind of “knowledge products” can be used by other teachers and further developed to fit other groups of students. The generalizability lies in the descriptions of the object of learning related to practice. The detailed descriptions of how an object of learning is constituted within a teaching practice provide results in terms of specifications rather than generalizations. Therefore, I mean it is possible to talk about generalization as pattern recognition (see Larsson, 2009) since other teachers can recognize their own practice and use the results as a starting point to develop their own teaching. My hope is that the results from this study can be of direct relevance for teachers, in "Särskolan" as well as in similar practices where children’s emergent and early literacy is part of the daily work, for instance pre-school or primary school.
